Evening star., 1936-05-24
Training Carrier Pigeons

relations with all. Signal Corps birds
compete freely in races and exhibi-
tions with privately owned birds, and
the pigeon section of this office car
ries on the widest possible exchange
Of information with civilian fanciers.
HOW many homing pigeons were
used by the different armies dur
ing the World War? No less than
100000. OF these, the United States
had 10000, the allies 100000 and the
central powers, 10000.
In the St. Mihiel drive SGT American
birds were available for use Of the
American forces. Many of these birds
were assigned to tanks, and, although
their training had been very brief, as
fog and rain made flying difficult, 90
important messages were delivered by
these pigeons. OF the 202 birds used
in the tanks, "a were lost or killed.
The majority of these losses were due
to long detention in training sections
and inexperienced handling. Three
hundred and eighty-three birds were
assigned to line troops of the lst and
4th American Corps. While no record
of the actual number of messages de-
livered by these birds is available, their
work was such as to call forth, from
officers familiar with the exploits Of
the pigeon service, general commenda.
ton upon the flying quality and stam-
no nf "A rd 10 Ia kNyV
them was excellent, In many instances
averaging kilometer a minute, de-
spite the fact that the weather was
the worst possible for pigeon flying.
On September 21 notice was given
of the now famous Meuse- -Argonne
offensive. Training was commenced
Immediately. but a notice Of five days
is very short time in which to settle
homers. Four hundred and forty-two
American birds were used in this Of
fensive and 403 important messages
we're delivered by these pigeons. The
distance flown, owing to the costant-
ly changing position of the American
troops, varied from 20 to so kilometers.
No record is available of the actual
number of birds lost, but it is be-
lieved that no more than 10 per cent
failed to return to their lofts, and
there is no record of an important
message having gone astray.
In spite of the fact that frequently
changing loft positions made training
problems difficult and weather condi4
tions were extremely unfavorable, the
liaison work by the American birds in
the MeuSe-Argonne drive was more
than satisfactory. and certain individ-
ual performances were nothing short
of marvellous. Pre-eminent was the
work of pigeon named Big Tom on
the afternoon of October 81. Liber-
ated at Grand Pre- at 2:35 with an i'm
portant message during intense ma
chine gun and artillery action, the bird
delivered its message to the loft az
Rampont, distance of 40 kilometers,
in Is minutes. Upon examination it
was found that one leg had been shot
away and that the breast had been
pierced by machine gun bullet. The
message tube, intact, was hanging by
the ligaments of the torn leg.
THE work of the pigeons in the
World War can be considered as
highly satisfactory when we take into
account the fact that at that time
there was no training literature nor
any approved doctrines governing their
tactical employment AS a result,
many impossible missions we're as
signed to the pigeon service during the
war, which resulted in some adverse
criticism of this service. In many
cases pigeons were hurriedly assigned
to posts with attacking regiments, bat
talions and even companies. They were
then expected to carry back informa-
ton TO the commanders of the next
higher units, no consideration being
given to the location of the lofts 10
which the birds must necessarily fly.
In most cases the lofts which had been
in place long enough for the birds to
become familiar with their location
were as far to the rear as headquar-
ters, and often still farther to the rear.
Messages arriving SO far to the rear
were of small value for immediate use
to commanders of the lower front-line
units. In some cases mobile lofts were
located at or near division headquar-
ters and the birds sent from there to
the front lines before they had become
familiar with the lofts location. As
consequence, released birds became
confused and failed to home promptly.
The indiscriminate assignment of
pigeons to lower front-line units Is tao
tically unsound, Army experts say.
Pigeon communication should not be
considered or attempted as a normal
means Of signal communicsvscn, fol-
lowing normal channels, or between
combat units during warfare or move
ment. Pigeon communication should
only be employed for some special
service, such as special reconnais-
sance mission conducted by and for
the headquarters Of any army, or by
some high unit at the headquarters,
where lofts have time to be properly
established before the employment Of
the birds from them. However, where
q special situation exists requiring
pigeon communication from 'front.'
line unit to its next superior command
post, pigeons should be assigned TO the
former unit. Under these conditions.
If dispatch is sent, by pigeon from
the front-line unit, addressed to its
next commander, this dispatch would
be transmitted by electrical meana
telephone, radio, etc. from the loft to