Animals suffered in the First World War, too

HORSES, dogs and other beasts of burden were deployed in the First World War and suffered terribly.

Horses pull a British army ambulance wagonGETTY

Horses pull a British army ambulance wagon on the Western Front

In the 1982 novel War Horse by Michael Morpurgo, set during the First World War and now immortalised in the play of the same name, one of the characters says, “I tell you, my  friend, there’s divinity in a horse and... to find a horse like this in the middle of this filthy abomination of a war is for me like finding a butterfly on a dung heap.”

Which makes it all the more shocking that between 1914 and 1918 so many equines died in a conflict wrought by those who professed to hold these animals in such high esteem.  

Animals were used in the First World War on a scale never seen before and never to be repeated.

It was not only horses that were required to make the ultimate sacrifice: a surprising array of different beasts saw active deployment, both at the front line and on the home front.

They were engaged in a range of activities; some deadly serious, others laughable with hindsight but all calculated to help their masters secure victory.  

Man’s love affair with the horse goes back more than 5,000 years to when the first wild ones were domesticated on the steppes of Central Asia.

As beasts of burden and transportation, horses were soon an integral part of everyday life.

Inevitably they found themselves pressed into military service, from pulling battle chariots for the Sumerians, Romans and Iceni queen Boudicca – whose own chariot was probably harnessed to a pair of native British hill ponies – through carrying medieval knights in heavy armour to the ill-fated charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava in 1854.

Times were changing but at the outbreak of war in 1914 every major army still had sizeable cavalry regiments.

Military requirements were such that large numbers of extra horses were compulsorily requisitioned for the war effort, leading to heartbreaking scenes as beloved pets and trusted working animals were led away to the front.

It was not only horses that were required to make the ultimate sacrifice

“We are writing for our pony,” pleaded Poppy, Lionel and Freda Hewlett in a letter to British War Secretary Lord Kitchener in August 1914, “which we are very afraid may be taken for your army. Please spare her.”

On this occasion Lord Kitchener showed humanity and Betty the pony was reprieved.  

Few animals were so lucky.

Thousands of horses, mules and donkeys were transported to the front to be used for hauling supplies, artillery and other equipment.

Not only were they vulnerable to being killed or injured in crossfire but they were often deliberately targeted by the enemy to weaken supply chains and morale.

Conditions for man and beast alike were atrocious, with as many dying from accidents, disease and drowning in the mud as from weapon fire.

The Flanders fields were soon littered with the corpses of not only soldiers but also their dead and dying horses.  

While horses did most of the heavy work, other animals were entrusted with more discrete activities.

Dogs were trained to perform a variety of tasks, often in extremely dangerous circumstances.

Bloodhounds searched for wounded soldiers while other breeds ran between the lines carrying messages, sniffing out mines and even laying new electric lines between trenches via freewheeling spools attached to their backs or flanks.

Dogs were popular military mascots, joining an elite band that included more outlandish creatures like the koala taken to Egypt by Australian troops.  

One of the most famous mascots was Winnipeg, the black bear brought to England in 1915 by a Canadian cavalry officer en route to France.

Rather than subject “Winnie” to the horrors of the front, the decision was taken to leave her in the relative calm of London Zoo where she later became the inspiration for AA Milne’s Winnie-the- Pooh and died peacefully in 1934.  

The most decorated dog of the First World War was Stubby, a Boston bull terrier who attained the rank of sergeant in the US army.

Stubby played an active role in 17 engagements, was injured twice, and valued especially for his ability to give early warning to his human comrades of surprise gas attacks.

He was later received officially by President Woodrow Wilson in recognition of his war record.  

Dogs were sometimes used to transport carrier pigeons to the front line in special baskets.

Pigeons flew to and fro with messages between the front line and HQ, an essential means of contact when wireless and field telegraph were always breaking down.

Major Richardson and his trusty bloodhounds GETTY

Major Richardson and his trusty bloodhounds

A bird named Cher Ami (Dear Friend) was awarded the French Croix de Guerre for delivering 12 vital messages during the Battle of Verdun in 1916, once covering 25 miles in 25 minutes.

Shot through the chest, blinded and minus a leg, she still completed her last mission before being sent home in glory to New Jersey where she died of her wounds. Stuffed for posterity, she is now on display in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC.

Pigeons did more than carry messages.

The Germans trialled “spy doves”, fitted with cameras timed to take photographs at intervals as the birds circled – hopefully, at least – over the British lines.

Less random but more curious perhaps was the use of glowworms by soldiers as a means of reading maps and letters from their families and sweethearts in the gloom of the trenches.

The glowworms were kept in jam jars specially for this.

Meanwhile other animals saw wartime service much closer to home.

The removal of so many horses from Britain led farmers and tradesmen to seek alternative beasts of burden.

Many of these were liberated from zoos and circuses, such as a pair of llamas who were drafted in to help deliver the post in Basingstoke.

One of the most exotic stand-ins was Lizzie the elephant, a seasoned circus performer who left the big top to lumber through the streets of Sheffield pulling a cart of scrap iron.

She was even given a special pair of boots to protect her feet from sharp objects on the ground.

Other elephants made for an incongruous sight in the fields of Surrey as they pulled ploughs and helped out with the harvest.

Welfare concerns over the use of animals on battlefields became an increasingly political issue as the First World War dragged on.

Although censorship shielded eyes at home from the real horror, the RSPCA and Blue Cross were busy fundraising to support the network of field hospitals set up in France to care for injured horses and dogs.

Of the estimated one million horses sent to the front by the British, more than 900,000 failed to return.

Not all died in active conflict either.

By the time peace was signed in 1918 many animals were simply too exhausted or broken to go on.

Expensive to feed and transport home, thousands were simply shot where they stood.

With meat in desperately short supply, their carcasses were often sold to local butchers.

The role played by animals in wartime remained largely un acknowledged until 2004 when the Animals In War Memorial was unveiled by the Princess Royal on Park Lane, London.

The result of a national campaign that raised more than £2million, the memorial stands as a tribute to the vast army of creatures who paid the ultimate price.

Its poignant epitaph reads “This monument is dedicated to all the animals that served and died alongside British and allied forces in wars and campaigns throughout time.

"They had no choice.” 

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