How cats took part in the war

Know all about dogs in war, but without cats is not done. For the first time, cats were involved in hostilities for two and a half thousand years ago, during the war between the Persians and the ancient Egyptians. In Ancient Egypt, the cat was considered a sacred animal, and if the Egyptians were killing a cat, even when extenuating circumstances, he was sentenced to death.

Here the Persians and decided to use cats as shields or armor. During the attack on the enemy soldiers of king Cambyses only carried cats on the hands, and the Egyptians could not do as he was afraid to accidentally hurt or kill a sacred animal. The Persians easily moved forward, and the Egyptians could not stop them. Despite military setbacks of Ancient Egypt, the Egyptians remained steadfast in the worship of cats.

And nearly 100 years later, Herodotus was told that during a fire, no one was engaged in extinguishing the fire, all were busy with rescue cats. People lined up the chain, to prevent panic the cat to jump in the fire. I understand why the Persians took her to the allies during the war with Egypt.

It is known that during the First world war cats kept in the trenches so that they are warned in advance about the gas attack. And during the Second world took them aboard submarines as live detector air quality.

British armies, 1914-1918.

December 1954, Wittlich, Germany.

16 August 1954, French Indochina, Hanoi.

In may 1954, Toulon, France.

August 1961, Bizerte.

Cat in the ski school of the military. In March 1945, the Pyrenees, Barèges.

In January 1956, Indochina.

In January 1956, Indochina.

July 1918, Picardie, France.

December 1916, Domjevin.

August 1916, Vosges, France.

Christmas 1916, the 49th infantry regiment, Fort Douaumont, in the company of a cat.

February, 1916, Saint-Thomas-EN-Argonne, Marne.

December 1917, Picardie.

November 1916.

The July 1914, Beaurieux, France.

Vitebsk (Belarus), evacuation, winter 1943-1944

1943, Yugoslavia.

November 2001, Kosovo, Srbica.

1956, Cyprus.

Trawler in the sea with a sailor with a cat in her arms, 1939.

On Board the "Indomitable". The crew with a black cat and kittens. May 1940, Algeria.

On Board the sloop "commander Domine". In September 1941, England.

Young cat hiding in the "Rangers". August 1943, Crete.

During the battle of Kursk, the crew of the division "Great Germany". July-August 1943.

September 1981, Savoy Bourg-Saint-Maurice.

December 1983, Beirut, Lebanon

February 1991, Iraq, Al Salman.

The talismans on the training ship "Theodore Tissier". July 1940. United Kingdom, Portsmouth.

June 2003, the Democratic Republic of the Congo.