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Trapped behind enemy lines during the First World War, the few surviving soldiers of the 77th Infantry Division came under fire from both sides.

As German bullets strafed through the Argonne Forest in north-east France and picked them off one by one, they came under heavy shellfire from their own lines too.

With less than 200 men from a 500-strong unit still alive, three messengers were sent on a perilous last-ditch mission to let HQ known their position. It was their only hope.

Two were killed at once. The third was hit too. But blinded in one eye, with a gaping chest wound and one leg hanging by a single tendon, the determined courier managed to struggle a further 25 miles and deliver the message before collapsing.

The plan worked. Allied bombardment ceased at once and 194 men from what became known as the US Army’s Lost Battalion were rescued.

What makes this heroic First World War story all the more astonishing is the fact the messenger was not a soldier. It was a female carrier pigeon called Cher Ami.

She was one of 100,000 homing pigeons used to carry messages to and from the trenches between 1914 and 1918. Where other methods failed, pigeons had a success rate of 95%.

The Germans were so rattled they took hawks to the frontline – so some pigeons that dodged bullets and shellfire succumbed to birds of prey.

These feathered fighters were among a 16 million-strong army of animals – horses, mules, donkeys, dogs, cats and even camels – that helped secure victory.

(Image: Mirrorpix)

But not without an enormous cost. More than a million dogs and eight million horses, mules and donkeys died on both sides.

Cher Ami survived her battle wounds from October 1918 and even had a wooden leg carved for her before dying a year later.

Stewart Wardrop, manager of the modern-day Royal Pigeon Racing Association, said: “That pigeon getting that message back saved 190 people’s lives. There were no radios in the trenches and the land wires were broken once shelling started, so contact was lost.

“Pigeons were the best way of carrying messages from the front line and by 1918 the Royal Engineer’s Signal Service alone had 25,000 birds in use with 380 men to look after them.”

Archives at the RPRA offices near ­Cheltenham, Glos, celebrate the achievements in page after page telling how pigeons saved lives.

RAF pilots would take them on missions then release them if they were downed with a message giving their

position to rescuers.

Dogs were used to carry messages too. They also helped wounded soldiers and sniffed out the enemy. Around 20,000 served in the war, some pulling heavy armour, machine guns and other gear.

Among the most important were watchdogs trained not to bark but quietly growl on the approach of enemy troops. In some instances they would just silently prick up their ears.

The training took place at the War Dog School of Instruction in Hampshire. Lt Col Richardson, who ran the school and went into battle with his dogs, said later: “Their skill, courage and tenacity has been amazing.

"During heavy barrages, when all other communications have been cut, the messenger dogs have made their way.”

One of the most legendary was Rags, an abandoned French stray adopted by the US 1st Infantry Division.

Though he was gassed, shelled and partially blinded, he survived the war. This was partly because he could hear shells coming before the soldiers – so he was an early-warning system too.

Canaries were used to detect poisonous gases and both cats and dogs hunted rats in the squalid trenches.

Horses were recruited in hundreds of thousands for the cavalry and, with donkeys and mules, to haul equipment over terrain vehicles could not cross. In the Middle East and Asia camels did the same.

Some built high reputations, including Warrior, a thoroughbred ridden by General Jack Seely and known as The Horse The Germans Can’t Kill.

(Image: M & Y News / Rex)

With exploits that mirror the fictional story of War Horse, he survived the massive casualties at Ypres, the Somme and Passchendaele and lived on until 1941.

Warrior’s newspaper obituary said : “The horse served continuously on the Western Front till Christmas Day 1918. Twice he was buried by the bursting of big shells on soft ground, but he was never seriously wounded.

"Again and again he survived when death seemed certain and, indeed, befell all his neighbours. I have seen him, even when a shell has burst within a few feet, stand still without a tremor – just turn his head and, unconcerned, look at the smoke of the burst.”

Dr Matthew Shaw of the British Library, which dedicated an exhibition to WW1 animals, says: “They were central to the war effort. “Without them it’s likely victory would not have been secured. It would have been impossible to keep the front line supplied.”

The casualties were heavy. Of a million horses and mules recruited by the British Army, nearly half died as a result of injury or enemy fire. In one day alone 7,000 horses died during the battle of Verdun in 1916.

And most of those who survived enemy action were seen off by disease, so that in the end only 60,000 returned home. When war broke out the charity Our Dumb Friends League launched what would become the Blue Cross Fund to raise money for the Army Veterinary Corps.

Steven Broomfield, hospital manager at the Blue Cross HQ in London, explains: “By the end of 1914 the Blue Cross had established four main depots on the Western Front supplying bandages, antiseptic tablets, fly shields for their eyes and humane killers if they couldn’t be saved.”

By 1918 the fund had raised £170,000 – around £6million today – and treated 50,000 sick horses and 18,000 dogs.

Mr Broomfield also believes horses played a decisive role in the victory.

“In the latter part of the war, the Germans ran out of horses and dismounted their cavalry,” he says. “In 1918 they launched a massive offensive that broke through the British and French lines but had no cavalry to exploit it.

"We, on the other hand, had several divisions of horses that could plug holes all over the place.”

Some animals were even accused of espionage. In a July 1915 report released by the US National Archives, officers from the 36th Infantry Brigade, 12th Division, claimed a dog and two cats were “acting suspiciously” around the trenches, and voiced the suspicion that they were spying.

The note read: “They have been in the habit of crossing our trenches at night. Steps are being taken to trap them if possible.”

The fate of the suspects was never recorded. Another vital role played by animals was as morale-boosting mascots. And alongside domestic pets taken into battle, goats and even fox cubs were recruited too.

Paul Cornish of the Imperial War Museum explains: “You’d find kittens in a tank and even in the heat of the battle, men would adopt animals that had been left over by the enemy.

“It was probably something to do with holding on to a bit of normality... offering a bit of innocence in contrast to the horror around them.

“Because the one thing they couldn’t blame for everything bad that was happening around them was an animal.”