"THE BLIND OBEDIENT DEAD."

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 97, 26 April 1930, Page 8

"THE BLIND OBEDIENT DEAD."

When remembering the men who gave thenlives in defence of their country's honour, let us not forget altogether the noble part played in the Great War by the humbler branch of the British Forces, "the blind obedient dead" of a New Zealand poet's moving poem. Thousands of horses, mules, pigeons and dogs were included in the strength of the British Army. In 1915 a special branch of the Signal Service, comprising 20,000 carrier pigeons, was formed, and these birds brought their messages through when all other means of communication were cut off. Despito the increasing use of mechanical transport in 1917, the number of horses and mule's engaged in active war operations totalled 870,000. These animals were engaged in the battle areas, moving about behind the lines, attached to the artillery, carrying munitions, transporting foodstuffs and material, exposed to nerve-racking shellfire, until, as wounded, gassed or killed in action, they were reported off the strength of the army. There are few New Zealanders who served in the Ypres sector who do not remember "Dead Mule Gully" and the reason for this significant name. The percentage of loss of horses was very heavy, no fewer than 530,000 passing through the casualty lists as killed, or so badly wounded as to be unfit for further service. But it is perhaps the wonderful sagacity and courage displayed by the army dogs which touch the high-water mark of our admiration for the animals engaged on active service. It is difficult to single out any particular breed for special mention, almost all breeds being used, but the best all-round clo~ri for the work appear to have been the collie and Airedale. They were trained as sentries, guards, messengers and for Red Cross work. When the demand for fighting men became urgent the security of munition factories, magazines and vulnerable points all over Britain was entrusted to dogs. The Red Cross workers carried relief and assistance to hundreds of wounded. But it is the messengers, or runners, that have written the work of these animals in letters of gold. These dogs,, day in and day out, over rough country, up to their bellies in mud, through shell holes, under heavy machine gun, shrapnel and high explosive shell fire, with feet blistered by 'mustard gas, perhaps woiinded, faithfully and courageously carried their vital messages upon which oft times thousands of lives were dependent. For instance, "Paddy" was with the 36th Division in an advance in the Passchendaele sector. A terrific barrage had destroyed all communication. "Paddy" worked his way back with his dispatch through the tornado of sliellfire and reinforcements were hurried, up, which prevented the Inniskillins from being practically wiped out. At Kennel Hill, during the April offensive of 1918, "Dane" brought the situation reports every morning for ten days through intense sliellfire when all other means of communication had failed. When battalion headquarters was entirely cut off from the regiment "Tweed," a Highland collie, was sent back with the message that reinforcements and small arm ammunition were urgently needed. "Tweed" covered nearly two miles under heavy shellfire in ten minutes and the sorely-needed reinforcements and ammunition were sent up. "Timber" arrived at headquarters and delivered his dispatch with his lower jaw hanging down, fractured by a bullet; he had made his run of two miles under very heavy fire in twenty minutes. Earl Haig, in his final dispatch to the War Office, pays a tribute to the animals employed on active service. Surely we can do no less. These animals have indeed placed us under an obligation to them for all time. It was a sense of this obligation that led the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to lay a wreath on the Cenotaph yesterday in memory of the animals that served the Cause so well. —RIRO.