Half a million cats

We don’t quite know the details of the ‘Christmas Truce’ of December 1914, but we do know that it featured a cat named Felix, or Nestor if you were German, and that the unfortunate animal was ultimately convicted of treason.

Felix/Nestor was one of about 500,000 cats that served in WW1, many of them on ‘Rodent Patrol’ in the trenches, but some also on ships and some acting as ‘canaries’ in cases of gas warfare, and as mascots.

The trenches were dirty, festering and damp, and with decaying bodies, they attracted rats by the thousands. It was impossible to set adequate traps for the rodents, so cats were employed instead. By taking care of the rat problem, the cats also protected the soldiers’ much needed-provisions and kept away the dreaded rat-borne diseases. The cats also gave much needed comfort and calm to men amongst the chaos of the war.

As detectors of mustard gas, the cats shone. Their heightened sense of smell meant they sensed the gas before humans. It is also believed that they could detect bombs in advance, using their sense of atmospheric pressure.  Britain sent 500 cats to serve as their version of a ‘canary in a coal mine’. Given their size, they felt the effect of the gas almost immediately, and this reaction would alert nearby troops, giving them valuable time to put on protective gear.

This is from Jon O’London’s Weekly: ‘The cats, which were gathered from the highways and by-ways of London, were used to detect gas in the trenches. They were obtained through an advertisement which appeared in the London papers asking for ‘common cats-any number’, to be delivered to Charles Harris’ bird store……But even Mr Harris did not know what the cats were wanted for.’

Cats, being cats, roamed freely and in some cases changed sides. The Gympie Times in 1918 told the story of men seeing a cat emerge from the German trenches in front of them, make her way to their trenches and proceed to the rear and inspected the billets. She then retraced her steps back to the German lines. They assumed they had seen the last of her and were amazed when she re-appeared with a kitten in her mouth, passed through to the billets that she had clearly decided was a suitable place for the kitten, dropped it, and then went back to the German trenches to collect the next one. She did this one more time, delivering three kittens to the English line.

As well as in the trenches and barracks, cats had a home on warships. As mascots, they kept them clear of rodents and provided companionships, and sailors believed that having a cat on board brought them good luck and would keep them safe and among the many examples of shops cat is Togo, a Persian, who was the mascot of the HMS Dreadnought. HMS Dreadnought survived the war and was retired in 1919.

Togo - the mascot of HMS Dreadnought. Pic courtesy of IWM

Cats were also fiercely loyal to the troops with whom they served and one cat in particular Pitouchi, displayed this attachment on an evening when Lt Lekeux was scouting out the German position and drawing their location on a map. Seeing the enemy, Lekeux took cover, but remained trapped when the Germans heard a noise and started looking for the source of it. Pitouchi, on Lekeux’s shoulders, jumped off and ran from the cover. His reflexes were too fast for the Germans, who put the noise they had heard down to the cat and gave up the search, allowing Lekeux to live another day.

Back to the Christmas Truce of December 1914, where Felix/Nestor acted as a messenger between the troops, carrying paper notes tucked in his collar between the two lines. A number of cats acted as messengers, carrying notes of peace and goodwill between the sides.

Unfortunately, as the story goes, not all officers were so tolerating of what was happening, and Felix was caught, put in front of a tribunal, found guilty of treason and executed by firing squad.

So, when we remember the two legged, let us also pay our respects to the four-legged.