Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, June 17, 1919, Page 3

wh + Joffre. "~ the * what had happened. ‘TUESDAY EVENING, JUNE 17, 1919 . GREAT WAR WORK - OF PIGEONS ON | LAND AND SEA Carriers of Vntal Messages Ever Since Battle of Marne "in 1914. ll BOAT IS TRAPPED BY BIRD Nows From 'l'nnche' ‘Taken at Full Speed to Headquarters and Supply - Lines—Information Gained * - From Captured Pigeons. Paris.—At the Teérnes gate of Paris may be seen a memorial, the work of Bartholdi, on whidh is- inseribed: “Monument to -the Balloonists and Car- rier Pigeons of 1870.” ‘What memorial will acknowledge the services of car- rier pigeons in the world’s war of 1914- 1918 remains to be seen, but their.work amid barrage fire, bursting shrapael, the zip-zip of machine-gun bullets and the death destroying: gases was of enormous value. Carrier pigeons were used on all the battlefronts but their best work was on the western front, from the chan- nel ‘to the Swiss border and from the Alps to the Adriatic gulf. They car- ried messages at the Marne, when the Huns were driven back by Marshal Hundreds were used in the battle of the Yser, in Flanders, when Belgians and the French halted the German advance; and they made many and frequent trips in the first battle of Ypres, in the drive on the channel ports when. the British, French and Belgians stopped the Germans de- cisively in the final battle at the close of 1914. They aided in the capture of Neuve Chapelle by the British and they dled in numbers with the British Tommies at the second battle of Ypres. when the Germans advanced toward the Yser canal using for the first time poisonous gas. Again the birds did _ valiant service when the French tried to break through in the Chanipagne in the fall of 1915, and in the whole series of the Verdun attacks lastlng through July, oftentimes the only com- munications with men in advanced sta- . tlons were the dogs that crept through the barrages and the carrier pigeons that returned with messages. Where telephone and wireless broke down, . and men could not survive the storm of shell fire, it is recorded that 97 per cent of the messages carried by carrier pigeons camé safely through. Unof- ficlal figures place the number of car " rier pigeons used in the war at half a million birds. Told of German Retreat. When the Germans retired to the “Hindenburg line,” it was carrier pig- eons carried forward into the front - advance lines that brought back the news of the retirement long before telephonic communication could be es- tablished. Through the whole area, 1,300 square miles, on*a front of 100 miles from Arras to Solssons, carrier pigeons did their work effectively. ‘And wherever the Americans fought, at: Cantigny, “Chateau-Thierry, Torcy, Bouresches, Belleau wood, Conde-en- Brie, Buzancy, Jaulgonne, Fere-en-Tar- denols, Bligne, Cierges, Villers-Argron, Fismes, Frapelle, Bazoches, Juvigny, St. Mihiel, Argonne forest—carrier pigeons were likewise on the job. As carrief pigeons were used on land, they did similar duty in the air from airplanes'and on and over the gea. It was estimated that close to 2.- 000 messages passed through the head- quarters of the Brifish® naval pigeon service—which has been used for send- ing information since medieval days. In the war which brought Germany to her knees the work of carrier. pigeons has not been fully told. Here are some of the things they did: A carrier pigeon aided in capturing a U-boat and her crew. A coast watch- er on one of the loneliest parts of the west coast at sundown saw the tip of 8 periscope arise and then the conning tower of a U-boat. The underwater boat stopped, and the officers and crew were seen on deck. The lookout man tied a note bearing the information to the leg of a carrier pigeon and released it from his basket. The next morning a German submarine, which had run out of gasoline, and its officers and crew were taken to a naval sub-base. Wounded; Carries Message. A British patrol boat was discov- ered by a German submarine and tor- pedoed and shelled. The skipper, hav- ing on board a carrier pigeon, wrote a brief message, telling his position and As the boat sank, the skipper began swimming for some wreckage to cling to. The pigeon went up gradually in a spiral, and the Germans, seeing it, began shooting at . the bird. The skipper, drifting on the wreckage, gave up hope when he saw the bird had been hit. Twenty miles away, however, it lighted on a patrol- ling destroyer, its silver-gray plumage specked with blood, its tail feathers shot away, and one of its, wings wound- ‘R ed. The commanding officer read the message, the destroyer was rushed at full speed to the place indicated, and within three-quarters of an hour from the time that the pigeon was sent off, the officers and crew of the patrol were picked up where they clung to the wreckage. Spy With Pigeons. An American at Liege, in writing of the German advance, told this incl- Aent : “As 1 returned to the city, walking llong the River Meuse, I saw one who, ‘oblivious of war and its alarms, was dangling his legs over the water and peacefully Hshing. The battle in the air, which he must have witnessed, had not moved him, The certainty that the Germans were only a few miles [] away “ had 'not concerned him. Bol smoked his pipe and placidly.cast his line. It was soothing to overstrained nerves- to see that Ghap, but it was only a few hours later that I learned a German spy had been arrested as he posed as a fisherman, with a creel full of carrier pigeons.” Another story. reads: “In the cowl], habit and tonsure that mark the monk a young man told his beads aboard the train bound for Ant- werp;, And a woman, hardly - more than a girl, kept her eyes fastened or the man of prayers. She studied on the devotion with which his fingers -| slipped from decade to decade of the long, well-worn rosary that hung from the cincture about his waist. But, al- though his lips appeared to move in humble supplication, the woman saw that he had failed to kiss the cross. The lapse was significant. “‘Spy !’ the girl hissed into the face of the alleged ascetic. In an Instant two guards had seized the man and rushed him down the train corridor. The woman examined the small wicker basket behind in the geat. Lifting the 1id, she found three pigeons. As a member of the field intelligence staff of' the French war ministty she knew that at least three ‘homers’ would fail to return with military information to the lofts of the German posts.” Get German Pigeons. A news dispatch briefly Qummnrued such a find thus: : “A German trawler was-captured by a British warship near the Orkney islands to the north of Scotland. She 18 believed to hage been engaged in spying, s carrier pigeons were found on board.” § i Reference has already been made to the number of messages carried back to the French lines by carrier pigeons in ‘the defense of Verdun. A pigeon captured by the French conveyed this information: . “The rolling fire of the enemy with guns of the heaviest caliber 18 such that sectors S., C., and H. are to a great extent leveled.. The garrison, in- cluding that of sector V., is disorgan- ized completely. Some of it has been obliged to fall back on the Bighty-third and Ninety-eighth regiments, which also had to retife. “Sector V. (von Raun's) was sub- jected to such fire that its observation post was put out of order. All sorties are being bombarded and one s occu- pled constantly in replacing them. “The - battalion asks its immediate relief this evening by fresh troops. It can fight no longer. ' “(Signed) . “FIRST ,LIEUTENANT BRECHT.” Carrier pigeons tell hendquarters of the progress of a battle. Here is a typical report when the French army fought along the Alsne: “It immediately appeared that the destruction of fthe German defense had been accomplished with as much success as could be hoped for in so diflicult a country. By 7:30 a. m. we learned by carrier pigeon and other means that the Chateau de la Motte on the French left near Allemant had been carried, and that at the center Malmaison Fort was taken. At 8:45 Allemant village had been occupled, the prisoners numbered a thousand, and the French assault troops were ad- vancing across the central plateau to- ward Vaudesson and Mont Parnasse quarry. At 10:: 30 the news was that they were at the “north of Hill 173, the further spur of Malmaison plateau, and in a quarry 220 yards west of the fort. By 2:45 p. m. the villages of Chavignon and_Vaudesson, with sev, eral neighboring quarries lying on the northern edge of the Aisne hills, had been occupied. Chavignon was the furthest point contemplated in the plan and represented an advance of one and one-half miles made in the face of the best remaining troops of the German empire.” Alded by 'Camoufiage. ‘While many carrier pigeons changed their habits of spiraling, finding it a dangerous practice and learned to fly back and then forward at an altitude comparatively low, camouflage aided birds considerably in getting back to thelr loft carrying with them messages from troops in front. At Fort Vaux, in the battle of Verdun, the crown prince’s army had a special group of men shooting down carrier pigeons as they left the fort. And another story of Verdun. It was at Thisumont, sixteen - times taken, lost and retaken. Wireless and telephones had long ceased to exist. No human being could cross the ter rain. The ¢ommandant wag in des. perate need of communicating with the rear. Suddenly the glasses re vealed a dog, crouching on its belly, crawling through the flashes, and in a moment of temporary lull leaping forward. On its back was a panaier. Nearer and nearer the dog ¢ime, and prayers were involuntarily offered as ‘the beast flattened out here and there in the debris for shelter. Another lull and the dog leaped forward and at last It scampered into Thiaumont with the pigeons safe in the pannier. On the dog's collar was this message: “We relieve you by attack on Froid- terre, 3 p. m.” #“Stop the German battery on our left. Here are the elements for polnt- ing,” was the written message of the commandant sent back by one of the pigeons. Another momentary lull and the pigeon is released. Dog and pig- eon, faithful and distingunished friends of man, have done their work to ssve elvilization, STEIN- == And Yet So Small! So Big Seen by itself, Swift & Company 'is one of the largest manhu- facturers and distributers of animal food products in - the country. Seen in relation to the total food business of the world, its size diminishes to small proportions. i We handle only about 22 ‘per cent of the total output of the hundreds of packing plants under. federal inspection, and only about 12 per cent of the total meat supply of the nat:on. We handle only about 6 per cent of the total quantity of but- ter, eggs, and poultry sent to market in the United States. Our tanneries handle less than 15 per cent of the hides made into leather in the United States. Our soap factories make less than 10 per “cerit of the soap output of the nation. This is done in keen and open competition with every concern handling these products, and at a profit of a fraction of a cent per pound. In the meat packing industry there is no one dominant con- cern handling a large proportion of the output.’ waft & Company,U S A. e If You Want Your CLOTHES MADE RIGHT * At the Right Price—See T. 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We tried it ourselves.” MOTHER KNOWS When baby becomes fretful and puny that something is amiss with the nourishment she 14 is simply the condition of the mother reflect- ed in the child. Constipation, the great foe of health, is at work. The system, unaided, is unable to throw off the poisons stored up in the bowels. A cup of “Hollister’s Rocky Mountain Tea,” nature’s great herb rem- edy, will quickly relieve the Get a package to- day. Take a cup before bed- time. City Drug Store Shlp Your HIDES, FURS, WOOL, SHEEP PELTS and BEE WAX and TALLOW To NORTHERN HIDE & F UR- COMPANY 118 Belt Ave. BEMIDJI, MINNESOTA WE PAY for rags metals, scrap iron. Parlor. “A smart the butter-fly. Phone, 470 Res. Phones, 536.J, 343.W the highest market price rubbers and We also pay freight on all out of town shipments for 3 100 pounds and over, Highest i prices paid for hides. GOLDBERG’S HIDE & FUR CO. Phone 638-W E © 112" 3d Street Bemidji Auto <-—L1very—> Five and Seven Passenger Cars Country trips a specialty. Care- ful drivers and moderate prices. Try a'trip around the ‘lake. der your car at the Ideal Billiard Hot cakes and caterpillars make Or- That when her - Brother Comes home From service He will . Have his Photograph taken In uniform Before he Puts it away And that Hakkerup Photographs Please her The best. HE constant aim of this es- tablishment is to serve our clients in an efficient and courteols man- ner. A ‘distinct quality of beauti- ful dignity and tactful service is assured. A A A A AN A A A A AN Subscribe for The Daily * Ploneer. o R A i U — Same old place- and usual service. Wheelock's Market We buy Cattle, Hogs, .Veal, Chickens, Butter and Eggs at Highest Cash Prices Phone 174-W 507 Beltrami Bemidji, Minn. M. A, Aldrich General Carpenter Work Good Work at the —right prices— Phone 809-J WM. STAKIS Progressive Shoe Repair Shop We pay Parcel Post one way Cor. Remore Hotel Bldg. STAHL-JACOBS Furniture Renovators All work guaranteed. Work called for and de- livered. General Repair Shop .Phone 488 311 6th St. Becida Stage Line Leaves Schroeder’s Cor. 1:30 p. m. for Be- cida and State Park. Return 8 a. m., daily except Sunday. C. W. TROG FOR Expert Shoe Repairing At Moderate Prices Try the Bemid)i Shos Repair Shop Across the Street from Dalton’s Restaurant A. PATTERSON 218 Beltrami Ave, Bemidji Ward Bros. Auto Livery Day and. Night Service Office in Gibbons Block Phone 77 Try Palace Cafe for the best meals in town “SOMETHING DIFFERENT” Open day and night 312 Minnesota avenue Phone 291-W D. H. FISK Attorney at Law Office Northern Nat. Bank Bldg. Phone 181