My Kingdom for a Horse

My Kingdom for a Horse  World War I killed some ten million fighting men, almost 800,000 of them British. Much less known is the fate of a million  horses, sent to France between 1914 and 1918. Only 62,000 returned. In areas of conflict around the world animals have served and died  in loyal silence. Horses, mules, donkeys, pigeons, dolphins, sea lions, dogs, cats, ox, elephants, camels even the humble glow worm helping troops to read maps in the trenches.  2009 and animals are still on active service. We remember them  - as well as the courageous men and women who will not be coming  home this Christmas.

My Kingdom for a Horse 
Excerpt taken from Animals in War by Jilly Cooper

[...........The land they had to cross was a vast honeycomb of huge craters filled with thick fetid mud. These craters often interlocked and were so deep, that if a shell landed in one,  it was several seconds before it hit the bottom, detonated and spewed forth a fountain of burning metal and poisonous slime. Over this fearful network of death traps, the wretched teams floundered, desperately groping for firm ground, often at dead of night and through blizzard and storm. If a horse shied at a shell bursting overhead, or collapsed from exhaustion under his heavy load or merely took a false step, he'd be in a shell hole in a second, slithering down the greasy sides.  His driver would make heroic attempts to rescue him, but there was always a risk that the rest of the team might be sucked under too so a bullet through the  head was usually the most the horse could hope for.

Mr Sydney Smith, a private on the Somme remembered;

"Nothing as far as the eye could see except waves rippling the mud as the wind blew, I had the terrible experience to witness three horses and six men disappear completely under the mud. It was a sight that will live forever in my memory, the cries of the trapped soldiers were indescribable, as they struggled to free themselves. The last horse went to a muddy grave, keeping his nostrils above the slush until the last second. A spurt of mud told me it was all over."
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On the 11th November Voices for Horses has arranged a gathering at the Animals in War Memorial in London where we and others will observe the 2 minutes silence at 11am.

Wherever you are,  it would be wonderful if you remember the animals with us.

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