War Pigeons on the Marne
110 years ago this week. 31 August 1915, along the Marne.
A French Brillié Schneider P3 model bus has been converted into a mobile pigeon coop (pigeonnier mobile) for the Army
Réf. : SPA 29 M 467. Albert Moreau/ECPAD/Défense
Pigeonnier militaire aménagé dans un bus Berliet à impériale
The French military’s use of pigeons for communication dates back to the War of 1870, after the Prussians besieged Paris, and citizens volunteered 300 of their birds.
The program reached its zenith during the Great War, with upwards of 30,000 pigeons used by the French alone.
Proving especially adept at avoiding “the Boche” during the country’s German occupation in WWII, the Resistance used another 16,500 SOE-supplied birds— which had been parachuted in as part of Operation Columbia! As the birds had been bred in England, once released by French underground cells, they quickly winged their way back home across the Channel to their coops, carrying brief but vital intel.
The French only officially ended their pigeon program in 1961 after the Algerian War.
However, since 2014, the 8th Signal Regiment (8e Régiment de Transmissions, 8e RT) has maintained a small in-house pigeon breeding program as a hedge on potential electromagnetic attacks that could disrupt other communication methods.
“La relève de nos pigeons voyageurs est assurée!”