Throughout history animals have fought alongside military personal and have provided selfless acts to protect soldiers in war. It wasn’t until 2004, when the Animals in War Memorial in Hyde Park, London was unveiled that these animals were issued a public acknowledgement for their service. Ben Towle’s, Four-Fisted Tales: Animals in Combat, continues what this memorial started by highlighting the brave and courageous acts that animals have carried out for soldiers during war.
Summary:
Four-Fisted Tales: Animals in Combatis a graphic novel that presents a series of short stories about animals that have served in wars and military operations across the world. The first story focuses on a dog named Jack during the U.S. Civil War who fought with the Union, but was captured twice by Confederate soldiers and became the subject of a prisoner trade between the two forces. To avoid playing favorites, the next story highlights cats and their role in protecting ships and crews by eliminating mice to save precious food storages. Next our focus turns to Dolphins and their secret operations including deployment at entrances to waterways, the use CO2 darts against enemy divers, and the ability to locate active mines. In another story, we are introduced to a dog named Satan who is tasked with delivering a message and two carrier pigeons to a trench during WWI. With the help of two carrier pigeons the animals complete communication to secure reinforcements and prevent the trench from being overtaken. Ben also discusses the heroic acts of seagulls and carrier pigeons used to locate and identify enemy warships and deliver urgent messages when other means of communication were lost.
While all these animals are nice to look at, there have been plenty of animals that are less attractive, but have saved just as many lives. They are rats and slugs. During the Vietnam war thousands of landmines were placed throughout the countryside between the Vietnam and U.S. forces. In order to deactivate them, rats are useful in locating the mine with their strong sense of smell, but are light enough not to trigger them from exploding. As a result, they exponentially reduce the time it takes to clear a field of landmines. During WWI, slugs were introduced as a new lifesaving creature for soldiers. The mustard gas used by enemies was detected in advance by slugs and its ability to display certain behaviors when their environment changes. As a result of this behavior pattern, slugs became the new detection system for soldiers to determine if mustard gas was eminently approaching!
Significance:
Four-Fisted Friends: Animals in Combatcaptures the heroic efforts that animals performed during wartime that saved lives and changed the outcome of battles and wars. This is done by providing historical and factual context on what was happening during the war, the reason why the animals needed to step up, and how their actions caused a shift in battles or wars. With each story, we begin to understand the importance of animals and how they have collaborated with soldiers during warfare. The graphic novel, much like the Animals in War Memorial, serves as a reminder that throughout history animals have fought next to humans and should be recognized for their service. Many wars would have been far bloodier and brutal without them beside us.
