[Anaesthesiology in the Polish Armed Forces in the West during World War II].

Abstract

Until the outbreak of WW II, anaesthesiology, as a separate specialty, did not exist in Poland. After the fall of Poland, a large section of the Polish Armed Forces was evacuated to France and after that, to the UK, where Polish military physicians had a unique opportunity to obtain training in modern anaesthesia. The first regular courses were established at the University of Edinburgh. After WW II, doctor Stanisław Pokrzywnicki, a pioneer of Polish anaesthesiology, who was trained by Sir Robert Macintosh, and doctor Bolesław Rutkowski, an anaesthesiologist in London, returned to Poland and started regular services. This led to the registering of anaesthesiology as a separate specialty in 1951. In the article, the wartime and post-war stories of the first Polish anaesthesiologists are presented.