The Tupelo journal., 1917-08-17
IN WAR;
Horses, Dogs and Pigeons Have
Played important Part.
Even the Elephant and the Sea Gull
Figure In Events of an Unusual
Nature on Land and Water.

E WMNsN& 0-" W
When the historian writes the story
OF the world wal he will devote several
chapters to the work Of animals and
birds, for they have played their part
in it, and we'll. Dogs, horses, carrier
pigeons We're modified early and even
a use has been found for elephants
the work Of heavy hauling.
Two stories of an unusual sort tell
how an angry elephant butted into q
skirmish and made both sides retreat,
stopping the fighting for a time, and
how sea gulls saved a British cruiser
with 500 men on board from a German
submarine.
The scene of the elephant story was
in West Africa. A skirmish had been
going on for some time when suddenly
out of the jungle came an angry ele-
plant between the two ~contending
parties. The elephant charged one
side, then the other. The soldiers on
both sides ~retreated to await a more
favorable opportunity to resume the
fight.
The British cruiser which was saved
by a flock of sea gulls was proceeding
on it's course when a bluejacket called
the attention of the officer on duty to
a c0mmotiOD among the sea gulls not
far away. When the sea gulls arose a
periscope was seen a moment later a
zigzag course took the warship out of
danger.
Practically all the European nations
now at war have made use of dogs
on the battlefield attached to the am
bulance corps, as dispatch carriers, on
patrol duty at farladvanced outposts,
as drawers of quick-fring guns and
as aids in taking their masters fam
lilies out of the line of invasion and
into places of refuge.
In their devotion to duty thousands
upon thousands of dogs have given up
their lives. Some day, some time,
somewhere, somebody will erect a
monument to the memory of the great
work they did in the a
3 Although the modern general goes to
war in an auto, horses still play a tre-
mendous part in the war. How great
has beenlthe wastage of horse flesh is
told in a brief report of the British
war office. which mentioned that the
Fife OF a war horse in the first year
0s the war was ten days. In the Sec
ond year of the war the mortality was
reduced somewhat.
So far as statistics can be gathered
the first six months of the war called
for the following numbers of horses
by the various nations: Germany,
for complete mobilization of the
army, 100000; French cavalry. $4,000
Figures for the other branches of the
service not atailabie) I; for the British
army, 2Ota,OOO; Austria, 25O,000, and
Russia because of her lack of railways,
l 100000
Carrier pigeons have done sconspicu-
ous work In tl.ds war, living up to their
reputation in the Franco-Prussian and
other wars in which they were en-
ployed. In the siege of Paris, it will
be recalled, micrDphotographs of mill
AIRY dispatches aud even newspapers
were printed upon films Of collodion
md carried by the birds. AS soon as
a message was received it was en-
arged by pffotogra .phers and made
legible.
With telephone and telegraph wires
tut carrier pigeons at times are inyal-
liable. Spies with carrier pigeons con-
cealed in fishing baskets, the men
themselves pretending to be simple
fishermen, hive been mum erous.