In the modern world, there is no more aggressive creature than man. Everything that comes his way, he tries to use for military purposes. In the periodicals, you can often find materials about the use of fighting dolphins to patrol sea borders and fight against combat swimmers, as well as about the use of dogs to deliver mines to the required object on the battlefield. At the same time, sometimes living beings, seemingly completely not intended for this purpose, fall into military service. Let's talk about the most amazing of them.
Snails: the spy telegraph of the middle ages
The chronicles of the Middle Ages have preserved to this day a description of the use for military purposes of such seemingly harmless animals as snails. During the persecution of Qatar in medieval Europe, the knight monks with the help of them created the most unusual way of communication. For almost instant messaging, they took a large number of snails and selected from them those couples that showed behavioral dependence on each other. Placed in different rooms of the castle, separated from each other pairs of snails exactly repeated the behavior of each other. Moreover, this phenomenon was traced at any distance, the location of the snails from each other. The monks, of course, did not know the nature of this phenomenon, but this did not prevent them from actively using it for their own purposes. The snails dependent on each other were placed in different Qatar castles. Then,when it was necessary to exchange messages, the snail was planted on a sheet with the Latin alphabet and hands were moved from one letter to another, creating the text of the message. At this time, in another castle, the second snail itself began to crawl on a similar sheet with the alphabet. The message was delivered to the addressee almost instantly. This story could be attributed to the field of historical myths, if this experiment did not try to repeat the scientists of the Third Reich. The unusual behavior of snails has been fully confirmed.if this experiment did not try to repeat the scientists of the Third Reich. The unusual behavior of snails has been fully confirmed.if this experiment did not try to repeat the scientists of the Third Reich. The unusual behavior of snails has been fully confirmed.
Rats: Adolf Hitler's Secret Weapon
It should be noted that German scientists during the war actively enough not only experimented with the use of animals for military purposes, but also conducted military operations with their use. Unfortunately, they were directed, as a rule, against the inhabitants of our country. In November 1941, bombs filled with many rats instead of explosives were dropped by parachutes on Leningrad. Basically it was a breed of spotted brown rats, which in nature dominates other breeds of these rodents. Creepy creatures quickly filled the basements of homes, shops and food warehouses, eating food and spreading infectious diseases. It is known from eyewitnesses of those terrible days how the rats ate the corpses of the soldiers who died on the Volkhov front who participated in the defense of Leningrad. In this situation, cats were worth their weight in gold. But the trouble wasthat almost all of them were eaten during the blockade. Rats, on the other hand, multiplied actively, filling the entire city. They even tried to crush them with tanks, all to no avail. Not surprisingly, the first train trains that arrived in Leningrad after partially breaking the blockade in April 1943 brought four carriages of cats from the Yaroslavl Region to the city.
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Battle links of bats
However, not only the Germans used amazing animals for their own purposes during the Second World War. In December 1941, Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of the President of the United States, who worked in the Department of Strategic Services, the predecessor of the CIA, invited her husband to use bats as a kind of bombers. True, they were supposed to be used not against German troops, but to destroy the houses of the civilian population of Japan. The fact is that the country's villagers mostly lived in huts built of bamboo and rice paper. Throw a small incendiary bomb on them and this shack will instantly burst into flames. There were similar houses in Japanese cities. After the plan was approved by Franklin Roosevelt, William Donovan, the future founder of the CIA, was appointed in charge of its implementation. Prepared bats-bombers in the unit in charge of the use of chemical weapons. The required number of bats was collected from about a thousand caves and various mines in the United States. Typically, a bat of the Eumops perotis species was used. It was the largest and could carry an incendiary bomb weighing up to 450 grams. The first experiment was carried out in March 1943. Two types of incendiary bombs were attached to the chests of bats. The first, with a weight of 17 grams, burned for 4 minutes, the second, which already weighed 28 grams, gave a 30 centimeter flame for 6 minutes. On impact with the ground, a mechanical igniter was triggered. It is noteworthy that the bat itself did not die. As conceived by the authors of the project, she was supposed to gnaw through the belt attaching the bomb to her body and fly freely on all four sides. It was supposed to throw mice over enemy territory in special containers that opened when hitting the ground, releasing mice with bombs attached to their bodies to freedom. Having got out of the confined space, the bats had to scatter through the basements and attics of houses, setting them on fire. After a series of tests on June 8, 1943, the country's leadership was reported that the mice were ready for their combat use. Nevertheless, the US leadership for some reason hesitated with the order to use the bats. Experiments and various tests lasted until 1945, but then, due to the end of the war, the mice were released, and the materials on the project were transferred to the archive.the bats were to scatter through the basements and attics of houses, setting them on fire. After a series of tests on June 8, 1943, the country's leadership was reported that the mice were ready for their combat use. Nevertheless, the US leadership for some reason hesitated with the order to use the bats. Experiments and various tests lasted until 1945, but then, due to the end of the war, the mice were released, and the materials on the project were transferred to the archive.the bats were to scatter through the basements and attics of houses, setting them on fire. After a series of tests on June 8, 1943, the country's leadership was reported that the mice were ready for their combat use. Nevertheless, the US leadership for some reason hesitated with the order to use the bats. Experiments and various tests lasted until 1945, but then, due to the end of the war, the mice were released, and the materials on the project were transferred to the archive.
Dmitry Sokolov