- JABAL-US-SARAJ,
Afghanistan (Reuters) - Hannibal of Carthage used elephants to battle the
Romans, the U.S. Navy trained dolphins to protect submarines and now opposition
forces on horseback have attacked Taliban tanks in Afghanistan.
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- The opposition Northern Alliance said on Thursday it
used 2,000 horses in advances this week on Taliban positions near the strategic
northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
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- "As you know the winter brings difficulties for
moving around Afghanistan, so some of our soldiers travel on horseback,"
said opposition commander Mustafah on the front line north of Kabul.
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- "The horses are fast and can move where we cannot
get our vehicles. They are good for attack, it is usual for us to use horses,
even in the summer."
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- The cavalry charges -- an ancient form of warfare --
were directed against 20th century weaponry.
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- "This is opposition forces riding horseback into
combat against tanks and armored personnel carriers," said the vice
chairman of the U.S. military Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace,
in Washington.
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- Since man has waged war, animals have played a key role.
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- Even in an era of modern mechanised warfare, animals
have continued to serve with honour -- or almost.
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- According to military historians, the U.S. Army Air Corps
contemplated using thousands of kamikaze bats against Japan during World
War Two. An incendiary bomb was to have been attached to each animal but
the idea never got off the ground.
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- BRING ON THE ELEPHANTS
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- The animal that has served with greatest distinction
is the horse. From carrying supplies to leading the charge against the
enemy, the horse was vital through to the end of World War One.
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- And even in the sophisticated war on Afghanistan's Taliban,
in which the United States is armed with laser-guided bombs and high-tech
jet fighters, the horse has found a place.
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- The U.S. army used horses in World War One before the
cavalry abandoned them for armoured vehicles. One last unit fought on horseback
in World War Two, the 26th Cavalry in the Philippines.
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- Not that the horse should get all the glory.
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- In both world wars, cats, mice and canaries often served
to the death.
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- Cats lived with soldiers in trenches, where they killed
mice and rats during World War One to limit disease.
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- Canaries and mice were used in World War Two, sent into
the tunnels being dug behind enemy lines to detect poison gas.
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- Elephants, too, have held a starring role, particularly
for their ability to frighten the enemy -- or crush them underfoot.
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- Alexander the Great conquered India with the help of
elephants. The Greek king Pyrrhus and his men rode elephants into battle
against the Romans, as did Hannibal.
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- Perhaps more enduring is the use of dogs. While the ancient
Romans and Gauls used dogs trained to fight in battle and the 15th century
Spanish used dog warriors dressed in quilted overcoats. The U.S. army used
dogs in the Vietnam war as scouts.
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- The canines were attached to infantry units to detect
ambush sites, enemy caches of weapons, food and ammunition. They also served
with distinction during the 1990-91 Gulf War, alerting troops to concealed
explosives and arms caches.
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- HIGH SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE
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- Just as heroic are pigeons, which long served as messengers
of victories and defeat for the Greeks and Romans and, more recently, were
the first aerial spy photographers.
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- In World War One, pictures taken from pigeons fitted
with cameras helped generals decide the course of a battle, while in World
War Two pigeons were still used as messengers during missions that demanded
radio silence.
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- Perhaps most imaginative was the Russian and U.S. training
of dolphins to seek and destroy underwater targets in the Cold War.
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- While that programme ended, the U.S. navy also planned
to use dolphins to protect Trident submarines from sabotage in their home
ports. Animal activists scuppered the programme when they filed a lawsuit
against the navy.
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- The U.S. navy is said to study and train more than 100
dolphins, sea lions and beluga whales at underwater laboratories in San
Diego, Key West and Hawaii as "advanced biological weapons systems".
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- Part programme is said to include the training dolphins
for a "swimmer nullification system", which involves injecting
a lethal blast of carbon dioxide into a swimmer or diver.
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- Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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