|
#1
●
05-28-2009, 11:37 PM
|
 Cunt Poster Rank:159 Was für eine Scheiße Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 10,432 10,432Posts 1,921Thanked 16Quoted 0Mentioned 0Contrib. |
|
WWI - "The Forgotten Heroes"
ANIMALS AT WAR HORSES Horses were heavily used in World War One. Horses were involved in the war's first military conflict involving Great Britain - a cavalry attack near Mons in August 1914. Horses were primarily to be used as a form of transport during the war. When the war broke out in Western Europe in August 1914, both Britain and Germany had a cavalry force that each numbered about 100,000 men. Such a number of men would have needed a significant number of horses but probably all senior military personnel at this time believed in the supremacy of the cavalry attack. In August 1914, no-one could have contemplated the horrors of trench warfare - hence why the cavalry regiments reigned supreme. In fact, in Great Britain the cavalry regiments would have been seen as the senior regiments in the British Army, along with the Guards regiments, and very many senior army positions were held by cavalry officers. However, the cavalry charge seen near Mons was practically the last seen in the war. Trench warfare made such charges not only impractical but impossible. A cavalry charge was essentially from a bygone military era and machine guns, trench complexes and barbed wire made such charges all but impossible. However, some cavalry charges did occur despite the obvious reasons as to why they should not. In March 1918, the British launched a cavalry charge at the Germans. By the Spring of 1918, the war had become more fluid but despite this, out of 150 horses used in the charge only 4 survived. The rest were cut down by German machine gun fire. However, though a cavalry charge was no longer a viable military tactic, horses were still invaluable as a way of transporting materials to the front. Military vehicles, as with any mechanised vehicles of the time, were relatively new inventions and prone to problems. Horses, along with mules, were reliable forms of transport and compared to a lorry needed little upkeep. Such was the use of horses on the Western Front, that over 8 million died on all sides fighting in the war. Two and a half million horses were treated in veterinary hospitals with about two million being sufficiently cured that they could return to duty. DOGS Dogs had a vital part to play in World War One as the complexes of trenches spread throughout the Western Front. Dogs were used as messengers and proved to be as reliable as soldiers in the dangerous job of running messages. The complexities of trench warfare meant that communication was always a problem. Field communication systems were crude and there was always the very real possibility that vital messages from the front would never get back to headquarters or vice versa. Human runners were potentially large targets and weighed down by uniforms there was a chance that they would not get through. In the heat of a battle, there was even less of a chance of a runner getting through as the enemy's artillery was likely to be pounding your frontline and the area behind it. Vehicles were also problematic as they could breakdown or the 'roads' could have been reduced to a mushy pulp and travel on them made impossible. Dogs were the obvious solution to this pressing problem. A trained dog was faster than a human runner, presented less of a target to a sniper and could travel over any terrain. Above all, dogs proved to be extremely reliable if they were well trained. A dog training school was established in Scotland and a recruit from this school traveled over 4000 metres on the Western Front with an important message to a brigade's headquarters. The dog traveled this distance (war records classed it as "very difficult" terrain) in less than sixty minutes. All other methods of communicating with the headquarters had failed - but the dog had got through. Dogs also had another role to play on the Western Front. For men trapped in the horrors of trench warfare, a dog in the trenches (whether a messenger dog or not) was a psychological comfort that took away, if only for a short time, the horrors they lived through. It is said that Adolf Hitler kept a dog with him in the German trenches. For many soldiers on any of the sides that fought in the trenches, a dog must have reminded them of home comforts. PIGEONS Pigeons played a vital part in World War One as they proved to be an extremely reliable way of sending messages. Such was the importance of pigeons that over 100,000 were used in the war with an astonishing success rate of 95% getting through to their destination with their message. Pigeons were used extensively in World War One. Man-made communication systems were still crude and unreliable, so dogs and pigeons were used. Pigeons would have been found just about anywhere on the Western Front. At the First Battle of the Marne in 1914, French troops stopped the German advance on Paris. As the French troops advanced and pushed back the Germans, so their pigeons advanced with them. In the heat and disorientation of battle, pigeons proved to be the best way of sending messages to the French headquarters. At the Marne, the French had 72 pigeon lofts. As the French advanced, the lofts advanced with them - but many of the pigeons were 'on duty' carrying messages and could never have known where their loft had moved to. Incredibly, all the pigeons at the Marne returned to their lofts - despite the fact that they would have flown 'blind' not knowing where their loft was. This ability to get home was vital for those who used them as messengers. A pigeon's great strength was not only its extraordinary homing instinct but also the speed at which it flew. Shooting one down would have been all but impossible. In many senses, a pigeon would always get through. The only natural way to counter them was to bring birds of prey to the front line and let one of nature's great battles occur. A falcon could bring down a pigeon - a marksman almost certainly could not. An apocryphal tale about pigeons is as follows: In October 1918, as the war neared its end, 194 American soldiers found themselves trapped by German soldiers. They were cut off from other Allied soldiers and had no working radios. The only chance they had of alerting anybody about their desperate situation was to send a pigeon with their co-ordinates attacked to its leg. The pigeon's name was Cher Ami. When released it flew 25 miles from behind German lines to the Americans headquarters. Cher Ami covered the 25 miles in just 25 minutes. The pigeon was, in fact, shot through the chest by the Germans but continued to fly home. With the "Lost Battalion's" co-ordinates, the Americans launched a rescue and the 194 men were saved. Cher Ami was awarded the Croix de Guerre with Palm for its astonishing flight. As with other pigeons, it would not have known where the American's nearest headquarters was - its natural homing instincts took over.  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  · |
|
#3
●
05-29-2009, 12:07 AM
|
| Cunt Poster Rank:159 Was für eine Scheiße Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 10,432 10,432Posts 1,921Thanked 16Quoted 0Mentioned 0Contrib. |
|
Re: WWI - "The Forgotten Heroes"
Yeah, it's a mobile coop for the carrier pigeons... All these pics are actually labelled but it doesn't matter because for some reason nothing comes up when you stick the cursor over them...  Anyway, I like the dog who is wearing the Iron Cross for saving his whole brigade by alerting them to a night time Russian attack... I thought that was cute - pets win prizes kinda thing...But you see what I mean? I get bored, I uneash the pigeons...!  |
|
#4
●
05-29-2009, 12:30 AM
|
 Super ********* Poster Rank:90 Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 17,370 17,370Posts 13,738Thanked 99Quoted 5Mentioned 0Contrib. |
|
Re: WWI - "The Forgotten Heroes"
when someone posts, if the pictures are too big, they get downsized and you can click on them and they show in full size, these pix get shown first then below that you'll get the pix which are small, and you cant click on those to see them "regular size" the pix that have been resized than you can click on, if you hover your mouse over you can see details of the pics the pix which are too small to click on for their original size, those ones you cant hover over, but if you save them, you see the details in the pic name :) anyway, that pigeon truck pic is great, i love these kinda threads |
|
#5
●
05-29-2009, 01:01 AM
|
| Cunt Poster Rank:159 Was für eine Scheiße Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 10,432 10,432Posts 1,921Thanked 16Quoted 0Mentioned 0Contrib. |
|
Re: WWI - "The Forgotten Heroes"
Pardon?!! Okay, so you save the pix, you get the description?! Right - so it's not all doom and gloom then? Because I actually spent ages giving them titles for once!  |
|
#6
●
05-29-2009, 01:08 AM
|
| Super ********* Poster Rank:90 Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 17,370 17,370Posts 13,738Thanked 99Quoted 5Mentioned 0Contrib. |
|
Re: WWI - "The Forgotten Heroes"
if anyone right click and saves the pic, the description of what is going on in the pic will be in the file name or f they right click and go to properties. i'll be doing the first of the two options when i am sober again |
|
#7
●
05-29-2009, 01:11 AM
|
| Cunt Poster Rank:159 Was für eine Scheiße Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 10,432 10,432Posts 1,921Thanked 16Quoted 0Mentioned 0Contrib. |
|
Re: WWI - "The Forgotten Heroes"
Para, apart from you nobody else is going to save a bunch of camels and carrier pigeons...! Nobody will read a word I've said - a lot of people seem to have an aversion to reading descriptions! But I'm glad at least that you like my camels and pigeons...  |
|
#9
●
05-29-2009, 03:00 PM
|
| Cunt Poster Rank:159 Was für eine Scheiße Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 10,432 10,432Posts 1,921Thanked 16Quoted 0Mentioned 0Contrib. |
|
Re: WWI - "The Forgotten Heroes"
Why thanks Smackem! I'm gald you also appreciate my pigeons! I'm now gonna go and give you your explanation of why I gave you public step by step instructions on how to draw cartoon fruit... It may take a while because I'll have to think of a reason first... Did you try it out though?! |
|
#10
●
05-31-2009, 11:55 AM
|
| Cunt Poster Rank:159 Was für eine Scheiße Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 10,432 10,432Posts 1,921Thanked 16Quoted 0Mentioned 0Contrib. |
|
Re: WWI - "The Forgotten Heroes"
Thank you Smackem!! But I do believe somewhere I saw you call me a softy!! I must go find this and respond in a suitably unsoft way! I am not a softy at all - I just do not like glass in ones arse hole!!! Mags no softy - Smackem ruins street cred!!!  |
