Polk County news. [volume] (Benton, Tenn.) 191?-1983, 1919-06-05
Carriers of Vital Messages Ever
Since Battle of Marine
in 1914.
U-BOAT IS TRAPPED BY Bird
News From Trenches Taken at Full
Speed 10 Headquarters and Supply
Lines-Information Gained
From Captured Pigeons.

Paris.-At the Ternes gate of Paris
may be seen a memorial, the work Of
BarthOldi, on which is inscribed
Monument to the BallOonists and Car
rier Pigeons Of 1870 What memorial
viii acknowledge the services of car
rier pigeons in the worlds war of 1914
1918 remains to be seen, but their work
amid barrage fire, bursting shrapnel,
The zip-Zip Of machine gun bullets and
the death destroying gases was of
enormous value
Carrier pigeons were used on all the
battlefronts bat 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
JOffre. 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 HpreS, in the drive on the
channel ports when the British, French
and BelgianS stopped the Germans de-
cisivey 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 gSs. 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 com |
municatiOns with men in advanced sta
tions were the dogs that crept through |
the barrages and the carrier pigeons !
that returned with messages. Where
telephone and wireless broke down,
9nd 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.
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,
800 square miles, ON front of 100
miles from Arras to scissors, carrier
pigeons did their work effectively. And
wherever the Americans fought, at
Jantigny, ChateauTherry. Torcy,
8ouresches, Relleau wood, Conde-en- :
3rie, Buzancr, JaulgOnne, Fere-en-Tar-
jenOis, Bligne, Cierges, Villers-Argron,
Tismes, Frapelle, Bazoches, Juvigny, l
It, Mihiel, Argonne fOrest-carrier
'igeons were likewise on the job.
carrier pigeon aided in capturing ,
U-boat and her crew. A coast watch
r on one of the lonel1est parts Of the
rest coast at shutdown saw the tip of q
periscope arise and then the coming
over of a U-boat. The underwater
oat stopped and the officers and crew
,ere seen on deck. The lookout man
ed note bearing the information to
ne leg of a carrier pigeon and released
from his basket. The next morning
German submarine, which had run is
ut of gasoline, and its officers and Il
'ew We're taken to a naval sub-baSe. hi
A British patrol boat was discov- D'
'ed by a German submarine and tor III
adoed and shelled. The skipper hav-
e on board carrier pigeon. wrote a G
lief message, telling his position and NJ
hat had happened. AS the boat er
nix the skipper began swimming for al
me wreckage to cling to. The pigeon &c
ent up gradually in a spiral, and the
ermans, seeing it, began shooting at tn
e bird. The skipper, drifting on the NJ
gave up hope when he saw isl
e bird had been. hit. Twenty miles W,
way, however, il lighted on a patrol TT
lg destroyer, its silver-gray plumage de