THE HORSE IN WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 46, 17 November 1917, Page 9

THE HORSE IN WAR

MORE IMPORTANT FACTOR THAN EVER

HOW THEY FIT INTO THE SCHEME

One doesn't hear much of tho horse in war now, writes tho New York "Sun." The brilliantly swooping airplane, the lumbering but efficiont tank, tho bitter rushes of infantry, and the roaring of !jiant guns havo made tho thrilling "holl tor leather"' cavalry dashes of former wars, which artists delighted to, paint, merely a, memory. But occasionally in a meagre report or a letter from someone at tho front one finds a passing reference to roads chocked with dead horses, and an allusion to a brief cavalry action which is buried in iho greater battle. And dimly one wonders what part tho horse is playing in.this struggle of tho nations. I

That this, four-footed servant of man is playing his part in the fight, a part important beyond tho conception of anyone but a trained soldior, is evident' if one takes tho pains to inquire about tho humble beast who does his work and gets killed without the chance of honour or a war cross. On a food supply sometimes too scanty to keep him in conditioTi, the liorso inconspicuously breaks his heart in the mud of Flanders toiling at the heavy gnns which mako the victories of the British and French passible. For, despite tho overwhelming impression that this war is one of mechanics and machines, no way to dispense with the services of tho horse and the army mule has been found. They can go through streams that would block any machine man has devised; can struggle' through tlio choking muck that would stall tho best tractor ever built, and can tear through storms of shell firo which daze tho imagination. Their "Bit." On them in great part depends tho continuous supply of ammunition and food to-tho front lino trenches. Automobiles aro often impossiblo to uso in the torn-up condition of tho battlefield, and whero trains and motors aro helpless without tracks and fair roads, tho liorso will stragglo on. So valuable- are they that special units have been formed 'in France and Italy for tho' rescue and care of wounded and 6ick horses, and hospitals have been built where they aro treated, operated on and brought back to health, with all the consideration the nations givo to their wounded men. Thousands of horses broken dcwii under tho terrific strain or wounded in battle, aro constantly reclaimed in this way. A visit to a liorso hospital is ono of tho interesting sights in France. Many of the horses- ami mules have como from tho United States, which has been tho liorso market of the world for Iho last three years. The lintish Arm} needs from 900,000 to 1,000,000 horses constantly, and when ono recalls iliai tho time a liorso lasts under modern battlo' conditions is only a few weeks the call for horses and yet more hoi sea becomes moto understandable, lhey are trained as carefully as tho men, and a good team of artillery horses in action is a delight to tho eye. Tho men who work with them and ai.e dependent upon tn° nl for their ammunition and food speak of the horses with undisguised admiration. J-he Horse:, seem to catch the desperato energy ot tho men, and strain at their harness who dragging the guns through tho .mud m n way Hint would bo heartbreaking if it were'not so necessary. It f fry common lor a horse literally to break his heart at his work and drop dead from Iho exertion of moving forward, alwajs forward. „ ~ ~, ~ , ,„ Tho rapid advance of- the English arlillery would bo impossible without their aid, for nothing can move guns so rapid. It The moro artillery is used m tu© battles in which the massing of guns has gone beyond anything imagined by soldiers before the war the more horses are needed, and when the American forces get into action with the great parks of artillery which they notf the demand for horses will be gi enter than it ever was before. . Tho effect of battle upon Hie hor»e s as interesting as upon man, or -lie savagery of warfare seems to fill tno animal with all tho victousness of lus wild ancestors. The.miles are particularly fractious patients, . but their (rouble-making ability, lies in a constitutional aversion to doing what lhey aro told, not in viciousness.