I was watching a special the other day that was talking about how many horses died in WW1, and I think the number was really staggering when you think that it was also a war that involved machine guns and tanks. It was in the millions, I recall, but not the exact figure. I do recall that out of however many charged at Mons, only four survived - the rest being the victims of the mashinengeweher. I mean it's totally common sense to you or me: machine gun vs horse, machine gun wins - but then again, no one really knew what a machine gun was or what it could do until they saw it in real action.
I have a picture somewhere, speaking of communication, of a dog harness used by the germans in WW1, to ferry messages back from the front line. Imagine sending a dog back and hoping it would get all the way to where it needed to be with vital information in time for it to matter! Never mind that their 'advanced' communication relied on laying miles and miles of wire through muddy, wet trenches and hoping that they wouldn't get shelled, stomped on, cut by the enemy, or chewed apart by rats.
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Date: 13 Dec 2009 03:03 (UTC)I have a picture somewhere, speaking of communication, of a dog harness used by the germans in WW1, to ferry messages back from the front line. Imagine sending a dog back and hoping it would get all the way to where it needed to be with vital information in time for it to matter! Never mind that their 'advanced' communication relied on laying miles and miles of wire through muddy, wet trenches and hoping that they wouldn't get shelled, stomped on, cut by the enemy, or chewed apart by rats.