The First World War saw huge leaps and bounds in the development of technological warfare,
but it also made unprecedented demands on what many might see as archaic methods of
fighting. Sure, there were tanks, planes, and machine guns, but the actual fighting
still depended on the physical and emotional suffering and sacrifice of men, and those
men, in many many ways, depended on animals. This is their war story.
I’m Indy Neidell; welcome to a Great War special episode about the roles of animals
in the First World War.
It’s nearly impossible for us today to imagine all of the “stuff” that made the war actually
happen. The numbers are staggering. During the Battle of Verdun some 32 million shells
were fired. 32 million. The British, for example, used a total of 250 million shells during
the war, but while these were at some point transported by rail, truck, or boat, hundreds
of thousands of horses, donkeys, oxen, even camels or dogs were also needed just for transport.
Field guns were pulled into position by teams of 6 to 12 horses, the dead and wounded were
carted off in horse drawn ambulances, men at the front needed supplies and these were
often also transported on four legs. Even if you just look at the British army, which
was the most mechanized of the warring forces, it was largely dependent on horsepower. That
army, by the end of the war, had nearly 500,000 horses, which distributed 34,000 tons of meat
and 45,000 tons of bread each month for the troops, but remember, those animals themselves
also needed feeding and watering.
Since the horse was the animal that served in the war in the greatest numbers, let’s
take a look at them first.
At the outbreak of hostilities in 1914, Britain and Germany each had a cavalry of around 100,000
men. These men obviously required a significant number of horses. Now, it’s important to
remember that at that time, all senior military personnel believed in the supremacy of the
cavalry attack. The charge. No one in Europe was contemplating the horrors of trench warfare.
But very soon, like within the first month, that changed, as the armies saw from bitter
experience that the cavalry charge- pitted against machine guns, entrenched positions,
and barbed wire- had become a relic of a bygone era. There was still the occasional charge
though, even in Western Europe, even in the face logic- in March 1918, for example, the
British launched a charge against the Germans- 4 out of 150 horses survived.
But horses were still of primary importance and compared to the early forms of motorized
transport were reliable, so they were used to the point that a total of 8 million horses
died in the war, and horse fodder was, for some nations such as Britain, the single largest
commodity shipped to the front. This in itself caused crises- in 1917, Allied operations
were threatened when German submarine activity restricted the supply of oats from North America,
however, Germany was facing an even worse fodder crisis herself. Sawdust was often mixed
in with horses’ rations to ease hunger and many animals died of starvation.
Horses were also used to boost morale. There were loads of recruitment posters that featured
the bond between man and horse, but while they may have been a morale booster and an
invaluable aid in transport, there were downsides to having such a large equine population in
your army.
The main one being the difficulty of maintaining standards of hygiene around horses. Think
of all the horse manure that was pretty much everywhere, but especially on battlefronts,
which of course was a breeding ground for disease. Manure was supposed to be buried,
but in battle conditions this was often impossible, and often even burying the corpses of horses
was impossible.
Shelter was an issue too. Most horses were simply attached to a picket line without a
roof over their heads. In the winter, this meant that they were subjected to the freezing
elements. Their winter coat was most often clipped short so that any skin diseases could
be easily detected, but this had the unfortunate side effect of taking away their natural source
of warmth. It’s pretty safe to say that the horses were suffering right along with
the soldiers and many of them died from the facts of life on the front- from exhaustion,
drowning, bogged down in the mud, falling in shell holes. They endured poor feeding
and care and poison gas attacks that ruined their lungs.
Actually, when gas warfare began in 1915, nose plugs were improvised for the horses
to allow them to breathe during attacks, and a bit later there were even several types
of gas mask developed specifically for horses, although many horses confused them with feedbags
and destroyed them.
A curiosity was the that better-bred horses were more likely to suffer from shell shock
and act up when exposed to the sights and sounds of war than less-well-bred horses,
who often learned to lie down and take cover at the sound of artillery fire.
Now, transportation by horse was not always possible so donkeys and mules were used instead,
but also elephants were taken from zoos and photographs of them pulling heavy guns were
used to show the people at home that even exotic beasts were “doing their part”
for the war effort. In the Middle East, camels were a common replacement for the horse as
mounts for the cavalry. But the horse was invaluable in pretty much every arena of the
war. Maybe not on submarines or fighter planes, you know what I mean, but they were far from
the only animal that played a large part in the conflict, and here’s a few others.
Really, dogs had a bunch of jobs in the war, especially in the trenches and no-mans land.
Actually, it’s estimated that by 1918 Germany had used over 30,000 dogs in the war and the
allies on the western front had used 20,000 including the most decorated and highly ranked
service dog in military history, the American dog Sergeant Stubby.
The most popular breeds of dogs were medium-sized trainable breeds; two that stand out were
Doberman Pinschers and German Shepherds. Dobermans in particular, who were not only very intelligent
and easy to train, but were also excellent guard dogs, and because of their slight frame,
agility, and dark coat, they could slip through battle terrain without alerting the enemy.
Smaller breeds like terriers were in common use as well, often as “ratters” in the
trenches.
Generally, and depending on their size and training, the roles of dogs in the war fell
into the categories of sentry dogs, scout dogs, casualty dogs, explosives dogs, ratters,
and mascots. Let’s take a look at them:
Sentry dogs. They were patrolled using a short leash and a firm hand. Usually trained to
accompany one specific soldier and taught to give a warning signal, a growl or a bark,
when an unknown or suspect presence was in a secure area.
Scout dogs. Highly trained and by necessity of a quiet, disciplined nature. They worked
together with foot patrols and were exceptionally useful since they could pick up enemy scent
1,000 yards away. Unlike sentry dogs, they didn’t give an audible signal but would
stiffen and point their tails to indicate that an enemy was coming closer. Great for
avoiding detection.
Casualty dogs. Also known as mercy dogs. First trained in Germany in the late 1800s they
were soon used throughout Europe. Their job was to find the wounded or dying on battlefields.
They were equipped with medical supplies so wounded soldiers could help themselves and
tend to their own wounds. They were also tasked with keeping the more gravely wounded soldiers
company as they died.
Messenger dogs. These proved to be as reliable as soldiers in the dangerous job of running
messages. In many ways, they were actually better than humans. People were large targets
weighed down by uniforms and equipment. Vehicles broke down. Phone lines were easily damaged.
Dogs were fast and could go over pretty much any terrain.
Mascots. For men stuck living the horrors of trench warfare, having a dog was a psychological
comfort that could relieve, even briefly, the everyday suffering of the war. Actually,
little side note here- it’s said that Adolf Hitler kept a dog with him in the trenches.
So dogs were very much a multi-purpose animal in the war. But one animal that had a specific
role was the pigeon.
Telephones broke down and radio was still in its childhood, so pigeons, homing pigeons,
were essential for relaying messages. Actually, in Britain, killing or wounding a homing pigeon
was punishable by six months imprisonment, that’s how much they were valued.
One Pigeon named ‘Cher Ami’ (Dear Friend) was awarded the Croix de Guerre avec Palme
for her assistance in saving 194 American soldiers trapped behind German lines in 1918.
She made it back to her loft despite having been shot through the breast, blinded in one
eye, covered in blood, and with a leg hanging only by a tendon.
She was only one of the 100,000 homing pigeons used to carry messages to and from the trenches
between 1914 and 1918. Where other methods failed, pigeons had a success rate of 95%.
The Germans eventually began to bring hawks to the front lines to hunt the homing pigeons.
True story.
(CONCLUSION) It’s something that is easily forgotten
when you think of the war, that in addition to the millions upon millions of fighting
men, there were millions of animals serving their nations, in conditions as bad or even
worse than those of the soldiers. It’s something that was NOT forgotten by the men of 100 years
ago though, and while it might seem silly to some today to give an animal military honors,
it might not seem as silly if that animal had saved your life, your comrades’ lives,
or won the day for you, perhaps at the cost of its own life. Any sort of survival for
the men of the Great War would quite simply have been impossible without the four-legged
or feathered soldiers.
What’s your take on the help of animals in the war? Is it just another proof that
the Great War was the end to all humanity or were these just a necessity? Let us know
in the comments.
If you want to know more about the horrors of the trenches for the actual soldiers that
fought there and were so reliant on animal support, click here to check out our special
episode about trench warfare.
Don’t forget to subscribe and see you next week.