Vine in 1914: Animals at War

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Animals had a crucial role to play in World War 1. Horses had long been used in battle, but were also employed to haul machinery and other supplies along tracks inaccessible to lorries and vans. Homing pigeons were rehomed at strategic points behind the frontline – with their handlers often using converted London buses as makeshift lofts – and used to carry messages back to base. Meanwhile, rats were an unpleasant yet inescapable feature of life in the trenches of the Western Front.