in the field, including John Rhea Barton, F. J. Gant, Bernhard von Langenbeck, Jules Germain François Maisonneuve, and Richard von Volkmann. Wanting to leave the provincial life because of the difficult working conditions, the poverty of the workers, and family issues, Gedroits was required to attain Russian credentials to practice medicine elsewhere in Russia. In spite of her Swiss degree, she had to obtain certifications to meet the requirements of the University of Moscow. In 1902, she asked permission to test for the Latin requirement at the Oryol Gubernatorial Gymnasium. Having been under the watch of the police since her arrest in 1892, she was required to get a statement of character before the examination was allowed. After successfully passing her exams, Gedroits earned the title of female doctor and on 21 February 1903, received her diploma, allowing her to practice medicine throughout the country. The continuing ill-health of her parents, her long working hours, and the collapse of her relationship with her lover from Switzerland, led to a suicide attempt in 1903. Russo-Japanese War In early 1904, with the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Gedroits volunteered to go to the front with the Red Cross. In the first month of the war, she treated 1,255 patients, including over 100 patients with head wounds and 61 patients with abdominal wounds. Initially treatment was provided in tents covered in an insulating layer of clay, but by January 1905, Gedroits was accompanying the horse-drawn ambulances which brought the wounded to the hospital to perform triage, before entering the operating theater. She was appointed chief surgeon of the hospital train, which consisted of an operating car and five patient cars. The operating car was a specially equipped surgical unit, supplied by the Russian nobility to allow care to the wounded to be performed on the front lines. This put the medical personnel at grave risk, as unless there were wounded personnel in ambulances, tents or surgical trains, their neutrality was not recognized. Though many Russian, as well as French and British, military surgeons had discarded the idea of treating abdominal wounds, Gedroits recognized that early intervention was key. Standard treatment at the time required the patient to be placed in a semi-reclining position so that the wound could drain. In previous eras, without anesthesia, penetrating abdominal wounds were considered inoperable. Gedroits was the first to perform laparotomies on military patients, having extensive experience