The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1919-06-17
GREAT WAR WORK
j. Of o.: PIGEONS [; | !: ! n ) ON
! Land and SEA.
Carriers Of Vital Messages Ever
:. Since Battle Of Marine :.
/ -. in 1914 -
u:BoAT IS TRAPPED BY BIRD
News From Trenches Taken at Full
Speed to Headquarters and Supply
lines-Information Gained =
= From Captured Pigeons. =

Speed to Headquarters and Supply
= Lines-Information Gained =
= From Captured Pigeons. =,
Paris.-At the Ternes gate of Paris
may be seen memorial, the work of
Bartholdi, on which, is inscribed:
"Monument to the Balloonists and Car
rier Pigeons of 1870" What memorial
Will acknowledge the services of car
rler pigeons in the worlds war of 1914
1913 remains to be seen, but their work
amid barrage fire, bursting shra pnel,
the zip-zip Of machine-gun bullets and
the death destroying gases was Of
enormous value.
Carrier pigeons were used on all the
battlefronts but their best work was
on the western front, from the chan
mel to the Swiss border and from the
Alps to the Adriatic gulf. They car
ried messages at the Marine, when the
Huns were driven back by Marshal
JOfre. Hundreds were used in the
battle Of the User, in Flanders, when
the Belgians and the French halted
the German advance; and they made
many and frequent trips in the first
battle Of Ypres, in the drive on the
channel ports when the British, French
and Belgians stopped the Germans de-
cisively in the final battle at the close
Of 1914. They aided in the capture OF
Neuve Chapelle by the British and
they died in numbers with the British
TOmmies at the second battle of Ypres,
when the Germans advanced toward
the User canal using for the first time
poisonous gas. Again the birds did
valiant service when the French tried
to break through in the Champagne in
the fall Of 1915, and in the whole
series Of the Verdun attacks lasting
through July, oftentimes the only CON-
municatiOns with men in advanced sta
lions were the dogs that crept through
the barrages and the carrier pigeons
that returned with messages. Where
telephone and wireless broke down,
and men could not survive the storm
of. shell fire, it is recorded that 81 per
cent Of the messages carried by carrier
pigeons came safely through. Unof-
fetal figures place the number Of car
rier pigeons used In the war at half q
million birds.
Told Of German Retreat.
When the Germans retired to the
"Hindenburg line," it was carrier pig
cons carried forward into the front
advance lines that brought back the
news Of the retirement long before
telephone communication could be es-
tablished. Through the whole area,
1900 square miles, on a front Of 100
miles from Arras to Scissors, carrier
pigeons did their work effectively. And
wherever the Americans fought, at
Cantigny, "Chateau-Thierry, Torcy,
Bouresches, Belleau wood, Conde-en-
Brie, Buzancy, Jaulgonne, Fere-en-Tar-
denois, Bligne, Cierges, Villers-Argron,
,Fismes, Frapelle, Bazoches, Juvigny,
st. Mihiel, Argonne forest-carricr
pigeons were likewise on the job.
AS carrier pigeons were used on
land, they did similar duty in the air
from airplanes' and on and over the
sea. It was estimated that close to g.
600 messages passed through the head.
quarters Of the British naval pigeon
service-which has been used for send
ing information since medieval days.
In the war which brought Germany to
her knees the work Of carrier pigeons
has not been fully told. Here are some
Of the things they did:
A carrier pigeon aided in capturing
q U-boat and her crew. A coast watch
er on one Of the lOneliest parts Of the
west coast at shutdown saw the tip of
q periscope arise and then the coming
tower of U-boat. The underwater
boat stopped, and the officers and crew
were seen on deck. The lookout man
tied a note bearing the information to
the leg of carrier pigeon and released
It from his basket. The next morning
German submarine, which had run
out Of gasoline, and its officers and
crew were taken to a naval subbase.
Wounded; Carries Message.
"A British patrol boat was discov-
cred by a German submarine and tor
pedoed and shelled. The skipper, hav-
ing on board a carrier pigeon, wrote
brief message, telling his position and
what had happened. AS the boat
sank, the skipper began swimming for
some wreckage to cling to. The pigeon
went up gradually in spiral, and the
Germans, seeing it. began shooting at
the bird. The skipper, drifting on the
wreckage, gave up hope when he saw
the bird had been hit. Twenty miles
away, however, it lighted on patrol
ling destroyer, it's silver-gray plumage
specked with blood, its tail feathers
shot away, and one Of its wings wound
! ed. The commanding officer read the
4message, the destroyer was rushed at
full speed to the place indicated, and
within three-quarters Of an hour from
the time that the pigeon was sent of,
the officers and crew of the patrol were