SummaryTo summarize, it is already abundantly clear that since the advent of penicillin one may expect soft tissue wounds to heal more quickly, with less scarring both superficial and deep, and with greater speed in recovery of function, with a shorter period of hospitalization, and therefore with a speedier return of the soldier to the front line.In compound fractures experience has shown that the correct forward treatment is now to convert an open fracture into a closed fracture as speedily as is compatible with safety to the patient.One has been led to hope that traumatic osteomyelitis will be greatly reduced in future campaigns, that sequestration will be less, and that chronic sinuses passing down to bone will be seldom seen.It cannot be too strongly stressed that although penicillin has revolutionized the results of forward surgery, it does not permit the forward surgeon to be any way careless in his major principles. His excisions must be as thorough, his search for foreign material as diligent, and his postoperative fixation of the injured limb as complete as ever.In conclusion, may I quote an extract from a letter just received from a surgeon at one of our forward hospitals.One thing which struck me very much while doing a round with Colonel Littlejohn was the comparison with a similar round done with him in Warwick, after the Kokoda fighting. At that time nearly every wound seen, soft tissue or otherwise, was discharging, and those suffering from extensive compound fractures looked sick, whereas today a very large majority of all wounds are healed or practically so. This has been especially noticeable in the perforating wounds of hands or feet, healing and, more important, return of function and return to unit, therefore, have been considerably accelerated.