FEATHERED SOLDIERS IN WAR-TIME

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 49, 26 August 1939, Page 21

FEATHERED SOLDIERS IN WAR-TIME

V Jo^^- RATEFUL V __^r^^T Governments _r _m ** - iiave bestow" N-ir* IRrA |H ed their highur \'**____\y es^ awards £**£m-~'• ) X-™^^ . for conspicu»_»Pi^S*i_r • ous'' bravery y^/jj \^ y-\ Bin battle on K^.r^-KJ *VeJ\_. I feathered I -*__^_»__^»__n XJ "soldiers" at--1 k 1 tached to the

int c lligence corps of their army, navy, and air services, says a writer in the Melbourne "Age."

When Noah welcomed back to the Ark the dove bearing an olive leaf, he was merely anticipating the modern use of the homing instinct of pigeons in times of emergency.

Until electricity w Tas discovered, these small birds, built for strength and speed, were the swiftest of all messengers—a fact which the Greeks exploited. By means of messages placed in a quill attached to the legs of pigeons, ancient Greece sounded her war alarms, and sent out news of her victories; it is recorded that pigeons played an important role at the siege of Troy.

The introduction of telegraphic and wireless services has not rendered the pigeon service obsolete; wireless may fail, or. be tapped, telegraph wires may- be destroyed, but a pigeon flying sifently, and often under cover of diarkness, stirs no wave-length, neither is there anything to denote its departure or arrival while it is in flight. When all other means of communication have failed, the humble pigeon comes into its own.

During the World War, it» the defence of Verdun, pigeons became, eventually, the only means of com-

munication. Their brilliant performances show them to be birds of strong personality and intelligence; despite their natural fear of gunfire and all the extraordinary conditions of modern warfare, they achieved an astonishing record of consistency and reliability.

During the St. Mihiel drive, respite the constant use of gas, and through a hail of shrapnel and machine-gun lire, their vision further hampered by fog and rain, ninety important messages were delivered from the front

line to General Headquarters; 202 birds were used, out of which 24 were either killed in action or lost. No message was lost —all important dispatches were sent in duplicate. At the Battle of the Somme it is recorded that out of 5000 birds released only 2 per cent, failed to return, although many of them were quite stupefied when first released.

Messages are carried as photograpns of microscopic size on small, thin films of collodium. Each film may carry as many as 250 messages.

At the outbreak of war, slight importance was attached by the British to the use of pigeons as messengers, although the Germans had a wellorganised pigeon service, and so had the French. The first assignment given to them was to the trawlers

A Pigeon Wins the Victoria Cross

operating in the North Sea. Th? distances flown by these birds from the centre of the North Sea, in all weathers, with utmost regularity were anything from 70 to 150 miles. Trained birds are capable of sustained flights of as many as thirteen hours, and may attain a speed of 50 to 56 miles an hour. More than 95 per cent, of their messages were delivered safely.

As soon as the authorities realised the value of pigeons to the intelligence services, the British, French, and Belgian Governments commandeered every homing pigeon available —even the King's birds from the Royal lofts were assigned to the trawlers, scout ships, and other North Sea craft, from which they cai'ried many messages to Sandringham en route to the Admiralty.

From the North Sea came many thrilling messages in code, but by way of contrast the Lords of the Admiralty

one day received the laconic message from one of the skippers out in the fog: "All well; having beef pudding Cor dinner."

YiOrd Kitchener had a strong objection to the keeping of homing pigeons during war time on account of their value to spies' for intercommunication purposes, so that immediately war was declared a ban was placed on the removal of pigeons, and all owners were compelled to clip their birds' wings to prevent flight. *

By the end of the war Britain had 22,000 pigeons on active service, and 150 mobile lofts operating on the French and Italian fronts. In England a series of fixed lofts dotted the coast from Newcastle-on-Tyne to Hastings.

It is well to remember, too, the important part played by the brave dispatch riders, who carried the birds up to the front line. Through barbed wire entanglements, over shell craters, and through trenches under fire, they conveyed the terrified birds, which, on being released, swiftly flew back to their home lofts at headquarters.

Lieut.-Colonel Osman, officer in control of the British pigeon services in the war period, has recorded how small balloons were fitted with rental bands controlled by clockwork. To these bands small baskets were attached, each basket containing a single pigeon with its message. To the basket a parachute was fixed, and when the balloons were liberated from' planes over occupied territory (due allowance being made for the wind) the clockwork mechanism automatically released the basket, the parachute opened, and the basket floated gently to the ground, bearing the words "Please open" on the lid. Thus many a message of cheer reached British troops cut off from all news as to the progress of the war, and the homing bird brought back much-needed information.

Tlie Germans discovered the ruse, and, alarmed at its success, they substituted their own birds, and so re-

ceived in their own lofts messages which enabled them to trace the senders, who were arrested and shot as spies.

Many of these courageous little "feathered soldiers" became famous, and were known through the services by name. Pre-eminent among them was "Big Tom." Released at Grandpre during intense machine-gun fire and artillery action, he delivered his important message at a village twentyfour miles away in 25 minutes, though badly wounded. No doubt a following wind helped in the achievement of this amazing record.

"President Wilson" was another famous bird. He originally belonged to the Tank Corps, and was later transferred to the Meuse-Argonne sector. When the situation in his sector became desperate he was released with a message, the delivery of which probably meant success or failure to his command. Through dense fog and hoavy gunfire he brought his message safely, losing one leg on the flight.

Later he was sent to hospital for treatment.

Grateful Governments bestowed decorations on birds whose outstanding performances deserved special reward. Commandant Raynali's last bird released from Vaux when it was surrounded earned the Legion d'Honneur and a diploma framed in the colours of the order.

In the British services a bird simply known as No. 2709 was actually awarded the V.C. Released from Menin Road in October, 1917, it took dispatches from the front to divisional headquarters. It was shot down, and lay wounded in the rain all night. Next morning it struggled home with its message, and died before the officer could remove the film from its hiding place.

The French Government honoured several courageous birds by awarding them diplomas to show that they had earned the Croix de Guerre or the Croix Militaire.