Unusual Military Commissions

Compared with dogs, cats have not only played a minor role in human warfare but also an unhappy one.

Stories of their misuse start as early as 525 BC, when Cambyses of  Persia took possession of Egypt.

It is said that the Persian troops managed to take the city of Pelasium without a blow being struck.   

They went into battle with live cats secured to their shields, which   rendered the Egyptian powerless to resist in case they harmed their sacred animals.

Other military cats have not been so lucky. Two thousand years later, in Germany, vessels were allegedly strapped to the backs of terrified cats, which were forced to run around enemy territory, spreading poisonous fumes.
 
 A very recent tale concerns the US Army's attempt to employ the cat's excellent nocturnal vision by training cats as night scouts for their troops in Vietnam.

As plausible as the story sounds, its origins lie with a writer for the satirical magazine National Lampoon.

We do know, however, that 'the British Army employed cats during World War I to act as gas detectors.

When they were  introduced to front-line  trenches (much like canaries  in coal mines), their sensitive olfactory system could  detect unfamiliar pell before humans could, therefore acting as an excellent  alarm system.

At on  time, before the introduction of quarantine laws, all ships carried a catching cat. Most are unsung heroes, but a few are remembered with honors.

There is a  bronze statue in Sydney,  Australia, of Captain Flinders (1774-1814) and his feline companion, Trim.

During the late 1700s they were among the first to chart  the Australian coastline.

Another ships cat, Oscar, has been celebrated for his amazing survival rate after an extraordinary number of shipwrecks during World War II.