So we’re still using animals in warfare today, but now we’re using dogs to locate the enemy and to locate improvised explosive devices. “Before, it was transport and communication now it’s finding the enemy and identifying their weapons. “If you look at the pigeons from an operational perspective, they’re really important and they fulfil a role that we can’t do. But they are a tool that we have been able to use to our advantage, and they have been incredibly valuable in wartime. “Nobody really knows if they are just doing what they are trained to do, or if they are truly winged warriors. “There are lots of stories of pigeons valiantly going forward and saving people’s lives,” Dr Hampton said. The pigeon flew 40 miles in 50 minutes and the boat, together with valuable stores, ammunition and equipment, was salvaged as a result and the men saved. In July 1945, another Australian pigeon – a blue bar cock pigeon known as DD43 T139 – was awarded the Dickin Medal for carrying a message from a foundering boat to Madang, New Guinea, through a severe tropical storm. “He flew the 48 kilometres back to base in just 47 minutes and the men at the base were able to rescue the forward squadron.” “The first two pigeons were shot down, but the third got back in remarkably quick time with the message,” Dr Hampton said. The Americans were surrounded by the enemy and knew that little Q879 was their last chance for rescue. One after another the pigeons were released, with messages calling for help rolled up in tiny canisters on their legs, but each pigeon was shot down by the Japanese troops. The soldiers needed help, but their radio no longer worked. They confirmed that the reports were correct and that many Japanese soldiers were camped nearby, preparing for a major attack.Īs the Americans headed back to their base they were spotted by the Japanese and a fight broke out. A small group of soldiers headed off through dense jungle with a radio and a basket of pigeons, including Q879, to investigate reports that enemy troops were preparing for a counter-attack. In 1944, the blue chequer pigeon known as DD43 Q879 was sent to help United States forces attempting to recapture Manus Island, north of New Guinea. “A lot of men enlisted to become pigeon couriers for the army and pigeon fanciers around Australia donated their birds.” “In the early years of the war, Australia decided that we should probably look at creating a pigeon service signals corps, so in 1942 they put the call out to the pigeon fanciers of Australia,” Dr Hampton said. The Australian Corps of Signals Pigeon Service was established, and thousands of birds were used to help solve the military’s problems with communication. But particularly in the Pacific, the mountains and the humidity meant that the wireless radios didn’t work very well, so pigeons were actually the most effective way of getting messages up and over the Owen Stanleys, and throughout the islands.”
We’ve got our trucks instead of horses, and wireless radio, and sophisticated radar signals, and all those sorts of things. “We often think about the Second World War as a time when technology has taken over. “One of the surprising things about pigeons is how widely they were used in the Second World War,” Dr Hampton said. When the Second World War broke out, soldiers turned to pigeons for help once more.