As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter
I have never had a great deal of sympathy for Soldiers as they can choose desertion or surrender, or find death. In wars past it was the horses and mules which brought me to compassion, as they were in harness and saddle, and suffered and starved along with losing armies and no one would show them any compassion.
It was said in the worst of the Eastern Front fighting in World War II, that Germany lost 1000 horses a day for over use. Vehicles could not move in the mud, and the horses struggled, and in that they died in huge numbers.
This is most bothersome as Germany always had some of the finest horses ever. They were pleasing in looks and nature. To view the old Nazi films of the horses on parade was a sight of cookie cutter beauty of German breeding perfection, and most of those horses were destroyed during and after the war.
This is the lament I have for these animals on the Russian Front and the only good thing to come out of this, was that war moved past equines in harness to motors which powered vehicles with petroleum horsepower.
I honestly do not know how soldiers in all of these wars could fight in them, with the abuse these animals took, as it would have broke me inside, as I simply can not deal with animals suffering, because they can never tell you what is wrong, and still they want you to fix it.
The German horses in Russia were brought to eating the old straw off peasant huts, birch twigs and tree bark.
The heavy fallout of horses even on good roads
Lt. General Karl von Oven
56th Infantry
The horse have to work an enormous amount. The bad drivers lash the teams of horses senselessly. The forest echoes with shouts.
Horst Lager
Some of the horses still have their summer shoes on and they keep slipping and falling.
Helmut Pabst
The roads quickly became icy and our route was lined with dead horses that had broken their legs or collapsed from sheer exhaustion.
Hans Welker
The mud was of course the largest obstacle for everyone, most of all for our horses. Not only had they to carry us, but they had no proper rest or food. Everything is sticky wet, and there is nowhere to shelter. The conditions were impossible for man and beast.
By the end of October 1941, the German East Army only retained 65% of it's horses. 90% of the animals treated were suffering from exhaustion, while only 10% were from battle wounds.
This is the epitaph of a fallen army. When the animals begin dropping, is the time that the army has been beaten.
Nuff Said
agtG
