What animals have been used in war?<\/h2>
But that doesn\u2019t stop\u00a0us from dragging other\u00a0creatures into the fray. History is full of accounts about animals being used in various capacities during\u00a0armed\u00a0conflicts. Sometimes\u00a0they have been \u00a0deployed as living\u00a0weapons, but more often they were used\u00a0as\u00a0messengers, scouts, decoys, shields, rescuers \u00a0or \u00a0simply for company during times of\u00a0immense\u00a0stress and fear.<\/p>
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Many animals \u2013 including dogs, cats, bears and pigeons \u2013 have been given an official rank within the army, air force or navy, or have won medals for demonstrating bravery and devotion during battle or during\u00a0the course of a conflict.<\/p>
Several countries even have dedicated medals for animals:\u00a0Britain has the PDSA Dickin Medal<\/a>, often called the animals’ VC (Victoria Cross), which was first awarded in 1943 (to a pigeon called White Vision, who flew 9 hours though a terrible storm to deliver a message that led to the rescue of a\u00a0downed aircrew). And\u00a0in 2019, the USA instituted the Animals in War & Peace Medal of Bravery. Following is a roll call of a few examples of exceptional animals at war.\u00a0<\/p>
Bears<\/strong><\/h3>
By Imperial War Museum – POLISH FORCES DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR, Public Domain, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=11562927 <\/figcaption> <\/figure> When a contingent of Polish soldiers were travelling through Iran on their way to a posting in the Middle East, they adopted an orphaned\u00a0Syrian brown bear\u00a0whose mother had been\u00a0shot by hunters. The bear, named\u00a0Wojtek,\u00a0became the regiment mascot of the 22nd Transport Artillery Supply Company, Polish II Corps during World War II.\u00a0<\/p>
Despite growing to 6ft\u00a0and reaching\u00a0a weight of about 18 stone (113kg), Wojtek\u00a0remained playful\u00a0and friendly, and was beloved by the\u00a0unit\u2019s soldiers, with whom\u00a0he allegedly drank beer\u00a0and shared cigarettes.<\/p>
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When the company\u00a0was posted to Italy in 1943, Wojtek had to be\u00a0officially enlisted\u00a0in order to accompany them, and he was\u00a0given a service number, a paybook and assigned the rank of Private. During fierce fighting during the\u00a0Battle of Monte Cassino, Wojtek assisted his comrades by carrying heavy shells and boxes of ammunition, a scene later incorporated into the company\u2019s insignia, and he was subsequently promoted to the rank of\u00a0Corporal.<\/p>
After the armistice the unit travelled to Scotland, and Wojtek ended up spending the rest of his days in Edinburgh Zoo, where he passed away in 1963.<\/p>
Dogs<\/strong><\/p>
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2024\/11\/Sergeant-Stubby.jpg\")
By Stubby: Terrier Hero of Georgetown, Public Domain, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=11296399 <\/figcaption> <\/figure> In ancient times,\u00a0the Romans<\/a> and the Greeks reportedly used\u00a0big dog breeds<\/a> such as mastiff breeds\u00a0during battles,\u00a0and the modern Russian army even deployed dogs armed with explosives\u00a0as living anti-tanks weapons\u00a0during the Second World War, but not all stories involving canines in conflict are so bleak. During World War I, dogs were often used to deliver vital messages, and one such animal Stubby \u2013 variously described as a bull terrier or Boston terrier \u2013\u00a0had a particularly eventful war.<\/p>
Stubby started off as the\u00a0unofficial mascot of the\u00a0102nd Infantry Regiment, before being assigned to the 26th (Yankee) Division, where he\u00a0was given the official rank of Private.\u00a0He served for 18 months, taking part in 17 battles and four offensives on the Western Front.<\/p>
Stubby was\u00a0promoted to Sergeant for his services\u00a0during combat, which\u00a0went well beyond delivering messages and included saving his regiment from surprise mustard gas attack, comforting wounded soldiers and even helping to capture a German spy.\u00a0Injured\u00a0several times,\u00a0including\u00a0by gas attacks and a hand grenade explosion, he was awarded a Wound stripe and a Purple Heart.\u00a0<\/p>
Stubby is thought to have been the most decorated war dog of World War I \u2013 he was featured in an exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution and in\u00a02018\u00a0an\u00a0animated film\u00a0was released telling his story:\u00a0Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero<\/em>.<\/p>
Cat<\/strong>s<\/strong><\/h3>
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2024\/11\/Convoy-on-hms-hermione.jpg\")
A group of sailors surround the ship’s cat ‘Convoy’, as he sleeps in a miniature hammock on board HMS Hermione. Getty images <\/figcaption> <\/figure> Notoriously more fickle than canines, cats have taken part in human conflicts over history too. At the Battle of Pelusium in 525 BC, Cambyses II\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Achaemenid king of Persia\u00a0\u2013 \u00a0deployed cats on the front lines because he knew his foe, the\u00a0Egyptians, saw the animals as sacred, and would cease using\u00a0projectile weapons against his men\u00a0for fear of hurting or killing the cats.<\/p>
\u00a0In more modern warfare, cats have often featured as mascots or been used for companionship on warships. One famous feline during World War II was the ship’s cat on HMS\u00a0Hermione<\/em>, christened Convoy because\u00a0of the number of Atlantic convoy escort duties he\u00a0completed.<\/p>
Listed in the ship’s book, Convoy was provided with\u00a0full kit,\u00a0including a little hammock to sleep in.\u00a0Tragically, Convoy\u2019s luck ran out on 16 June 1942, when the\u00a0Hermione<\/em>\u00a0sank with the loss of 87 men and one cat after being torpedoed by German submarine U-205.<\/p>
Elephant<\/strong>s<\/strong>
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2024\/11\/Elephants-at-war.jpg\")
Getty images <\/figcaption> <\/figure> The Carthaginian general Hannibal\u00a0famously used\u00a0elephants in his battles with the Romans, even taking several through the Pyrenees, across the Alps\u00a0and along valley of the Rh\u00f4ne to mount a surprise attack on his enemies\u00a0(although it\u2019s questionable whether any of the elephants taken on that journey\u00a0actually\u00a0survived the trip).\u00a0<\/p>
War elephants<\/a>\u00a0were certainly used \u2013 a bit like tanks \u2013 during conflicts in antiquity, across large parts of Asia, including China and India and around the Mediterranean. As warfare and weapons developed, however, their use in battle situations declined, and in more modern\u00a0times, elephants<\/a> have been employed\u00a0more like all-terrain tractors, to move heavy objects around (including towing airplanes into position).<\/p>
Notably, during World War II, local authorities in\u00a0Hamburg, Germany, used two\u00a0circ<\/p>
us elephants\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Kiri and Many\u00a0\u2013\u00a0to clear the wreckage\u00a0left after\u00a0Allied bombing raids.<\/p>
Camels\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2024\/11\/camels-at-war.jpg\")
Getty images <\/figcaption> <\/figure> Blessed with huge amounts of endurance and strength, and able to travel large distances through very arid\u00a0and challenging\u00a0terrain, camels have been used during conflict for centuries, and\u00a0during World War I,\u00a0the \u2018ships of the desert\u2019\u00a0were employed by both sides.<\/p>
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Interestingly,\u00a0camels\u00a0played a key role in one of the most diverse and unusual\u00a0military units ever cobbled together. First assembled in 1916, the\u00a0Imperial Camel Corps was a camel-mounted infantry force\u00a0that eventually comprised four battalions, with camel-mounted troops from Australia, New Zealand, Britain, India, Hong Kong and Singapore.<\/p>
A fast, cheap and an incredibly effective way to send messages back from the frontline during conflicts, pigeons were used extensively by all sides in the major conflicts of the first half of the 20th century.<\/p>
Operating in the deserts of the Middle East and African, they played a significant part in several campaigns during the conflict, including in Palestine and Sinai.\u00a0At\u00a0full strength, the brigade boasted about 4,000 camels, which were used to\u00a0transport troops and equipment (the soldiers would dismount before engaging in fighting)\u00a0but also, crucially, to evacuate wounded soldiers from the battlefield, using stretchers placed on each side of the animal\u2019s humps.<\/p>
Pigeons<\/strong><\/h3>
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2024\/11\/pigeons-at-war.jpg\")
By Swiss Federal Archives, CH-SFA#E27#1000\/721#14095#4508* \/ CC-BY-SA 3.0\/CH <\/figcaption> <\/figure> There are myriad stories about heroic homing pigeons battling the elements and evading enemy fire to deliver crucial history-making missives, but one of the best involves an\u00a0African-born\u00a0American bird called G.I. Joe, who was fortuitously found by British soldiers and single handedly prevented a catastrophic incident of friendly fire.<\/p>
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After occupying a new position\u00a0in the\u00a0village of Calvi Vecchia, Italy,\u00a0the 56th (London) Infantry Division\u00a0was separated from their comrades and exposed to an imminent American-led saturation-stylebombing run.\u00a0Joe was dispatched with a message and\u00a0flew 20 miles in 20\u00a0minutes to the Allied headquarters, alerting the and U.S. Air Force to the troops\u2019 new location and saving the lives of over 100 men. He was subsequently awarded\u00a0both\u00a0the Dickin Medal of Gallantry\u00a0by the UK and (posthumously) the\u00a0Animals in War & Peace Medal of Bravery\u00a0<\/a>by the US.<\/p>
Whales and dolphins<\/strong><\/h3>
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