War pigeonFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to:
navigation,
searchPigeons have played an important role in wars for a long time. They were often used as military messengers, thanks to their homing ability, speed and altitude. Other uses were examined after
World War II.
| DEFENCE OF THE REALM |
| Regulation 21A |
|
| SHOOTING |
| HOMING PIGEONS |
|
Killing, wounding or molesting homing pigeons
is punishable under the
Defence of the Realm Regulations by
Six Months Imprisonment or £100 Fine |
The public are reminded that homing pigeons
are doing valuable work for the government,
and are requested to assist in the
suppression of the shooting of these birds.
|
| £5 Reward |
will be paid by the National Homing Union
for information leading to the conviction
of any person
SHOOTING HOMING PIGEONS
the property of its members. |
Information should be given to the Police, Military Post or to
the Secretary of the Union, C C Plackett, 14, East Parade, Leeds |
//
[edit] Nineteenth centuryMain article:
Pigeon postIn 1871 during the
Franco-Prussian War when
Paris was surrounded by
Prussian troops,
hot air balloons were used to transport
homing pigeons past enemy lines.
Microfilm images were then taken of hundreds of messages, allowing letters to be carried back into Paris by the pigeons from as far away as
London. More than one million different messages travelled this way during the four month siege.
[edit] World War I
German camera pigeon (probably aerial reconnaissance in WW I)
Homing pigeons were used extensively during
World War I. In 1914 during the
First Battle of the Marne, the French army had 72
pigeon lofts which advanced with the troops.
The
US Army Signal Corps alone used 600 pigeons in
France. One of their
homing pigeons, a Black Check cock called
Cher Ami, was awarded the
French "
Croix de Guerre with Palm" for heroic service delivering 12 important messages in
Verdun. On his final mission in October 1918, he delivered a message despite having been shot through the breast or wing. The crucial message, found in the capsule hanging from a
ligament of his shattered leg, saved around 200 US soldiers of the 77th Infantry Division's "Lost Battalion".
[edit] World War II and later
Left: Swiss homing pigeon service sergeant major, Women's Military Service, uniform of 1986
During
World War II, the
United Kingdom used about 250,000 homing pigeons. The
Dickin Medal, which is the highest possible animal's decoration for valor, was awarded to 32 pigeons, including the
United States Army Pigeon Service's G.I. Joe and the Irish pigeon Paddy.
The UK maintained the
Air Ministry Pigeon Section in
World War II and for a while thereafter. A Pigeon Policy Committee made decisions about the uses of pigeons. The Head of the section, Lea Rayner, reported in 1945 that:
"We can now train pigeons to 'home' to any object on the ground when air-released in the vicinity... Bacteria might be delivered accurately to a target by this means,"
"With the latest developments of explosives and bacterial science I suggest that this possibility should be closely investigated and watched."
"A thousand pigeons, each with a two ounce explosive capsule, landed at intervals on a specific target might be a seriously inconvenient surprise."
The ideas were not taken up by the committee, and in 1948 the UK military stated that pigeons were of no further use.
However, the UK security service
MI5 was still concerned about the use of pigeons by enemy forces. In order to prepare
countermeasures, they arranged for 100 birds to be looked after by a civilian
pigeon fancier, up until 1950.
موضوع: War pigeon 
الأحد 16 أغسطس 2009 - 9:55
