War Pigeons: Tunisian Campaign, Lady Astor, 1943

Occupation of Bizerte

Before Bizerte fell to the Allied forces a good deal of resistance had to be overcome in the streets of the town. British, French and American troops fought battles in the streets all day long. Crouching beside some ruins, an American patrol awaits the order to move forward whilst one of their scouts moves forward on recce.  Photo by Sgt. Wackett, No. 2 Army  Film & Photographic Unit.   © IWM (NA 2735)

War Pigeons: Tunisian Campaign,  Lady Astor, 1943

During the Tunisian campaign, the Allies forced the Axis Powers out of North Africa.  General Rommel retreated to Germany.  Colonel General Jurgin Von Arnim surrendered at Hammamet on May 12, 1943.

Many pigeons distinguished themselves throughout the Tunisian campaign.  Gordon H. Hayes served as a pigeoneer in Africa and Italy.  From his book The Pigeons That Went to War, this is Hayes’s account of Lady Astor.

     “A fresh supply of pigeons was needed by the combat mobile lofts as losses became greater.  Birds of a combat loft had a very short life span.  Many were captured by the Krauts when they were carried by the American patrol units into the enemy territory and no man’s land.  Artillery fire, flack from the bursting projectiles, and direct hits by Kraut rifle fire took a heavy toll of pigeons as they flew across the enemy lines.  It  was under these conditions that Sgt. Adam Sampson’s little hen, called Lady Astor, although wounded and almost dead, flew her heart out to deliver a message entrusted to her.  It is fitting that her saga be told now. 

     Lady Astor, band number AU-43 Sty 2249, was donated by the U.S. Signal Corps in the fall of 1942, by the members of the Steinway Racing Pigeon Club of New York City.  This little blue check hen was sent to the African theater of war and here she was given her first opportunity to do her part for the U.S. Signal Pigeon Corps.  She was sent nearly 60 miles from her home loft to a combat unit at the front.  The following day she was picked from a small four-bird container and an urgent message was attached to her leg.  She was then set free.

     Although it was raining heavily, she launched her flight back to her home loft.  Then, piercing the silence of the area, a few shots rang out.  Bullets riddled her breast.  She was torn from her eye to the keel of her breast, her leg was fractured, and half her feathers were torn from one wing.  This did not deter her.  She continued on her mission.  After reaching her destination, she alighted on the roof of the loft.  Exhausted now, and gasping, she fell to the ground.  Here she was picked up, the message was removed and delivered safely.  Immediately her wounds were dressed and she was gradually nursed back to life and perfect health.  She was not called upon again, for she had done her utmost in winning the war in North Africa, and her handlers were compassionate men. 

     There were no veterinarians in our Pigeon Platoon and all sewing up of the wounded pigeons was done by us.  We all knew how to sew them up, set their legs, and take care of any medical problems they had.  What Adam did with Lady Astor, perhaps a surgeon could not have done better.  As it was, she had at least twenty stitches, a broken leg, and open head wounds.  I saw her later at our breeding and staging area at Bizerte.  She looked great, with only a slight limp, which, in a way, made her look like a lady.”

Hayes doesn’t give the date of Lady Astor’s flight.  He tells her story amidst stories of other pigeons who made remarkable flights in early May.  She probably completed her mission sometime between May 3 and May 11, 1943.

 

The Campaign in North Africa, 1940-43

The Axis retreat and the Tunisian campaign 1942 - 1943: Remains of a German Mark II tank destroyed in the fighting for the Kasserine Gap.  Photo by Sergeant C. Bowman, No. 2 Army Film and Photographic Unit.  © IWM (NA 874)