Animals and the First World War

Togo was the cat mascot of the battleship HMS Dreadnought. Animals were kept as pets and mascots to raise morale and provide comfort amidst the hardships of war. Superstition also played a part as mascots were thought to bring good luck to troops.

This fox cub was the mascot of No.32 Squadron. The cub is pictured at Humieres Aerodrome, St Pol, France in May 1918. It looks as if the cub would like to take a flight in this bi-plane fighter.

Camels carry wounded men to safety on the North West Frontier of India in 1917. Camels were also used in the Sinai and Palestine campaigns. Their ability to carry heavy loads and go without water made them an ideal mode of transport in hot climates.  In desert conditions, camels fitted with cacolets to carry the wounded would transport casualties to aid posts, dressing stations or field hospitals. One camel could usually carry two injured men – one on each side of its hump. 

French Red Cross dogs line up for inspection on the Western Front, 1914. These specially trained dogs wore harnesses containing medical equipment, which they delivered to injured soldiers on the battlefield. Dogs, with their keen sense of smell, could seek out soldiers in distress or in need of assistance. During the First World War, search and rescue dogs would venture out into no man's land to locate wounded men. They carried water and medical supplies to men out of the reach of ambulances, and could lead stretcher parties to wounded soldiers stranded in no man's land. 

German transport driver and horses wearing gas masks on the Western Front, 1917.

The monkey mascot of the Third Army Trench Mortar School sits on a captured German trench mortar, 20 May 1917.

Italians landing mules at Salonika in October, 1916.

A gunner of the York and Lancaster Regiment with the regimental cat in a trench near Cambrin, France, 6 February 1918.

French troops with two carrier pigeons strapped in their travelling basket. Pigeons often able to navigate battlefields more quickly and easily than humans, were trained to carry messages. This task was especially important when technology failed or when other forms of communication were cut off. So vital were carrier pigeons that during the First World War anyone caught 'killing, wounding or molesting' a pigeon could be imprisoned or fined. 

A German war dog, fitted with apparatus for laying telephone wires, walking across muddy ground, 1917.

British troops scraping mud from a mule near Bernafay Wood on the Western Front, 1916. British military authorities tried to ensure that animal handlers cared for their animals properly.

German soldiers wearing respirators as they place carrier pigeons into a gas-proof chamber, presumably during an anti-gas drill.

Tirpitz was the mascot of HMS Glasgow during the First World War. The pig had originally been kept on board the German cruiser SMS Dresden until she sank in March 1915. Tirpitz was abandoned with the ship, but managed to escape and swim away from the sinking vessel. She was spotted by the crew of the nearby HMS Glasgow and one of the sailors jumped in to rescue the frightened animal, nearly drowning in the process. The crew awarded Tirpitz a fake Iron Cross – a German military honour – for remaining on board the sinking Dresden after the rest of her crew had left. Tirpitz served as Glasgow's mascot until 1916, when she was retired to the Whale Island Gunnery School near Portsmouth. She was auctioned off for pork in 1919, raising £1,785 for the British Red Cross. Tirpitz's head was mounted and given to the Imperial War Museum in London, where it remains on display.

An Australian demonstrating the docility of his camel by putting his wrist in its mouth, Egypt, 17 September 1917.

A dog handler of the Royal Engineers (Signals) reads a message brought to him by a messenger dog, France, 19 May 1918.

A pack horse with a gas mask is loaded up with equipment during the Battle of Pilckem Ridge, Belgium, 31 July 1917.

Jack, belonged to Edith Cavell, an English nurse who helped over 200 Allied soldiers escape German-occupied Belgium during the First World War. Cavell would sometimes take Jack (pictured here on the right) on walks, providing cover for the escaping soldiers as they travelled to meet their guides. She was caught, tried and convicted of treason, and was executed by firing squad on 12 October 1915. Jack was rescued by Princess Mary de Croy after Cavell's execution and taken to the family's country estate in Belgium, where he remained until his death in 1923. His embalmed body was sent to the Norfolk branch of the Red Cross.

When the First World War broke out in 1914, both sides had large cavalry forces. Horse mounted were used throughout the war but on the Western Front cavalry charges became increasingly difficult as the fighting became deadlocked and trench warfare took over. Over the course of the twentieth century, the role of cavalry continued to change as combat became more mechanised.

Ambulances – both horse-drawn and motorised – were part of a vast network of medical services set up to treat the wounded. Pictured here is a horse-drawn ambulance on the Western Front during the First World War. Animals were also used to evacuate the wounded when wheeled or motorised transport was not possible, either because of rough terrain or where roads were in poor condition. 

Pack animals like horses, donkeys and mules travelled over landscapes destroyed by heavy bombardments to deliver the war materiel needed at the front. Working individually or in teams, they would carry heavy guns and ammunition, as well as other vital supplies, especially where the use of motorised transport was impossible

Conditions in the trenches could lead to infestations of disease-spreading pests, particularly rats attracted by food, waste and dead bodies. Cats and dogs were sometimes trained to hunt these vermin and help maintain hygiene in the trenches. This is the pet dog of the Middlesex Regiment, pictured with its catch of rats in a trench on the Western Front during the First World War. 

This photograph was taken near Loos in France on 31 January 1918 and displays rescue equipment used by the 3rd Australian Tunnelling Company during the First World War. The cages in the foreground were used to carry mice or canaries, which were used to detect the presence of poison gas.