(Dan Tri) – The Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II had the contribution of a special army, capable of flying in the air.
A Soviet pigeon `soldier` (Photo: RBTH).
From ancient China to the Roman Empire, carrier pigeons were considered an effective means of communication and were widely used in wars and conflicts.
In general, homing pigeons were used by most armed forces of the parties involved in World War II.
In the mid-1920s, the Soviet Red Army’s interest in mail carriers, which had waned somewhat after the end of World War I, revived, especially with the air force.
Since aviation radio communications at that time were few, pigeons began to be used to send intelligence or coordinates in case of emergency landings.
Tests of releasing pigeons from aircraft at altitudes of 300 m to several kilometers were also conducted.
Pigeons serve in the ground forces, air force and navy and are also trained by border guards.
However, in the late 1930s, when needing to mobilize troops at a fast pace, the Soviet Union realized that organizing such pigeon stations was ineffective and they wanted to eliminate them.
Even so, war with Nazi Germany broke out as soon as the Soviet Union had such intentions.
Pigeons are trained to transmit messages between headquarters and units on the front lines.
Carrier pigeons became an important link when the Soviet Union attempted to protect the `heart` city of Moscow from the attack of Nazi Germany.
Nazi Germany, which also used carrier pigeons, understood the dangers of this type of information transmission.
On the other hand, the Nazis continued to train falcons and hawks to intercept Soviet pigeons.
Pigeons were a reliable and highly secure means of communication at the time of World War II (Photo: RBTH).
In 1944, on the 2nd Baltic Front, a special pigeon company was formed.
In addition to homing pigeons, the Red Army also considered using pigeons as weapons to attack opponents.
However, the project was not implemented because the Red Army could not train pigeons to distinguish between enemy bombs and Soviet bombs.
After World War II and technological advances, the pigeon army was discontinued and they were retired when the pigeon unit was disbanded.