106 THE IMPORTANCE OF BIRD LIFE 



one. The birds were trained to trap at once upon 

 returning to the loft in order that their messages 

 might immediately be taken. Woe betide the pig- 

 eon who, while an important infantry action was 

 under way, failed to respond to its training. If 

 it should fail to trap, if it perched on the roof 

 of the loft or the top of a building, a shot-gun was 

 leveled and the bird was blasted to eternity. War 

 is cruel, and despatches are valuable. 



Pigeons quickly became accustomed to the 

 sound and concussion of gun-fire and flew with- 

 out hesitation through the heaviest barrage. 

 Their greatest value to the soldier came at the 

 time when the infantry had "jumped off " to an 

 attack. An advance party might be cut off from 

 communication with the rear by enemy fire. 

 Telephone wires might be severed and the run- 

 ners killed. At such times pigeons formed the 

 only connecting link with the main force. In 

 this manner did the famous "Lost Battalion/' 

 which in reality was not lost at all, send back the 

 coordinates of its position to the higher command. 



In a similar manner the French commander of 

 Douaumont, at Verdun, when the fort was cut 

 off, communicated the news to his general that 

 he still held out and would continue to do so until 

 the last man fell. He made good his word, and 

 when Douaumont did fall to vastly superior 

 forces its resistance had blocked the main Ger- 

 man attack for so long that Verdun was saved. 



