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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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Bird-Dogging: Pigeons & Dogs Working Together in War
To get a message delivered under wartime conditions is no easy feat. As readers of this blog are well aware, this responsibility is often borne entirely on the wings of homing pigeons. But dogs have been used as messengers in combat, too. While soldiers are quite capable of running messages between units, a human runner…
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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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Happy Presidents’ Day from President Wilson!
We here at Pigeons of War want to wish you all a very Happy Presidents’ Day! Presidents’ Day is an American holiday observed annually on the third Monday of February. It’s a day set aside to celebrate the achievements of America’s presidents. So it seems appropriate to write about President Wilson’s accomplishments today–the renowned homing…
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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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