War Pigeons: Cassino, Italy, 1944: Miss Peggy, Master Brian, Just Jerry

The Battle of Cassino, January-May 1944

Third Phase 11 - 18 May 1944: A British stretcher party carry a casualty out of Cassino after its capture. In the background is Hangman's Hill.  Photo by Sergeant W. E. McConnville, No. 2 Army Film and Photographic Unit.  Imperial War Museum, © IWM (NA 15003)

War Pigeons:  Cassino, Italy, 1944:  Miss Peggy, Master Brian, Just Jerry

This story of three pigeons comes from The Pigeons That Went to War by Gordon H. Hayes.  Hayes served as a pigeoneer in Africa and Italy.

     “Another famous flight, one that scored success without a casualty, was that of three pigeons from our mobile loft below Cassino manned by Pvt. Francis McGrath.  McGrath was a rare breed of man.  He was on my team as we froze in the snows at Futa Pass, and later, as we drove into what seemed to us then, the Valley of Death, Bologna.  McGrath was a small man but he made up for this deficiency in sheer guts.  He always had on hand a good supply of hand grenades and knew how to use them.  What follows is the story of his three pigeons---Miss Peggy, (AU-42-OCH 895) red check hen, Mater Brian (AU-42-5024-ACE) blue check cock, and Just Jerry (AU-42 * 2141) silver cock.

     A company of Gurkhas (extremely tough soldiers from Nepal) had fought its way to the top of the Hangman’s Hill on the night of our first assault on Cassino.  They were joined later by more Gurkhas and some British troops.  For nine days they stayed hiding between the rocks to escape the continuous German fire, mortar, and machine gun.  For nine days American airmen dropped food and water to these trapped men, much of it falling unfortunately into German hands.  The question was, how could these men be saved?  Three volunteers were called to penetrate the German lines.  They were an Englishman, Scotsman, and a Welshman.  Each took a different route leading to Hangman’s Hill with a haversack containing an American pigeon.  Their instructions were that if they were unable to reach their objective, they would each release their respective pigeons with a prepared message.

     The Scotsman could not reach his destination and was pinned down by machine-gun fire.  His bird, Master Brian, carried a prepared message.  Two hours later, Miss Peggy, the Englishman’s bird, returned stating he had reached his objective.  Twenty minutes later, Just Jerry, the Welshman’s bird, came back too, notifying us he had reached his objective.  After the arrival of these messages, a time had been set for a ‘lane’ of projectiles and smoke bombs to be laid down at night when the isolated Gurkhas should start evacuating.  They passed through that lane of protective shellfire, unbeknown to the Germans, and all the time the three pigeons were resting safely in their loft.  The situation was won, the men were saved, thanks to the pigeon angels, their saviors.”

The Campaign in Italy, September-December 1943:  The Allied Advance to the Gustav Line

Naples, September - October 1943: An American Ranger patrol advances up a hill under smoke in the mountains outside Naples.  Photo by Sergeant Frederick Wackett, No. 2 Army Film and Photographic Unit.  © IWM (NA 6999)

15 HQ Carrier Pigeon Section pigeons readied for use by USAAF and RAF, 1943

The Siege of Tobruk, April-November, 1941

Australian troops occupy a front line position at Tobruk, 13 August 1941. Between April and December 1941 the Tobruk garrison, comprising Australian, Polish, Indian and British troops, was besieged by Rommel's forces. It fell to the Germans after the battle of Gazala on 21 June 1942 but was recaptured five months later.  Photo by Lt. N. Smith, No. 1 Army Film and Photographic Unit.  © IWM (E 4792)

(c) Crown copyright images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London, UK

WO169/11224

#6, #7, #8, #9, #14, #15, #16

Royal Air Force:  Operations in the Middle East and North Africa, 1939-43

Armourers roll 500-lb MC bombs towards a Handley Page Halifax B Mark II Series of No. 462 Squadron RAAF, in a sandbagged revetment at Fayid, Egypt, before a night raid to Benghazi or Tobruk (the "Mail Run") is undertaken. The photograph was taken shortly after the formation of the Squadron when Nos. 10/227 and 76/462 Combined Squadrons were merged at Fayid on 7 September 1942. Although nominally an Australian unit, 462 Squadron contained a preponderance of British personnel at this time.  Photo by Royal Air Force official photographer.  © IWM (CM 4115)

War Pigeons: Tunisian Campaign, Lady Astor, 1943

Occupation of Bizerte

Before Bizerte fell to the Allied forces a good deal of resistance had to be overcome in the streets of the town. British, French and American troops fought battles in the streets all day long. Crouching beside some ruins, an American patrol awaits the order to move forward whilst one of their scouts moves forward on recce.  Photo by Sgt. Wackett, No. 2 Army  Film & Photographic Unit.   © IWM (NA 2735)

War Pigeons: Tunisian Campaign,  Lady Astor, 1943

During the Tunisian campaign, the Allies forced the Axis Powers out of North Africa.  General Rommel retreated to Germany.  Colonel General Jurgin Von Arnim surrendered at Hammamet on May 12, 1943.

Many pigeons distinguished themselves throughout the Tunisian campaign.  Gordon H. Hayes served as a pigeoneer in Africa and Italy.  From his book The Pigeons That Went to War, this is Hayes’s account of Lady Astor.

     “A fresh supply of pigeons was needed by the combat mobile lofts as losses became greater.  Birds of a combat loft had a very short life span.  Many were captured by the Krauts when they were carried by the American patrol units into the enemy territory and no man’s land.  Artillery fire, flack from the bursting projectiles, and direct hits by Kraut rifle fire took a heavy toll of pigeons as they flew across the enemy lines.  It  was under these conditions that Sgt. Adam Sampson’s little hen, called Lady Astor, although wounded and almost dead, flew her heart out to deliver a message entrusted to her.  It is fitting that her saga be told now. 

     Lady Astor, band number AU-43 Sty 2249, was donated by the U.S. Signal Corps in the fall of 1942, by the members of the Steinway Racing Pigeon Club of New York City.  This little blue check hen was sent to the African theater of war and here she was given her first opportunity to do her part for the U.S. Signal Pigeon Corps.  She was sent nearly 60 miles from her home loft to a combat unit at the front.  The following day she was picked from a small four-bird container and an urgent message was attached to her leg.  She was then set free.

     Although it was raining heavily, she launched her flight back to her home loft.  Then, piercing the silence of the area, a few shots rang out.  Bullets riddled her breast.  She was torn from her eye to the keel of her breast, her leg was fractured, and half her feathers were torn from one wing.  This did not deter her.  She continued on her mission.  After reaching her destination, she alighted on the roof of the loft.  Exhausted now, and gasping, she fell to the ground.  Here she was picked up, the message was removed and delivered safely.  Immediately her wounds were dressed and she was gradually nursed back to life and perfect health.  She was not called upon again, for she had done her utmost in winning the war in North Africa, and her handlers were compassionate men. 

     There were no veterinarians in our Pigeon Platoon and all sewing up of the wounded pigeons was done by us.  We all knew how to sew them up, set their legs, and take care of any medical problems they had.  What Adam did with Lady Astor, perhaps a surgeon could not have done better.  As it was, she had at least twenty stitches, a broken leg, and open head wounds.  I saw her later at our breeding and staging area at Bizerte.  She looked great, with only a slight limp, which, in a way, made her look like a lady.”

Hayes doesn’t give the date of Lady Astor’s flight.  He tells her story amidst stories of other pigeons who made remarkable flights in early May.  She probably completed her mission sometime between May 3 and May 11, 1943.

 

The Campaign in North Africa, 1940-43

The Axis retreat and the Tunisian campaign 1942 - 1943: Remains of a German Mark II tank destroyed in the fighting for the Kasserine Gap.  Photo by Sergeant C. Bowman, No. 2 Army Film and Photographic Unit.  © IWM (NA 874)

236 Operational messages delivered by Middle East Pigeon Service pigeons in October 1943

(c) Crown copyright images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London, UK

Catalog numbers:  WO169/11222   #88, #93, #109, #110

Below are a 2 page report on the use of pigeons in Cyprus, Palestine, and Malta in October 1943 and a 1 page report on the use of pigeons in Sicily in September 1943 from the Middle East Pigeon Service War Diary.

 

The Pigeons That Went to War, "Far Up Front"

From The Pigeons That Went to War by Gordon H. Hayes

 Far Up Front

The American Pigeon, brave and bright

Awaits the signal for another flight

To carry a message for the commander’s sight.

The whir and whistle of the flying shell

Envelops the platoon in a fiery hell.

The prospect fierce, the strain intense-

A pigeon released to call for defense.

The message delivered

It zooms skyward

For instinct sure and valiance known,

Back to its loft it speeds alone.

The roar of battle, the mortar mid-air

Would slow it not nor cause despair

The hawkish shrapnel claims its prey-

Another war pigeon aft a hapless fray.

Some are fortunate, others are not,

While many live, many may not.

Struck in the heart the pigeon bled

It faltered not, nor its courage fled-

Desperate and struggling to reach its goal

To deliver the SOS of many a soul

Hands went quick and minds click,

Instantly the action went thick

Out went support, the situation won,

The weary soldiers thanked a pigeon.

The even sun sank westward ho;

The course of battle to and fro;

Another death has stirred the scroll-

A pigeon was etched on the honor roll.

                                               Sgt. Edward E. Reicher

Florence, Italy

May 23, 1944

World War II Pigeons, Imperial War Museum Photographs

 

Winkie

Carrier pigeons were supplied to aircraft of the Royal Air Force as a means of tracing those which went missing. 'Winkie' was the first pigeon to be responsible for the rescue of airmen during the Second World War when she flew 120 miles to alert rescue services that a Beaufighter had crashed in the North Sea on 23 February 1943. 'Winkie' is shown with the rescued crew.  © IWM (HU 45623)

 

The Royal Air Force in Britain, October 1942

The seven man crew of an Avro Lancaster bomber wait near the crew room at Waddington, Lincolnshire for transport out to their aircraft. The pigeons seen in boxes in the foreground are homing pigeons carried for communication purposes in case of ditching or radio failure.  © IWM (TR 186)

 

Sergeant A. B. King of the Royal Corps of Signals writing a record of operational flights of his favourite pigeons on the chart marked with crosses. The 8th Army HQ at Vasto, 9 December 1943. Names of the birds go as follows - Messina Kate, Sangro Bill, King Special, Ghibby, Bari Lil, Adas Own.

This particular pigeon section was commanded by Sergeant King (of Wishaw, Lanarkshire) and his two subordinates - Lance Corporal H. J. Jones (of Bromsgrove, Worcestershire) and Signalman J. D. Clough (of St. Helens, Lancashire).

This section of pigeons saw a lot of action up to the date the photograph was taken. They took part in exchange of information when one of the brigades was cut off from the main body of the British 8th Army two weeks earlier. The pigeons were also used during commando raids on the city of Messina in Sicily. © IWM (NA 9757)

Gustav in safe hands after his adventurous flight. 1944

PIGEON BRINGS FIRST INVASION NEWS Gustav, an RAF Coastal Command carrier pigeon, brought the first War Correspondent's dispatch back to England from the Allied Invasion forces off the enemy coast, and the bird was released at 8:30 in the morning. Flying against a 50 mile an hour head wind, the pigeon landed in its loft on a south coast Coastal Command Station at 1:46 in the afternoon. The message was immediately telephoned to London for publication. It read: "We are just twenty miles or so off the beaches. First assault troops landed 0750.  Signal says no interference from enemy gunfire on beach. Passage uneventful. Steaming steadily on. Formations Lightnings, Typhoons, Fortresses crossing since 0545. No enemy aircraft seen."   © CH 13321

United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) in Britain, 1942-45

The nose art of a B-24 Liberator (serial number 42-51451) nicknamed "The Carrier Pigeon" of the 389th Bomb Group.  © IWM (FRE 7905)