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Military Pigeons in the 21st Century, Part II: France
Since the end of the Second World War, most of the world’s militaries have decommissioned their pigeon services. A few, however, have held onto their birds. In this ongoing series, we’ll take a closer look at these holdouts. For nearly 80 years, almost every European military had a pigeon service at one point or another. …
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Military Pigeons in the 21st Century, Part I: Uruguay
Since the end of the Second World War, most of the world’s militaries have decommissioned their pigeon services. A few, however, have held onto their birds. In this ongoing series, we’ll take a closer look at these holdouts. At the dawn of the Twentieth Century, Uruguay’s military joined the worldwide pigeon arms race inaugurated by…
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The Austro-Hungarian Military’s Pigeon Service: 1875 – 1918 A.D.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire was founded in 1867, the result of a compromise between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary. It entered the world stage as a Great Power, and like all the others, raced to establish a military pigeon service in the wake of the Franco-Prussian War. The first military pigeon station was…
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Pigeon POWs of the Great War
To the victor go the spoils. That pithy phrase has justified the wholesale seizure of property during wartime for millennia. Throughout the Great War, both the Allies and the Central Powers confiscated military equipment from one another when the opportunity presented itself. Trucks, ships, airplanes—each captured piece of equipment had the potential to bolster militaries…
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The Imperial German Navy’s Pigeon Service: 1876 – 1918 A.D.
We here at Pigeon of War often mention the Franco-Prussian War in our posts. It’s an important moment in military pigeon history. By showing the world that homing pigeons could deliver messages in wartime, it led to a pigeon arms race all across Europe. However, another significant event occurred during that War—the birth of the…
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Columba militaris helvetica: The Swiss Army’s Carrier Pigeons
A lot of ink has been spilled about military pigeons and their heroic actions during wartime. But what about those in peacetime armies? This blog is the first part in an occasional series examining military pigeon services in countries with strong traditions of neutrality. With a tradition of neutrality dating back to the 1500s, it…
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The Russian Empire’s Pigeon Stations: 1871 – 1916 A.D.
On January 27th, 1871, three homing pigeons floated out of Paris on the manned balloon Le Richard Wallace. These birds had been tasked with the solemn duty of carrying messages from central France into the besieged city. Yet this would be the final mission of the Paris pigeon post; city officials would sign an armistice…
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The Belgian Pigeon Service During World War One
On August 4, 1914, German troops marched across the Belgium border toward the fortified city of Liege. Germany had declared war on Belgium a day before, after the country had refused to grant the German Army safe passage through its territory. The first battle of the Great War began in the early hours of August…
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