Title of project:
The Animals of WWI
Name of group
Elaine Somers-Cashen, Gemma Corrigan,
Hannah Cullimore
submitting the project:
School roll number:
School address:
18839M
Screen National School,
Screen,
Enniscorthy,
Co. Wexford
Class teacher’s name:
Ita Connolly
Contact phone number:
053 91 37142
Contact email address:
[email protected]
WORLD WAR ONE
World War One officially began on June 28th, 1914 when Archduke Ferdinand was
assassinated by a Serbian nationalist secret society, and World War One ended in
June 28, 1919 and when it did end a bill was passed which gave the vote to women
over thirty!
It then began to escalate around the time of July/August 1914 when
Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia. Thousands and thousands of men
wanted to fight all over the world but many countries were neutral, which means
they didn’t get involved in war but they still sent men to fight, they included
Sweden and Switzerland.
Food in the Trenches
The soldiers obviously could not get a delicious meal every single day so instead
they had to eat 20 ounces of bread, 1/10 gill lime if vegetables not issued,16
ounces of flour instead of above,½ gill of rum, 3 ounces of cheese maximum, 20
ounces of tobacco, 5/8 ounces of tea,1/3 chocolate – optional,4 ounces of jam,4
ounces of oatmeal instead of bread,½ ounce of salt,1 pint of porter instead of
rum,1/36 ounce of pepper,4 ounces of dried fruit instead of jam,1/20 ounce of
mustard,4 ounces of butter/margarine,8 ounces of fresh vegetables or 2 ounces of
dried vegetables.
Shell Shock
A lot of the soldiers suffered from shell shock, which is where they go into shock
and are unable to sleep, eat, talk or sometimes even walk, so when they go into
battle they lose control and wouldn’t be capable of fighting.
Trench Foot
Probably the most obvious disease especially in the trenches would be “Trench
Foot”. Trench Foot is where your foot would become numb and would start to
swell up, it would also start to smell.The reason soldiers got Trench Foot was
because of the thick mud wetness and coldness in the trenches they had to live
with.
THE TREATY WHICH ENDED WW1 THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES
(VERSI)
THE TERMS OF THIS TREATY WERE
pronounced
1. Germany had to sign a war guilt clause to say that they were to blame for
World War One.
2.Germany had to pay reparations of £6000 million.
3.The German army was to be reduced and soldiers were not allowed in the
Rhineland demilitarized.
4.Germany lost land to Denmark and Poland.
5.Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France
Why was this a weak treaty?
1. Germany and Russia were not invited. It was a dictated peace.
2.Germany could not afford the reparations and resented the guilt clause.
3.Newly created countries such as Poland continued people of different race and
religion.
4.Italy was not given what was promised it in the Treaty of Versailles.
ANIMALS IN WORLD WAR ONE
It wasn’t just humans in the war some of our four legged and feathered friends got
involved too. They played a massive role in the war for pigeons carried messages,
dogs could sniff out explosives, horses and mules pulled ambulances and were
used in calvary, even elephants and camels had a job to do.
There were also many very memorable and brave animals including Sgt Stubby
and Cher Ami.
Cher Ami a carrier pigeon is the most famous pigeon to come from World War 1 .
He came from the U.S signal corps that was led by Major Charles Whittlesey.
Charles’ battalion was cut off and encircled by German forces for no less than five
days. During those days Charles had tried to send letters for help but the first
pigeon got shot and the same happened to the second but the third and last Cher
Ami got shot too but went on. He flew for another twentyfive miles it took him
sixtyfive minutes ( Approximately) until he reached her loft almost blind and his
leg hanging off. Thankfully someone patched him up and made him a wooden leg
and shipped him back home unfortunately he died on the 13th of June 1919.
Horses were supposedly better than mechanised vehicles at travelling over very
rough terrain and deep mud.Horses were used for pulling artillery ambulances
supply wagons and messengers.
Horses living conditions were terrible because they were hurt because of
poisonous gases and skin disorders and they were also killed by artillery fire.
GAS MASKS FOR HORSES
The mask is much like a humans but to get one for a horse you have to have a man
come and get it fitted. Horses did not like to wear them as they were very
irritating.
Germany lost a lot of horses due to lack of food because it was very hard for them
to provide food for the horses.
http://www.neatorama.com
(THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF TWO DIFFERENT GAS MASKS USED FOR HORSES)
DOGS
Dogs were used for bringing messages in tins people put around their necks, then
were identified by scarlet collar or tally. Dogs were very dependable and faithful.
They have been very proved to be great asset when it comes to tracking an enemy.
Also they were good at detecting explosives and discovering injured soldiers on
the battlefield.
THE BREEDS THAT WERE USED
Border Collies
Lurches
English Sheepdogs
Retrievers
Mongrels
The most commonly used dog breed by British in WW1 dog was the Airedale
Terrier and also the Red Cross was commonly used to find injured soldiers.
SERGEANT STUBBY
Sergeant Stubby was a pit bull and a very important dog and the first dog to be
promoted to sergeant through combat.Sergeant Stubby was a homeless dog who
was found wondering around the grounds of Yale University campus in New
Haven when soldiers were training and Stubby stayed and watched them and one
soldier came quite fond of him and decided to hide him when it was time for the
outfit to ship out. The soldier hid Sergeant Stubby on the ship. The captain found
out but when he saw what Stubby could do he let him stay because and a right
decision he made because he saved so many lives. Sgt Stubby (above to the left)
wounded twice by gas and shrapnel and was in seventeen battles. His great
hearing could hear shells long before any human could and if he heard one he
would run into the trenches and bark.He was also trained to recognize english and
if he heard anyone speaking english in no mans land if they were injured he
would stand beside them and bark till a medic came.One time he spotted a German
soldier mapping out the American trenches so he bit him on the leg and the
soldier fell and the Americans took the German soldier prisoner.Just for that he
got promoted Sergeant so Stubby was the first animal sergeant. When he got
home he met the President Woodrow Wilson.
People only wished to have his bravery and awesomeness that he had. When he
returned to his home he became famous and usually marched in parades!
http://www.greyfriarsbobby.co.uk(This is Sergeant Stubby showing of his
awards he was given in World War One)
A WWWI soldier with his dog
Cher Ami
GLOW WORMS
One of the most unlikely animals used in The Great War was the Lampyris
Noctiluca also known as the European Glow worm, which creates light through
bioluminescence. Hiding in the dank, dark trenches, enlisted men and officers
turned to the insects for help. Glow worms were used as light for map reading
because in the trenches it was very, very dark. The soldiers were able to collect
thousands of them in little jars because they only grow up to the size of a match
stick.So the soldiers used them like lanterns.They collected the worms in jars by
the thousands and used them in the trenches to examine intelligence reports,
study battle maps or simply read letters from home.
According to a 2010 study, 10 glow worms can provide the same amount of light
as a street lamp.
http://www.pinterest.com
(THIS IS LIKE THE WAY SOLDIERS KEPT THE GLOW WORMS)
Dolphins
Dolphins were used for locating underwater mines. Dolphins pretty much do the
same job as dogs because dogs look for mines and explosives on dry land and
dolphins look for them underwater.
http://www.npr.org
This a dolphin training for World War One!
Around eleven percent of the French population were killed or wounded during
war.116,000 Americans were killed in war but they were only in war for 7
months.
On Christmas Eve 1914 both sides had an unofficial truce and played football
nomansland but the next day they went back to fighting. The next year was
completely different for both sides fighting decided that anyone who did that
would be shot.
Ireland had around 200,000 men in the war and around 49,000 men died. Antrim
sent the most men into the war.
When World War 1 started in 1914 the government told troops that war would be
over by Christmas of that year but by 1916 they realised that wasn’t going to
happen.
The poppy became a symbol for war because they started to grow in the
battlefields across Europe for they grow well in newly-cultivated soil and with all
the trenches dug and shellfire it was a perfect place for them to grow so they did
grow and brought beauty to the fields that once were filled with terror.
In war there were male and female tanks male tanks had cannons and female tanks
had machine guns. Cannons and artillery were really loud and could be heard 130
miles away that the distance from France to London. Big Bertha is one of the most
famous, a 48 ton gun that fired shells over 9 miles and took over 200 men to
assemble.
Through the research of this project we have learned about how the War begun,
the Treaty of Versailles, and how it ended World War 1, how Horses took part in
WW1, how Dogs took part in WW1, how Sergeant Stubby was the most amazing,
bravest dog ever. We learned about the way soldiers used Glow worms as lanterns
and also learning about how they used Dolphins for locating underwater mines.
Thank you for reading our project.
THE END
Bibliography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I http://www.scoilnet.ie/centenary_worldwarone.shtm http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social­affairs/records­of­49­000­irihttp://www.firstworldwar.com/sh
dead­in­new­digital­archive­1.1651010 http://www.findmypast.ie/articles/world­records/full­list­of­the­irish­family­history­records/military­se
and­conflict/irelands­memorial­record­world­war­1 http://www.globalanimal.org/2012/01/08/animal-war-heroes/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergeant_Stubby
http://www.history.com/news/war-animals-from-horses-to-glowworms-7-incredible-facts