I have seen multiple pictures of kittens sitting atop artillery shell and the like, and was wondering what they were used for, if anything.
What were kittens used for during the first world war?
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Welcome from Libby, John, Carter and Brownie
Cat and mouse. Enemy soldier = mouse, artillery = cat. It was a moral booster for the troops, and the cat doubled for trench control. It was mainly used as a way to breathe confidence into men in the trenches, because artillery shells were falling all over the place, it was almost like telling them they wouldn’t get by one of thier own, or something along those lines.
Hope I helped.
Probably used as mascots to boost the soldiers morale.
One infantry unit/platoon/company/whatever had two cows as their mascots.
I’m pretty sure those pictures were for artistic measure
They were likely misplaced, abandoned, or just strays. But maybe the photographer wanted to capture a feeling and a sence of opposites- like- the innocence of nature and the culpability of mankind.
Cats were not used for anything other then what they are now; mousers, pets, etc.
Lunch probably
In the trenches mascots were prized and treasured and much loved. Especially cats which kept down the rat population that infested the trenches. And since they did not yet fix/spay animals you ended up with kittens which were parcelled out to different units that wanted pets.
Kittens were raised to become cats, and cats were used and kept not only as mascots but to also control the rat population in the trenches.
Soldiers hunkered down in the dismal trenches and rats were a real problem then. The kittens provided company to lonely soldiers and earned their keep as mouse and rat killers later on in their lives.