I think we’re gonna need a special about animals in WW2 just like in The Great War
4 years ago | 54
Disney made a movie about how the Lipizzaner horses from the Spanish Riding School in Vienna were saved during World War II. It was called Miracle of the White Stallions.
4 years ago | 3
I dare not even think about how many horses perished in the mud and snow on the Eastern Front. Honestly, it gives me the shivers. And you are absolutely right, you guys; something like this is often forgotten amidst the huge casualty toll of human lives. I mean think about it, already during previous wars, we saw huge losses of horses, especially during the Napoleonic Wars, but also during The Great War. Animals during World War Two definately deserves high-lighting and episodes of their own. Because this is one of those things overlooked by many, but it's also one of those things that when you bring people's attention to it, it's like a light bulb starts to glow for them: TRANSPORTATION! When all else fails, when there is no oil, how then do we transport things!?
4 years ago | 10
That cat stroked by Churchill was Blackie of the HMS Prince of Wales. It survived the sinking but went missing during the final days of the Battle of Singapore. Who knows? His descendants might be around today.
4 years ago | 5
I called it: "World War 2 from Animal Kingdom Perspective".
4 years ago | 6
What about the 200,000 pigeons who served as message carriers on the allied side (plus many more for the other combatants)?
4 years ago | 3
In a few cases the animal Kingdom fought back in WWII. The vast number ( up to 150) of sailors who survived the sinking of the USS Indianapolis only to be killed by Oceanic White Tip Sharks. There was the event in the Burma theatre on Ramree Island where an entire Japanese unit was said to have been slaughtered and eaten by Crocodiles. (Although this is probably a major exaggeration: https://www.thebhs.org › filePDF HERPETOLOGICAL BULLETIN - The British Herpetological Society). The Indianapolis disaster always gets to me as it happened so close to the end of the War, and shortly after it completed its mission of delivering critical components for the August 6th Atomic bomb.
4 years ago (edited) | 3
TimeGhost History
THE ANIMAL CASUALTIES OF WW2:
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It can easily be forgotten, but war takes a toll on the whole ecosystem. May 21st is Endangered Species Day, so today we’re looking at the impact WW2 had on other animals than humans.
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Countless animals lost their lives during WW2. Millions of horses died on the fronts as the war was still largely waged with horse and carriage transports. Pet cats and dogs were euthanized, as people couldn't care for and feed them- 750,000 in Great Britain alone. Farm animals were slaughtered beyond sustainable limits in plunder and scorched earth. Starvation by policy, sieges, and blockades led to people eating animals they otherwise would not.
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Wild animals died as collateral damage in battle, but we have no reliable numbers for how many. At least one species went extinct: the Wake Island rail, a flightless bird endemic to Wake Island. The rail was already threatened by invasive species like rats and rabbits, and in 1944 the Japanese occupiers, stranded and without supplies, killed the last bird for food.
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Some animals, though, were saved by the war. Cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) for instance, benefited from the naval war halting hunting. The world’s largest animal, the blue whale, was nearly extinct in the 1930’s. Without the interruption of WW2 it would probably have been gone by the 1950’s.
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In a rather bizarre turn of events, the Nazis also helped reintroduce the wisent (European bison). Hunted close to extinction in the 19th century, the last wild wisent herd of 600 was slaughtered by the Imperial German Army on the Eastern Front during WW1.
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In 1923, efforts to reintroduce the species began, using captive wisent, but the program was under-financed. Then, in 1934, as part of his idea to create huge nature reserves for hunting in the planned German Eastern Lands, Goering took a personal interest and put the program in overdrive. Breeding was successful, but WW2 began and the wisent were left in captivity.
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As luck would have it though, the herds survived the war. In 1945 zoologists revived the program, and already in the 1950’s the first animals were set free. Today there is once again wild wisent in parts of Europe.
4 years ago | [YT] | 688