Page 12 - Phonebox Magazine December 2014

Horses in warfare
The commemorations of the past year have brought home to all of us the stark reality and brutality of warfare and the staggering loss of
life in global conflicts. That loss of life was not limited to human kind, but also involved countless numbers of animals. The most obvious would be horses and dogs, but it may surprise people to know that over 300,000 pigeons served Britain in the two world wars. They saved countless lives by carrying vital messages over long distances, often injured and exhausted. Many other animals were utilised over the years, including elephants, camels, oxen, bullocks, cats, canaries and even glow worms! Hundreds of dogs were used to carry messages, lay telegraph wires, detect mines, dig out bomb victims and act as patrols. Many of these dogs battled on despite suffering injuries, showing immense loyalty to their handlers. However, the most notable sacrifice was made by the horses, mules and donkeys that were involved in conflict. It is estimated that the total loss of horses, donkeys and mules on all sides in the Great War was around 8 million. (Or ten for every one of the poppies at the ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’ display.) Many horses and mules also served on the Western Front and in Burma, Eritrea and Tunisia during the Second World War. When the Great War started in July 1914, the British Army had just 25,000 horses. To augment this number, around 20,000 horses, ponies, donkeys and mules were shipped every month from the USA, New Zealand, India, Spain and South Africa until 1917. They were utilised for a vast array of tasks,
with about 220,000 supply horses, 220,000 supply mules, 111,000 riding horses, 88,000 gun horses and 75,000 cavalry horses. When the war ended, only 62,000 horses out of one million were brought back to Britain. Probably the most famous of these was ‘Warrior’ bred by Jack Seely, the commander of the Canadian cavalry. Seely, the grandfather of racing commentator Brough Scott, took Warrior to France in August 1914 and brought him back home at the end of the war. When Warrior finally died in 1941 The Times ran an obituary headlined ‘The Horse the Germans couldn’t kill’.
Not all of the horses were as fortunate as Warrior. Around 60,000 were sold to farmers on the continent and many of the older horses were slaughtered for meat. During the war only 25% of the horses were lost through enemy action, the main killer being debility. This was despite the fact that 1,300 officers served as veterinary surgeons. Concerns about the fate of some of the horses that had served in the war and left on the continent continued many years after the end of hostilities. A number of these were assisted by British charities. In 1930 Dorothy Brooke was appalled to see British war horses abandoned in Cairo and sold into hard labour. She sought to help as many as she could with support from the British public. The Brooke (www.thebrooke.org) was born and Dorothy’s work with horses overseas continues today.
The Ada Cole Memorial Stables was founded in memory of the late Ada Cole, another equine welfare campaigner, in 1932 to provide sanctuary and care to horses in
need. Representatives of the organisation would travel over to Belgium to rescue suffering horses, many of which had served in the Great War. The Ada Cole Memorial Stables, which merged with Redwings Horse Sanctuary (www.redwings.org.uk) in 2005, still has the ledgers detailing the horses brought back to Britain. Redwings released records of 43 of those horses in 2013, following the public interest in Michael Morpurgo’s ‘War Horse’.
The huge contribution made by millions of animals in military conflicts is now remembered every year with a special remembrance service at the Animals in War monument on the edge of Hyde Park.
The £2 million needed to build the monument was raised after the Trustees of the Animals in War Memorial Fund (www.animalsinwar.org. uk) launched a national appeal. The service is attended every year by representatives of many animal charities including The Horse Trust, The Donkey Sanctuary, Redwings, Blue Cross, R.S.P.C.A., the Dogs Trust and Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.
The role of horses and other animals in war was marked in a special service held by Redwings Horse Sanctuary to celebrate the charity’s 30th anniversary at Norwich Cathedral on 10th May. ‘Big or small, they all had one thing in common. They had no choice. All we can do in their honour is pledge that we never forget their sacrifice.’
12 Phonebox Magazine