Carrier Pigeons on Land and Sea (The American Legion Weekly, 1919)
Illustrated with images of maimed and disfigured carrier pigeons, this article is filled with interesting lore of the battles waged by the 'feathered aviators' of the 1914 - 1918 war. You will read about how the pigeons were often dyed black so as to be mistaken for crows; how they were used at sea and at Verdun and that spies relied upon them. "Pigeons are not new to war. It is on record that the Romans and Greeks used them and that Hannibal carried a cote crossing the Alps in order to send word back to Carthage of his progress...it was a pigeon which first announced to an anxious London the victory at Waterloo." During the course of World War II the U.s Army signal Corps deployed more than 50,000 pigeons.
| The Red-Cross Dogs of the Great War (The Literary Digest, 1917)
A fascinating, two page article that does not simply confine itself to the issue of dogs in the service of the Red-Cross, but also makes mention of the many assorted responsibilities assigned to dogs in many of the combatant armies of the First World War:
"There are canine sentries on duty on both sides in the Great War, and dogs that are dispatch-bearers. "Marquis", a French dog, fell from a bullet-wound almost at the feet of a group of French soldiers to whom he bore a message across a shell-raked stretch of country. But the message was delivered!"
| Dogs on the Western Front (Vanity Fair, 1916)
We are happy to say that in the course of performing our daily duties, the scanning and posting of historic magazine articles, no dogs were harmed in any way; but sadly no such boast can be made by any participant of the Great War. Published during the bloodiest year of that conflict, this Vanity Fair magazine article lists a good many of the particular services dogs were trained to perform on behalf of their belligerent masters.
"The French war dogs are divided into five classes, each of which performs a special type of work. There are sentinel dogs, patrol dogs, ambulance dogs, dispatch dogs and draught dogs. In all these departments of military activity they have proved their worth."
*A Film Clip About the Dogs of World War One*
| |
| The Elephant on the Western Front (Der Welt Spiegel, 1915)
Animals have played important rolls in war from the beginning and World War One was no exception. Throughout the war the widespread use of dogs, horses mules and pigeons are all well documented and there have been some very interesting books written on the topic. Not so well documented is the presence of this one elephant who, being loyal to the Kaiser, is pictured in this 1915 photograph toiling away on behalf of his German masters in occupied France. The story has it that the beast was presented as a gift to the German Army by the patriotic owner of a popular circus. It is a curious picture which leaves us with many questions, however judging by the amount of intact buildings seen in the background and the entire lack of weaponry it can be assumed that the elephant was kept far away from the front; but why is there a sailor on his back when they are so far from the sea? Adding to the queer, Twilight Zone atmosphere of the image, there casualy stands the German folk poet Ludwig Ganghofer to the far right. TOPIC INDEX: Animals + WW 1,Animals + WW1,WW 1 Elephant,Animals Used in War,Animals Used During WW1,Animals Used During WW 1,German Army Engineers Used Elephants 1914-1915,German Poet Ludwig Ganghofer Photograph,German Poet Ludwig Ganghofer Photographed in Occupied France 1915,Old Magazine Photograph Picturing Elephant in WW 1 France 1915,Strange WW 1 Picture,Strange WW 1 Photograph of Elephant in Occupied France 1915.
| The Elephant on the British Home Front (Popular Mechanics, 1917)
We are told that this unique image could only have been snapped in the more eccentric parts of Britain during the Great War and that it serves as graphic proof that the farm labor shortage was as dire as the farmers declared that it was. Please be advised that this was one isolated incident and that the farming practice illustrated herewith was not widespread and cannot be found in the Britain of today.
| | |
|
