The pigeon communication was adopted by the Red Army in 1929, and since that time, despite the rapid development of technical means of communication, it was widely used as an auxiliary means until 1945. During the Great Patriotic War, pigeons were used mainly in the interests of the reconnaissance departments of the armies, at the same time, there were cases of their successful use for the operational communication of the command.
The history of military pigeon communication
The history of the use of pigeons for military communications due to their natural ability (enhanced by selection, crossing and training) to find a way to their place of permanent residence (their nest, their pair (female or male) at large distances (up to 1000 km or more) and after a long absence (up to 2 years) goes into the distant past.
It is known that the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Persians and Chinese widely used pigeons to transmit information on paper (including military ones).
However, an analysis of a number of sources suggests that the impetus for the widespread introduction of military pigeon communications (mail) in all European armies was the experience of the successful combat use of pigeons-"signalers" by the French during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 during the defense of Paris. From the besieged city, 363 pigeons were delivered in balloons, many of which, returning to Paris, brought a significant number of golubograms (service notes and micrographs).
Golubegrams (dispatches) sent with pigeons were written on thin (cigarette) paper, inserted into the barrel of a goose feather and attached to a strong feather in the tail of a pigeon, or placed in a light metal container (travel bag) attached to the bird's leg. If it was necessary to transmit a long text, then a micrograph was made (with a reduction of up to 800 times) and transferred to a thin film of collodion - "pelliculu". Mail delivery was carried out at an average speed of 60-70 km / h (sometimes pigeons could fly at speeds up to 100 km / h). Due to the fact that the pigeon could carry a load of up to 75 g (about 1/3 of its own mass), it was sometimes adapted for photographing the area.
Homing pigeon with a device for photographing the area
Already in 1874, in all the fortresses of Germany, and later in other European armies, regular units of pigeon mail were created (military pigeon stations - vgs). For military pigeon communication, Belgian (Antwerp, Brussels, Luttich, etc.) breeds of hardy carrier pigeons were used, obtained by successful crossing with other species. The life span of a pigeon is about 25 years, while they could serve as "postmen" for about 15 years.
In Russia, carrier pigeons for the organization of military pigeon stations in the fortresses of the Warsaw Military District (Brest-Litovsk, Warsaw, Novogeorgievsk) were specially brought from Belgium in 1885. about the military pigeon mail , which established the states, the order of subordination and life of the VGS.
In accordance with this provision, the military pigeon stations, depending on the number of directions in which the pigeon communication was maintained, were divided into four categories: I category - into four directions, II - into three, III - into two and IV category - into one. Each station had, respectively, a category of one to four dovecotes, 125 pairs of pigeons each.
On the eighth day after its birth, each pigeon was put on a family ring with the state emblem. On the ring were indicated: the year of birth and the number of the pigeon, the number of the station. And after 1, 5 months, a stamp was also put on the wing with the designation of the station numbers and the pigeon. At each station, a list of pigeons was kept with marks about the direction and distance of their training. By the beginning of the First World War, the military engineering department had 10 regular military pigeon stations. In addition, some fortresses and military units maintained their own (non-standard) stations.
The military pigeon station of the Russian army in Turkestan.
Unfortunately, the authors do not have a significant amount of information about the combat use of military pigeon stations during the First World War. There are known cases of successful use of carrier pigeons for communication with reconnaissance groups and patrols. For this, the pigeons were placed in special bags on a mounted scout or in the backpack of a foot patrol, and a pigeon station was located in the area of the headquarters that received the reports. Although, given that for a long period of time the war was of a positional nature, it is quite possible to assume that the military pigeon stations have found their application. At the same time, interest in military pigeon communication after the war was still preserved, and the theory and practice of using pigeons as mobile communication means continued to develop.
Military pigeon communication in the USSR
In 1925, in order to prepare carrier pigeons for use in the interests of state defense, by decision of the Soviet government, a unified pigeon sports center was created under the Central Council of the USSR Osoaviakhim. And in 1928 the Deputy People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs (NKVM) of the USSR I. S. Unshlikht proposed to the Administrative Meeting of the Labor and Defense Council to introduce "military pigeon duty" in the Soviet Republic.
In his memorandum on this matter, he, in particular, wrote: “To meet the needs of the Red Army in wartime with carrier pigeons necessary for the communications service, the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs considers it timely to establish military pigeon duty … [At the same time] the possibility of using carrier pigeons to the detriment of interests The USSR dictates the need to prohibit the keeping and breeding of carrier pigeons by institutions and persons not registered with the NKVM and Osoaviakhim authorities, as well as prohibiting everyone, except for the NKVM, from exporting carrier pigeons from the USSR and importing them from abroad."
And although this project was not fully implemented, in 1929 the use of pigeons for military purposes was legalized by the order of the Revolutionary Military Council "On the adoption of the pigeon communication system". In 1930, the first "Manual on the combat training of the signal troops of the Red Army for military pigeon breeding units" was published, and a military registration specialty No. 16 was established for military trainers-breeders of carrier pigeons.
Military pigeon stations were subdivided into permanent (stationary) and mobile. Permanent stations were included in the district (front) set of communications units (subunits). And all the buildings were to be equipped with mobile ones (on an automobile or horse-drawn base). It is interesting to note that on the eve of the Great Patriotic War, our potential adversary had approximately the same views on the use of VGS. As follows from the "Special Orders for Communications" (Appendix No. 9 to the "Barbarossa" directive), a stationary station was deployed in each army and a mobile blue station was deployed in each corps.
The term for establishing communication for permanent pigeon stations was determined by the time required for the selection and delivery of pigeons to the location of the pigeon communication post. When transporting pigeons in a car or on a motorcycle over a distance of 100 km, communication was established in 2 hours. The term for establishing communication with the mobile station was determined by the time required to prepare the pigeons at the new parking place and to deliver them to the post. It was believed that the mobile station could deploy pigeon communications on the fourth day.
Transportation of carrier pigeons by motorcycle
Training of personnel (military pigeon breeders) for the VGS was entrusted to the Central training and experimental nursery school for military and sports dogs, which, by order of the head of the RKKA Communications Directorate No. 015 dated April 7, 1934, was named the Central School of Communication for Dog Breeding and Pigeon Breeding. In addition, on April 20, 1934, the previously disbanded and re-established Institute of Military Dove-breeding of the Red Army was included in the Scientific and Experimental Institute of Military Dog Breeding.
The teaching staff of the school prepared and published the "Textbook of the junior commander of pigeon breeding".
From April 1934 to December 1938, the school produced 19 graduates of students of advanced training courses for the chiefs of stationary military pigeon stations. At the same time, from April 7 to December 30, 1938, in accordance with the RKKA directive No. 103707 of February 15, 1938, 23 chiefs of military pigeon stations were trained at the courses, and they were awarded the military rank of junior lieutenant.
According to the pre-war views of the military leadership on the organization and maintenance of communications in the Red Army, pigeons were supposed to become an auxiliary means of communication that could be used in special cases of a combat situation when technical means are inapplicable or their action is interrupted. However, due to the ineffective combat use of VGS in local conflicts on the eve of World War II in the Far East and the Soviet-Finnish War, as well as during the campaign of Soviet troops in the western regions of Belarus and Ukraine, the need for their presence in the signal troops of the Red Army was questioned …
So, the chief of the signal troops of the Western Special Military District, Major General A. T. Grigoriev, in his memo (No. 677/10 dated August 21, 1940) addressed to the chief of communications of the Red Army, wrote: there are mobile blue-sky stations … During the operations carried out, these stations did not play their role. There were cases of the use of pigeons in the Polish operation (meaning the entry of Soviet troops into Western Belarus in September 1939 - Ed.), But without the desired effect, and in the Lithuanian operation (the introduction of Soviet troops into the Baltic was carried out by the forces of the Belarusian Military District, the chief whose connection during this period was A. T. Grigoriev. - Auth.) pigeons were not used.
With regard to mobile dove stations, the situation is bad. There was not a single mobile station in the district, and the corps (1, 47, 21, 28) that arrived to us have no mobile stations. USKA does not give any stations and no answer about the time of their manufacture. What to do next?
My opinion. This type of communication cannot justify itself in modern forms of operation. I do not exclude that for the purpose of [exchange] information, for the reconnaissance department of the district, pigeons can and do find use. I would consider it possible to exclude pigeons as a means of operational communication from the composition of communication facilities and transfer them to intelligence departments to ensure the delivery of official information."
Probably, these views on pigeon communication were also shared by the Red Army Communications Department (USKA). This, for example, can be judged by the content of the textbook prepared by the head of the Communications Department of the Red Army, General N. I. Gapich for the chiefs of staff and chiefs of communications of corps and divisions in November 1940, in which the question was not even raised about the possibility of using pigeon communications (Gapich N. I. S. 304.).
Use of military pigeon communications during the Great Patriotic War
It is noteworthy that the Soviet and German command during the outbreak of the war took all measures to take the carrier pigeons in the theater of operations under strict control.
So, in the fall of 1941, when the Nazi troops approached Moscow, the city commandant issued an order, which ordered, in order to prevent hostile elements from using pigeons held by private individuals, within three days to hand them over to the police department at the address: st. Petrovka, 38. Persons who did not surrender the pigeons were brought to justice under the laws of wartime.
In the Nazi troops, specially trained falcons and hawks were used to intercept carrier pigeons.
By order of the German occupation authorities, all pigeons as an illegal means of communication were subject to seizure from the population and destruction. For harboring birds, the Germans were punished with the death penalty, as they were afraid that the pigeons would be used for guerrilla warfare.
It is known that on the second day after the occupation of Kiev, the commandant's order for the immediate surrender of all domestic pigeons was posted around the city. For failure to comply with this order - execution. To intimidate the population for sheltering the birds, several Kievites were shot, including the famous pigeon breeder Ivan Petrovich Maksimov, who was arrested and executed.
As for the use of pigeons for operational communication, the following should be noted here. The experience of organizing control and communications in the first operations of the initial period of the Great Patriotic War showed that in the conditions of high rates of development of operations, frequent movements of headquarters, effective combat use of pigeon communications, in fact, became impossible. It is noteworthy that the Germans did not move their stationary pigeon stations to the depths of the USSR during Operation Barbarossa, which had begun.
In the course of the war (up to 1944) pigeons - "signalmen" were mainly used in the interests of the reconnaissance departments of the armies.
So, at the beginning of the summer of 1942, in the strip of the Kalinin Front, the pigeon station was transferred to the headquarters of the 5th Red Banner Rifle Division to provide communication with army and divisional reconnaissance groups in the enemy's near rear. The station was installed at the location of the reconnaissance company, 3 km from the forward edge. During the month of operation, the station changed its location four times. However, the pigeons worked, although not without losses. By November, only 40% of the pigeons remained at the station, and she was sent to the Central Communications School for reorganization.
There were cases of using pigeons for operational communication. For example, during the battle for Moscow on the basis of the nursery of the Central School of Communication for Dog Breeding and Pigeon Breeding, a stationary pigeon communication station was specially created in the Moscow defense system. Here the pigeons were trained in 7 main and several auxiliary directions near Moscow. It is known that about 30 pigeon breeders were awarded orders and medals for their participation in the defense of the capital.
As for the organization of military-pigeon communications in the formation (formation) for the entire depth of the operation (battle), here the authors know only one case, which we will dwell on in more detail.
In 1944, when the strategic initiative finally passed to the Soviet command, and the signal troops gained sufficient experience in combat use in defensive and offensive operations (battles) of both technical and mobile communications, it was decided to form a pigeon communications company and transfer it to 12 1st Guards Rifle Corps of the 1st Shock Army of the 2nd Baltic Front (diagram 1).
An experienced pigeon breeder, Captain M. Bogdanov, was appointed company commander, and Lieutenant V. Dubovik was his deputy. The unit consisted of four pigeon stations (chiefs were junior sergeants K. Glavatsky, I. Gidranovich, D. Emelianenko and A. Shavykin), 80 soldiers and 90 light portable pigeon houses (baskets), each of which contained 6 pigeons. In total, there were 500 pigeons in the company, which were distributed (trained) in 22 directions and worked reliably within a radius of 10-15 km.
The forces and means of the company ensured two-way communication between the corps headquarters and division headquarters and one-way communication between divisions with regiments and subunits operating in areas where the uninterrupted operation of technical communications equipment under the conditions of a combat situation could not be ensured. For 6, 5 months of work, more than 4000 dispatches were delivered by pigeons. On average, 50-55 pigeons were delivered per daylight hours, and sometimes more than 100. The scheme of organizing two-way pigeon communication in battles when crossing the river. The Great June 23-26, 1944 is shown in Scheme 2.
The losses of the "winged signalmen" were significant. For every two months of the war, up to 30% of pigeons died from shells and shrapnel. Unfortunately, many of the "hero-pigeons" have remained largely unknown. At the same time, in the historical annals of the Great Patriotic War there were episodes when a distinguished "winged signalman" could be identified by his generic number.
So, in M. Bogdanov's company there was a case when, during the delivery of a combat report, pigeon no. 48 was attacked and wounded by a hawk several times, but was able to leave it and deliver the report. “Already at dusk, the 48th fell under the feet of the pigeon-breeder Popov. One of his legs was broken and held on to thin skin, his back was stripped, and his chest was covered with caked blood. The pigeon was breathing heavily and greedily gasping for air with its open beak. After the transmission of a part of the report from the scouts to the headquarters, the pigeon was operated on by a veterinarian and rescued."
After the war, technological progress drove pigeons out of the arsenals of communications. All military pigeon stations were disbanded and became another interesting page in military history.
