Horses In The Great War

[peter-t]

Does anyone have any figures as to the number of horses consumed by the Great War? Huge quantities were used for hauling ordnance and stores, apart from the virtually unused Cavalry ones. I would imagine most armies got through them at quite a fair rate, given that any injury above the slight probably resulted in a bullet through the head. Did horses go mad through shellshock, or did that only occur in humans?

[Coldstreamer]

The french consumed horses but not in the same context you mean (I have read an account how the local french soldiers offered some meat to the local cavalry regiment - it was one of their old horses)

[HarryBettsMCDCM]

There were a couple of lengthy discussion threads on Horses & Mules on forum a couple of years ago,a search "Horses" & "Mules" should find them ,I recall one giving statistics .

[Matt Dixon]

Figures for the Western Front:

Killed by all means Horses and Mules: 3,750,500

Gas poisoning: 889,000

Gun shot/Shrapnel: 414,990

Disease: 118,750

Horses in service all fronts: 9,800,000

Horses impressed for war service between September 1914-December 1914: 1,238,000 from the UK

Throughout the war horses impressed from the USA and Canada: 3,100,000.

The records for the RSPCA mobile hospital number 7 near Boulougne for February 1917 report the following: Admissions: 1119

Mange: 336

Gunshot/Shrapnel: 557

Nailfoot: 114

Throughout the war the RSPCA treated over 4,400,000 horses on all fronts and of these over 80% were sucessfully cured and returned to duty. They also provided mobile hospitals, mobile chaff cutting stations and disposal of dead animals. Horses were all marked with a regimental number burnt onto the right front hoof. On death this hoof was removed and returned to the regimental office, the remains usually being cremated or buried in quicklime.

Disposal of animals was usually by lethal injection, but at the front often a simple bullet was enough. Each regiment was required to provide an officer designated for horse care, although in later stages of the war this was undertaken by the RSPCA as well. At the start of the War the RSPCA offered its' services to war office, and was told in no uncertain terms that it's services were not required as the RAVC was fit for purpose. By Xmas 1914 the War Office returned to the RSPCA and begged for its' help, which was duly provided for the remainder of the war.

Hope this helps in some way.

[saberhagen427]

There was an article about horses in the Great War in Past and Present. You can read it online here. One of the interesting things it says is that there weren't enough horses in Britain so they imported huge numbers from America.

[beersheba]

Pete..

Are you asking for ALL sides.??or just British.??

And for ALL the 14-18 period or just at any one time.?

The topic is huge,and as i perform during the summer with my horse and mule get asked this question a lot..

Due to several problems I.E the missing parts from the german records,and the lack of records of the french,it a hard one to put a definitive figure on..I've heard anywhere from 7-13 million horses,and mules,for ALL sides on ALL fronts..This might seem extremly high but if you considur that in WW2 on the Eastern Front it is thought up to 6 million animals where used then that might not be far out..

To be honest for the British/empire forces i think "around 1.25 -1.50 million" thoughout the war sounds about right..Remember we are talking ..Dead,"in service","in hospital" (and our vet service was excellent at returning the animals to sevice),Cast (unfit for future service) and Remounts (animals in training,or to be issued to units).

And Gavin is also correct..By late 17,appox 75% of horses and mules in British service where from the U.S. or to a lesser extent Canada. Thats why you see bigger mules in service in 16/17 then in 14/15..can you tell i love mules..

If anyone thinks he has the correct number i'd be very interested in hearing the figure myself.

Best of luck..

And remember we sold animals to those loverly Egyptians after the war,and the Brooke Hospital was finding them still alive (just) in the Mid 1930's.. I'll soon have pictures of the spots where last season collection money went to work for the Brooke. watch this space..or one like it..

Cheers Andy

[Alison Arnold]

Peter,

Have a look at this article.

Cheers

Ali

[Alison Arnold]

Just a thought whilst we are on the subject but can someone tell me if any British native breeds of pony were used in any capacity. I am particularly interested in any use of the exmoor pony.

Thanks

Ali

[Matt Dixon]

Pete..

If anyone thinks he has the correct number i'd be very interested in hearing the figure myself.

The figures in my post above were taken from the official report by the RSPCA into animal welfare and care during the Great War, published by the RSPCA in 1921. There is a copy in the British Library, and I am fortunate enough to have a copy myself. I am currently writing a PhD on Animals in the Great War and it has proved an invaluable document.

[PBI]

Chipilly,France

[Jim Clay]

...Cast (unfit for future service)...

Interesting that, Andy - the term 'cast' was still being used for vehicles unfit for future service or beyond economical repair when I worked in the War Office in the early 60s - the Casting Committee used to sit each week to decide.

Jim

[montbrehain]

Andy , Heres one for you , I am led to believe That the Army only took (compulsery purchased ) one colour or dark two/three tone horses ? The only horses left were black and white ? or something and white ?And these were the only ones available for purchase. And so they became (and still are) the favourites of Romani people. Have you ever heard this mentioned before ? "MO

[Alison Arnold]

Mo,

Not heard this before if true then what about greys. I can see the reasoning behind not taking light coloured horses.

Nice piccie though.

Ali

[peter-t]

Thanks guys for all your interesting answers to my posting. I am not doing any specific research on horses in WW1, it was just a thought that occurred as I was browsing the site. It seems that the numbers are pretty huge, one could almost say that for every dead man there was a dead horse as well. The obtaining, transporting, employment, patching up and disposal of horses is clearly a huge sub-strata of the Great War in its own right. Cannot recall ever reading much about this largely out of mind aspect of the conflict as most authors concentrate, quite rightly, on the appalling human cost.

[CSMMo]

The animals used by the 4th Highland (Mountain) Brigade, RGA (TF) were the Highland Ponies (I believe they are called Garron ponies). They were used in place of the mules used by the Indian Mountain Batteries because of their gentler temperament and their ready availability in the Highlands and Islands. On mobilization, accounts of the entraining procedure stated that the Argyll Mountain Battery took two hours to get their horses boarded in Greenock, but, by the time they got to Bedford to join the 51st Division, it took twenty minutes. The gunner doing the telling says that both man and animal had to learn the process.

When the Brigade was transferred to the 29th Division for Gallipoli, they took their ponies with them only losing a couple on the voyage(s) over. The first guns landed at 'W' Beach at Gallipoli on 25 April were sections of each of the Ross and the Argyll Mountain Batteries, with their ponies. Once the guns were moved up the cliffs and into position, the ponies and drivers were returned to W Beach to provide the only transport of ammunition and water to the troops (at that point only a few hundred yards away up the cliffs), for the next three days, when ASC assets came ashore to take over.

They used their ponies as long as they lasted. Ponies were replaced by mules as they were killed, but the gunners loved their highland ponies. If you're interested, I'll tell the story of the pony that was born at Gallipoli "Lady Gallipoli" and saved from execution (as ordered by the vet) by the gunners at great risk.

They even tried to substitute camels for a spell in Egypt (not a satisfactory arrangement!)m but the gunners preferred their ponies.

This is a photo of the gunners mounting part of the mountain gun on a pony in training.

Mike Morrison

[keithfazzani]

With regard to greys and other light horses - I read somewhere cant remember where - that at one point they took to dyeing light horses with permangenate which was supposed to darken their coats but sometimes turned them bright yellow!

[Alison Arnold]

If you're interested, I'll tell the story of the pony that was born at Gallipoli "Lady Gallipoli" and saved from execution (as ordered by the vet) by the gunners at great risk.

Hi Mike.

I'm interested.

Cheers

Ali

[Ozzie]

Yes, please Mike.

Cheers

Kim

[CSMMo]

This is from an article I wrote:

Unbeknownst to anyone, one of the mares belonging to the Argyll Mountain Battery had been shipped in foal. That mare gave birth to a beautiful little foal on the peninsula which the men named “Lady Gallipoli”. Andrew Boyle, a Gunner transferred from the Bute Mountain Battery to the Argyll Mountain Battery for the Gallipoli operation, had worked at Acholter Farm on the Isle of Bute before the war and was dubbed the ‘godfather’ of “Lady Gallipoli”. Lady Gallipoli was a spring gift to our gunners; however she was a thorn in the side of the Brigade veterinarian (assigned to the Brigade from the Army Veterinary Corps), Lieutenant John W. Brownlees. Forage and water were hard to find for the animals that were already there and those animals all had a purpose and a duty. The order came to “dispose” of the foal. The men were in a quandary. Men were being imprisoned, even shot for refusing to obey a direct order. They chose to try to hide their foal. She was not easy to hide, so that plan failed and the Sergeant in charge was again given a direct order to kill Lady Gallipoli. Now what to do? Their delaying tactics worked, but in a tragic way. Lieut. Brownlees was killed (at age 40) on 16 June 1915 and Lady Gallipoli was spared.

Gunner Robert Y. Johnston wrote a letter to the hometown newspaper in which he describes Gunner Boyle and Lady Gallipoli: “He {Gunner Boyle} lavishes the utmost kindness and care upon the mare and her foal and his attention is reciprocated by both. The youthful one will follow him anywhere. This foal was christened “Lady Gallipoli” by the boys and she will answer to “Lady” or “Polly” at any time. She has brought a ray of sunshine amongst us, and a child could not be better treated and nursed. But she is growing every day and the bigger she gets the greater will be the void between us.”

I tried to get a photo I have of Lady Gallipoli, her mother and Gunner Boyle at Gallipoli to post, but it is a rather washed out photo that gets unrecognizable as I reduce resolution and size, so here's a photo of Gunner Hugh Cameron taken at Bedford astride his beloved "Barron", another of the Highland Pnoies of the Argyll Mountain Battery. Wounded at Gallipoli, Gnr. Cameron convalesced in hospital at Alexandria then returned to the peninsula where he was chagrined to learn that Barron had been killed by shell fire in his absence. The men were quiet attached to their ponies.

[BottsGreys]

In a bookstore today, I saw a new book, The Fourth Horseman about Anton Dilger, an American doctor of German extraction. He stayed loyal to the German branch of his family and in 1915 actually set up a lab in a house outside Washington, D.C., in which he grew anthrax and other germs with the idea of intoducing them into the equine population in the U.S., as the U.S. was supplying horses to the British government. He apparently wasn't successful, but the story appears fascinating. He was also involved in efforts to bring war between the U.S. and Mexico.

Of particular interest is that his father, Capt. Hubert Dilger, commanded Battery I, Ist Ohio Light Artillery, and was a Medal of Honor recipient for his actions at Gettysburg.

Chris

[cockney tone]

Mike,

thanks for the interesting post on Lady Gallipoi,

Chris,

Dilger sounds a worrying character!

regards,

Scottie.

[JonJB]

Saw this post awhile ago and thought I should add this clipping from the Campbeltown Courier 3rd May 1919 just as the last part of the Argyll Mountain Battalion returned to Campbeltown.