El Nuevo mexicano., 1920-02-19
Unhonored, Unsung,
Four-F Footed Legion's
Part iii Great War
LFrom w PhIIadelphla BulletIn.

W r. W LAW = MTTT-E."N FL
unhonored and nnsungs bearing lndescrlb
able fortunes with dumb faithfulness to the
Eend, they gave their lives by the mllli0nf
that the fight might be won
This is a tribute paid to the legion Of
dogs, horses and other nimal engaged 40
the world war. It was spoken BY Ernest
Harold Baynes, naturalist, writer ana 5ec'
turer, who has just returned from a trip
through Europe, Egypt and the Palestine,
sixteen million horses served said Mr.,
Baynds. III was terrible work that the
horses had to do. Night after night. for
iexnmnie, thousands Of them, after heart
breaking work hauling guns through deep
mud, lathefed with sweat would stand all
night up to their sides In cold damp water,
warmed only by their blood when q Ger
man she'll exploded In their midst.
DOCS WE'RE HEROES, TOO.
Untold thousands Of dogs were killed,
along with mules donkeys, Oxen, camels.
reindeer, pigeons and canaries,
Even goldfish, the last thing In the
world one would suspect as being Of mar
tihl value, Joined In tho fight against the
Germans. They were used To determine
whether or not water had been poisoned.
1T ID impossible to estinlate the vast
number OF dogs who waged battle. The
Italians used 10000 n the Alps alone Most
Of these were mongrel St, Demands. Others
were used on the battle lines as c~opriers.
Such dogs had to be swift, but 1t was found
that thoroughbred dogs, like greyhouads,
while fast, did not have sufficient brains,
10 here, too, the best dogs, with the excep
tion Of ~collies. were mongrels or cross
breeds between swift dog aud one with
brains,
DOGS WORE GAS MASKS.
owing to their superior eyesight and
hearing they we're used also as sentries and
Tor petrol duty. They wore gas masks and
were trained by repeated firing Of blank
cartridges nto TO fear the noise Of the
guae. / have seen them running casually
into the face Of q battery Of firing field
pieces.
More than two hundred and twenty thou
sand pigeons were used by the allies. They
made up an Indispensable messenger SCI
vice from the front line trenches, tanks,
submarines, trawlers and airplanes, Pilot
of Belgian seaplanes refused to go out
without them.
Canaries played an important part. Often
III the tranches the first faint wave of q
gas attack was not noticed by the men, TIL
heavy cloud OF the poison would then come
Suddenly, giving no time Tor adjusting gas
masks. Canaries, however. were very sen
sitive to the faintest wlsp of the gas, They
would become excited, fluttering against
the bars OF their cages, thus warming the
5oidiefs OF the impending attack in sufft
cient time.
PRAISE FOR ARMY NIUE.
"And OH the army mules. ] have yet to
meet any officer or man who did not have
o good word to say for them. They won
tho war for Italy said many an Italian
artillery officer, whose guns were placed
only with their strong aid.
General Allenhy used forty thousand
camels III the Palestine campaign against
the Turks. While Of tremendous efficiency
they were hard 10 manage. They were VI
cioas and one could never tell what mo
mont an apparently peaceful camel would
bite the top Of q mans head of.
Animals never played such an important
paft IN the history Of the world, nor have
they over done 90 much for humanity Il
any given time or place.
1T was not their war, but they were
and died, fighting faithfully, They
are beyond reward. but we. can, at least,
chow our appreciation OF what they did
BY better, Kinder treatment Of those OF
their kind around u.s.