Sunday, March 22, 2015

The Victims Is Not Limited To People

I wonder if there is a historical book focusing on the domestic & wild animals that were caught in the middle of many wars all over the world.

I knew that the US Naval Forces do use the dolphins in the open sea. I know that the Armed Forces used many kinds of dogs for different purposes like attacking & biting the enemy as well as sniff for any IEDs (homemade bombs) and so on. I know there are hundreds of domesticated animals like horses, chickens, sheep, goats & cows were either injured, killed or startled to death all over Europe.  I know that in Africa, Europe & Asia, they used the elephants, chickens, camels, pigs, rats, sea lions and yes, pigeons.  Pigeons were used to carry the messages from their base to someone's base. Chickens are used for detecting the poison & chemical gases.

The most devastating attacks by wild animals upon the soldiers took place in Ramree Island, an island in Myanmar (Burma) where the allied soldiers in World War II pushed & circled 900 Japanese soldiers who fell back into the swamp. the Japanese were battling on two fronts against the Allied soldiers ... and saltwater crocodiles.  The exact death tolls cannot be accurate as some said 500 Japanese soldiers successfully escaped the swamps. Only 20 survived.  Saltwater Crocodiles ate the rest of Japanese soldiers.

Not only that, when the Imperial Japanese Naval Submarine destroyed the USS Indianapolis in 1945, 880 US soldiers had to abandon the sinking ship and many of them still used the life preservers but they were also attacked by massive sharks who killed and ate 550 soldiers.

So there should be a historical book focusing on these animals from BC to the current. Is there one?

Cheers,

R-

No comments: