Pigeons Still Play Their Part in Warfare

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 January 1928, Page 9

Pigeons Still Play Their Part in Warfare

a. INCE the day that Noah rar® successfully dispatched his dove to reconnoitre a landing for his ark the homing instinct of the pigeon has been utilised by the human race to great advantage. Even to-day, with the radio and the telegraph developed so efficiently, pigeons continue to prove a reliable means of collecting and disseminating information. The service of pigeons as message-beare? s is not in daily use, to be suie, but when an emergency arises these birds can usually be depended upon to prove their value.

The most striking proof of the reliability of pigeons employed-by the A. E. F. was given during the World War, particularly in the Argonne and St. Mihiel battles, when, all communications having broken down, they brought back from the front message after message. Pigeons rendered great service to the British also, and the British Army coasted a Colonel of Pigeons. To-day, in spite of the intensive training in communications that is given in the United States Army schools and the elaborate field telephone and radio sets that have been developed, the training of pigeons is still carried on by the Signal' Corps as an essential element in national defence. The United States Army has to-day more than 1,500 of these birds scattered throughout the country, as well as in the Panama Canal Zone and the Hawaiian and Philippine Islands. .About 500 of the pigeons are stationed at the Signal Corps School, Fort Monmouth, N.J., where they are bred and trained. The pigeon used for carrying army messages does not vary appreciably from the ordinary species seen on the streets, but the type has been developed by selection, breeding and training. “ During their training the birds are often put in a basket, carried in a closed automobile to a railroad station, put on a train in a closed express car, taken perhaps 500 miles from their loft and then released. As soon as it gets its freedom, the pigeon usually makes two or three preliminary circles and then strikes a direct route for home. It is not uncommon for one of these birds to make a flight of 500 miles between sunrise and sunset. The latest development in pigeon training in the army has been night flying. In Hawaii five army pigeons have recently been trained to fly from any point on the island of Oahu to their loft. In the Panama Canal Zone there is one loft whose pigeons can be liberated at any point on the Isthmus on the darkest night and they will find their way back as quiqkly as other birds would in the daytipie. Pigeon derbies have become a recognised sport in military circles and their races are frequently featured at army fairs and carnivals. The speed most commonly obtained by these biros it from 800 to 1,200 yards a minute, or more than forty miles an hour. Some vf the birds have been known to average as high as seventy miles an hour.

The pigeon service is used in action only when no other means of communication is available or when a message must be sent that cannot be expressed in words, such -as a sketch or diagram. In such cases the message is placed on a thin piece of paper, which is folded up and placed in a light aluminium hollow cylinder. This is attached to one of the pigeon’s legs. The bird is then released and usually re-

turns to its loft, where the message is taken from the carrier and delivered to the proper person. The lofts must therefore be located at some point from which messages can be readily transmitted. The birds do not always* return safely, although every one of them may be depended upon to make a supreme effort to accomplish its assignment. The casualties among carrier pigeons in oattle are heavy. Many of them are shot down; some fall into the hands of the enemy. At Fort Monmouth are several birds that achieved distinction in the World War. “President Wilson” lost a leg in the St. Mihiel offensive when it was trying to get back to its loft from one of the tanks in No Man’s Land. In the same operations, Spike, another of the surviving birds, is credited with having carried fifty-three messages from the front-line units to the home loft. Another pigeon with a famous record is Mocker. It received a number of serious wounds and lost one eye in the St. Mihiel offensive. Among the birds at Fort Monmouth are also several that were captured from the German Army.