Pigeons in Warfare.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3853, 3 December 1917, Page 4

Pigeons in Warfare.

It is not generally known that all the armies and navies of the world can fall back on official pigeons, if necessary, and that the birds belonging to the British Navy have their official standing and numbers just as the handymen have.

During the Boer War our Army had its carrier-pigeon system. The birds brought messages from all the towns beleaguered by the Boer invaders, and when Sir George White's force was cooped up in Ladysmith winged messengers carried several despatches from that gallant officer to the men who were slowly fighting their way to his relief.

The first war in which pigeons were used as messengers was the Franco-Prussian, and the birds carried news into and out of besieged Paris. A post was established at Tours, and right through the siege regular mails were carried between Paris and Tours by pigeons.