For thousands of years, creatures of all kinds, from sea lions to fleas, have been used to fight. Some have acquired legendary status, while others remain forgotten footnotes of military history.
Listed below are several animals, and their use in armed combat and other military operations.
1. Bat napalm
The U.S. military's X-ray program plans to release thousands of bats armed with napalm bombs in Japan. However, the plan was canceled when some bats escaped in New Mexico, destroying an airplane hanger and a general's car.
Experimental bat bombs mistakenly fired at auxiliary air bases at Army airfields in Carlsbad, New Mexico.
2. Camels
During the Soviet war in Afghanistan (1979-1989), Sunni jihadists used camel-style "suicide bombers" against Soviet occupying forces.
During the Muslim conquest of Syria (634-638 AD), camels were also used as mobile water tanks. The camels were first forced to drink as much water as possible and then used their mouths to prevent rumination. They were slaughtered on their way from Iraq to Syria to get water from their stomachs.
3. Dolphin Bomb Team
In the marine environment, military dolphins are highly intelligent, trainable, and mobile, and have been used by both the Soviet Union and the U.S. Navy to locate mines.
The U.S. Navy's Mammal Marine Program also trains dolphins to attack air tanks of enemy divers.
Dolphins equipped with locators.
4. Infectious fleas and flies
Japan's use of insects as weapons in World War II infected Chinese soldiers and civilians with cholera and plague. Japanese planes spray fleas and flies in densely populated areas or put them into special germ bombs. In 2002, an international symposium of historians found that the weapons killed some 440,000 Chinese.
5. Arson wild macaques
While difficult to confirm, Hindu legend from the 4th century BC shows that trained monkeys carried incendiary devices across the walls of the fortifications, and then they began to set fire.
6. Fire Bull
Records of the siege of Jimo in eastern China in 279 BC show that the Fire Bull Array, a tactic invented by the Warring States General Tian Dan. During the reign of King Zhao of Yan, the Yan general Le Yi broke through, and Tian Dan insisted on Jimo (present-day Pingdu, Shandong). In 279 BC, King Hui of Yan ascended the throne. Tian Shan surrendered to the Yan army, paralyzing it, and at night he used more than a thousand heads of cattle, tied a blade on the horn of the ox, and tied a reed on the tail to fill it with oil, ignited it with fire, and charged the Yan army with five thousand warriors, and then charged and killed the Yan army with five thousand warriors, defeating the Yan army and killing the horse robbers. Tian Shan defeated Lian Ke more than seventy cities.
7. Warn parrots
During the First World War, by chance, the French discovered that parrots were sensitive to the low motor sounds of distant planes, which immediately became agitated and chirped as they flew by. Trained parrots were placed on the Eiffel Tower to warn of incoming aircraft. Until it was discovered that a problem arose, the parrot could not distinguish between a German plane and an Allied plane.
8. Missile flying pigeon
Skinner's pigeon program
During World War II, the American behaviorist BF Skinner devised a plan to train pigeons to ride missiles and guide them to enemy ships. Although the pigeon plan was never realized, it was restarted in 1948-1953 as the Oken program, the second and final effort.
9. Exploding rats
Trench rats were a common horror in World War I and a common sight. However, in World War II, British special forces used explosive fake rats to destroy German munitions factories.
A Belgian non-governmental organization also uses rats to detect landmines through odors.
10. Sea lions
In addition to dolphins, the U.S. Marine Mammal Program also trains sea lions to detect enemy divers. The sea lion spotted a diver and fastened a handcuff-like tracking device to one of the enemy's limbs.
They were also trained in locating and recovering military hardware and for victims of crashes at sea.
Hiace connects the recycling line to the test equipment.
Photos from NMMP
11. Dogs
In the Soviet-German battlefield of World War II, the Soviet army consisted of a total of 60,000 military dogs to form four anti-tank dog companies, which were put into battle in formation. He was prominent in the Battle of Kiev in 1941 and in the Battle of Leningrad. Throughout the Soviet-German war, more than three hundred German tanks were destroyed by the dogs. It greatly destroyed the combat effectiveness of the German army, gave the completely inferior Soviet army a respite and rest, and the anti-tank feats of the military dogs became a good story in World War II.
12. Seagull anti-submarine soldiers
During World War II, a British officer thought of a way: he found that seagulls often hovered in the stern of ships to feed, so he thought of using the seagulls' following to find German submarines. He piloted his submarine to continuously throw food into the sea, attracting hordes of seagulls to swoop down for food. After repeated intensive training, these seagulls reflexively chased after them as soon as they saw the underwater black shadow that resembled a submarine, thinking that they would also feed themselves. In this way, the British Navy in the watchtower only found that the seagulls on the surface of the sea were gathering and singing to dive, and they knew that the German submarine had come underwater. Immediately entered a state of combat readiness to give the German submarine a head-on attack, for a time the German submarine lost a huge amount of money, and the loser was confused, not knowing that the seagull flew over and dreamed of breaking the seabed.
13. War elephants
A special force that has appeared in the history of ancient warfare, it plays the role of tanks in modern troops in ancient warfare. Trained war elephants charge into the battlefield during combat, are brave and invincible, can break the city gate, destroy the camp, dismantle weapons, step on the enemy army, trap the enemy position, and often cause great damage to the enemy.
During World War II, Thai soldiers also often used elephants in combat, and they also mounted mortars on elephants.
14. Pigs
Believe it or not, pigs once won battles against war elephants in ancient wars. The battle took place during the Siege of Megara in 266 BC, when Antigoneus II led a large army to the city, including a large number of formidable war elephants. For the besieged Megarians, sending war pigs to attack war elephants did not seem so strange and dangerous. They coated the war pigs with a flammable layer of resin and set them on fire. Take advantage of the piercing screams of the pigs being burned, and drive the burning fire pigs to the hordes of war elephants. Despite the efforts of the riders sitting on it to control the elephant, the elephant eventually escaped by the herd. Frightened, the war elephant returned to its ranks, defeating men and horses in a short time, effectively weakening the forces of Antigoneus II Gonatus.