"War Horse and did/could it happen?" Topic

In the scene where the Tommy and the Fritz cut Joey (the War Horse) free from barbed wire during a short cease-free in the no-man's land, did this happen to anyone's knowledge? I mentioned the Christmas Truce to my wife and she couldn't believe it. So, it's possible that German and Allies did something like that, but besides the Christmas Truce- did they have other short cease-fires on the Western Front for humanitarian reasons?

I've read where occasionally both sides would stop firing and allow wounded in no man's land be picked up. Suppose there could be a momentary stoppage of firing to do something decent for a trapped animal.

In the early stages of the war. Later 1917-18 there was little humanitarian like actions like that done.

Suppose there could be a momentary stoppage of firing to do something decent for a trapped animal.

One side or the other would probably have just shot the beast. When human life was as cheap as it was on the Western Front, no-one was going to stop proceedings for a damn horse.

A little light reading for the sentimentalists.

link

Haven't seen the film – but of course it is possible that this could happen.

Would you tell your commanding officer you'd done it so it could go on record ?

No.

You'd have risked being shot for collaboration with the enemy.

Don't know about the truce thing, but for me the whole scene with the barb wire and resultant injuries was the least believeable. Speaking from personal experience and limited at that, barb wire can seriously cut up a struggling animal. My own horse got caught in just two strands or wire when we were crossing a downed section of fence and the resultant cuts were pretty severe for something that took place in less than a minute. For a horse to have that much exposure to wire and struggling as it was shown, I don't see how it escaped being nealy cut in half. Still a great movie and highly recommended.

Jeff

I have to go with Jeff on this one. A panicked horse caught in barb wire would cut itself into ribbons before you can reach it. Neighbor's horse hit a single strand and cut its hock to the bone. It almost bled to death before he got it under control.

They'd have shot him, and if there was enough of a lull while it was still fresh, dragged the corpse off and butchered it. A freshly dead, largely intact, horse would not have been wasted.

Doug

^^^That's probably the most accurate answer.

There is also the individual human factor. If both the German and the Brit were animal lovers, they might do something unexpected and irregular to help the horse. Not normal but certainly possible.

I think we are missing a key point. A horse is an integral part of the enemy logistics chain, like a truck is today. It would be killed by the opposite side.

KAM

Or captured?

or cooked?

In reality, it's probably someone's dinner.

And barbed wire is nasty stuff. There's a reason we had pole fences around the horse paddocks, and not wire.

Putting up a barbed wire fence is not fun, if you've never tried it. My recommendation: hire someone else to do it. Your hands, arms, legs, etc. will thank you for it.

yes cooked. Captured not likely. Too much risk for not enough return.

Putting up a barbed wire fence is not fun, if you've never tried it

I always get a lot of satisfaction out of it, I suppose because it is such a pain in the arse. Tearing them down is hell, though. Some of my most interesting scars are a result of my Dad wanting to change his fence lines.

I had to untangle a (heavily) pregnant ewe from a three-strand fence one Christmas Day. Luckily her heavy fleece kept her unscathed. I was cut to ribbons, naturally. I was fortunate that the heavy lashings of sleet and freezing rain kept my body mostly numb.

No snipers or MG fire, thank God.

Putting up a barbed wire fence is not fun, if you've never tried it

I've done it too and have the scars and torn blue jeans to prove it. Hiring someone else to do it is a good idea. I wore heavy work gloves and ended up with gashes on my wrists.

I have three scars on my face, from when I was 5 years old. I was running in the back woods and didn't see a single strand of ancient barbed wire -- no idea why it was there. It caught my face and rode up along my right eye and forehead. I still have the three scars, but luckily, it missed cutting my eye. The scars are on my right cheek, just under my right eye and on the right side of my forehead. Hardly noticeable today, but I was teased at school for years. When I went home with my face covered in blood, but my parents just laughed. My parents were odd folk.

"When I went home with my face covered in blood, but my parents just laughed."

Years later, when they were too feeble to care for themselves, did you take them round to the nice old folks home first? Then afterwards, to the dump where you really planned on keeping them, and then just laugh?

[Sounds like you were lucky to survive that tangle, you win handily over my story about returning to the bivouac at 3am after taking a sh** and not seeing the concertina wire that had not been properly marked with white streamers….]

I liked War Horse for what looked like accurate uniforms and equipment, never mind the occasional tactical silliness.

Just saw the movie this pm and I agree a horse running full speed through not one but two bands of barbed wire and not being cut to pieces was hard to stomach…did anyone else notice that after running what seemed like a hundred yards or more away from the German trenches the horse is tangled in the wire and when the German soldier who is trying to cut him loose says he needs more wire cutters 6 or 7 suddenly get thrown his way…that's a long throw…I do agree the uniforms, German heavy artillery and British tank were all very well done…I recommend the movie.

db

"…and when the German soldier who is trying to cut him loose says he needs more wire cutters 6 or 7 suddenly get thrown his way"

Yes, that was silly, but not as silly as the fact that after going back and forth in German and English as appropriate for who he's speaking to, he asks his buddies in the trench for wirecutters in English.

mmmmmmmm……….. horse steak…….

War Horse was originally a childrens' novel before it was stage play or a film. It is meant to by soppy.

See the stage play before you see the film.

I mentioned the Christmas Truce to my wife and she couldn't believe it. So, it's possible that German and Allies did something like that,

Just because she didn't believe it?

Even less believable was the patrol finding two deserters in the top floor of a windmill but not the horses on the ground floor :)

Still a good movie though. My other half enjoyed it too, but even she – a confirmed blonde – found the barbed wire scene far fetched.

The film jumped the shark from the beginning through to the end. I could be wrong, but the DEvon town & Country looked like the north of England?

In Lyn MacDonald's SOMME (I think) I read about a guy out in No-man's Land tossed by an explosion into a thicket of barbed wire. He wracked both sides' nerves by screaming & begging all night as he died the death of a thousand cuts over hours for someone to shoot him. No-one did. If they were in a position to shoot the horse they would, otherwise it would be left to die. Everyone seemed to be poking their heads above the parapet without fear of snipers. (THE TRENCH with Daniel Craig is a bit more accurate on this)

would you get a cavalry charge on a camp like that in 1914? I doubted it, but could be wrong.

The 'Devon Town' location was Castle Combe in Wiltshire. Southern England

I stand corrected. & the scenery?

My great grandfather was in the Bavarian cavalry and ended up sharing lunch (and traded steins) with a French soldier out in a corn field. So, sure, why not?