|
|
Pigeon People/ Military Collectors:
Currently looking for anything related to U.S.WWI and WWII pigeon service items.
Pigeon cages, parachutes, vests, message books, message capsules, technical manuals, lofts, stationary, even written histories of the birds, photographs...ect. Also wanted: civilian pigeon articles with referrences to military pigeon operations, examples such as National Geographic magazines from 1941-1945 or the Pigeon Times magazines from 1941-1945. If you have anything that you think is related to the pigeon service, please email us and I will contact you ASAP.
Veterans who served in the Signal Corps pigeon service are also encouraged to Email me.
Also interested in Documentation/referrences of women during WWII who had an actual job working in the Army Signal Corps. I would welcome any information related to the above. Eventually, I would like to set up a display and a Living history of the Service and have it historically correct.
Thank you for your emails and I look forward to reading them.
WANTED; BOOK 'THE PIGEONS THAT WENT TO WAR'...WANTED IN ANY CONDITION.
|
| |
The Flying Telegraph, pigeons at war
"A pigeon flies silently through the air. It creates no wave to reveal its presence. For spying and sending secret messages, it will never be replaced."
Early history
As a message carrier, the homing pigeon has played an important role for many thousands of years. From the ancient Egyptians to the Second World War, pigeons were used to communicate vital news. In Ancient Greece, it is said that winners in the Olympic Games dispatched pigeons to announce their victories and in Ancient Rome, the Emperor Nero used pigeons to carry the latest sports results to his family and friends. Over the centuries, pigeon post became a widely used and well-organised system of communication.
With the coming of the electric telegraph and wireless in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the civilian pigeon post began to disappear. It did however, remain a vital means of communication in times of war.
One of the best known examples of the use of pigeons as secret message carriers in wartime is the story of the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian war. From 1870 to 1871 birds were smuggled out by hot air balloon from Paris to Tours and were then released to fly back home to their lofts in Paris with secret messages. The letters they carried were reduced using microphotography so that each bird could carry a message of up to a million words. By this method, 150,000 official messages and 1 million private messages were sent.
First World War
Before the First World War, the Germans were well aware of the importance of the pigeon for secret communications. Before hostilities began, Germany had established a network of pigeon lofts in England which were used to carry secret messages between the two countries. This was discovered when a passenger on a train was seen to release a pigeon that had been concealed in their coat, out of a carriage window. This man was followed and as a result, many secret lofts were discovered throughout England.
By 1916, good use of pigeons was also being made by the British. Messages were put into small containers clipped around the birds' legs and old pre-war London omnibuses were converted into mobile pigeon lofts. Pigeons were carried in aircraft, thanks and submarines as well as patrol boats and mine-sweepers.
Major General Fowler, Chief of the Department of Signals and Communication in the British Army, described the military value of the homing pigeon during the First World War:
" During the quiet periods we can rely on the telephone, telegraph, flag signals, our dogs and various other ways . . . But when the battle rages and everything gives way to barrage and machine gun fire, to say nothing of gas attacks and bombing, it is to the pigeon that we go for succour. When troops are lost, or surrounded in the mazes on the front, or are advancing and yet beyond the known localities, then we depend absolutely on the pigeon for our communications . . . . It is at just such times that we need most messengers that we can rely on. In the pigeons we have them. I am glad to say they have never failed us."
Second World War
At the outbreak of the 1939-1945 World War, the British Government was not only aware of the value of pigeon communication but was well prepared. They decided that pigeons 'recruited' from civilian lofts would be needed for the Army, Navy and Air Force. In total 200,000 pigeons were supplied by private breeders to the National Pigeon Service and 50,000 were bred by the United States army. Birds were used by the Royal Air Force as standard equipment on all bomber and reconnaissance planes and by the army and intelligence services. In a period of three and a half years, a special section of the Army Pigeon service parachuted 16,554 pigeons onto the continent and 1842 returned, many homing to the top storey of a large department store in London's Oxford Street. RAF Bomber Command aircraft carried pigeons during raids over occupied Europe and the birds were on many occasions instrumental in the rescue of aircrew.
Honoured for Outstanding Service
Numerous lives were saved through the bravery of the 'winged messengers', both in cases where individuals or groups were in danger and through the intelligence the birds brought in from enemy held territory. Many valiant pigeons were sadly 'lost' on active duty. Some were decorated with the Dickin medal, the animal version of the Victoria Cross (VC), awarded for outstanding service. This medal was named after Mrs M E Dickin, CBE, who founded the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) and was first awarded in 1943.
The first Dickin medal was awarded to 'Winkie' a bird from Sunderland who escaped from her container when the aircraft carrying it crashed into the sea 120 miles off the Scottish coast. After flyign all night, she arrived home at her loft 129 miles away exhausted and covered in oil from the sea around the crashed plane. Winkie was the first of 32 pigeons to be awarded the Dickin medal.
This story pays testimony to the great service of carrier pigeons in times of war. We can only admire the brave birds that reached home carrying vital messages despite being wounded, shot at and setting out on their journeys from strange, frightening places, often in the midst of battle or in the dark far out at sea. The credit of breeding and handling these courageous birds goes to the civilian British pigeon fanciers who trained and cared for them in the service of their country.
|
Pigeon container and parachute |
| |
Other Animals used in the war efforts
WWI blood hounds used to find wounded soldiers. |
Red Cross Dogs. |
| |
Dogs carrying messages
WWI and WWII dogs were used in the war. This dog is carrying a message tube which was used to transfer messages back and forth from the fronts. |
Dog and a message tube.
|
|
|
