All Creatures Great and Small

Mercy Dogs were equipped with medical supplies so that injured soldiers could tend to their own wounds. More seriously wounded men had the company, in their final moments, of Mercy Dogs who waited with them as they died

She was awarded the Croix de Guerre. On her last mission, in October 1918, Cher Ami delivered a message despite having been shot

Elephants were taken from all the major zoos and circuses in Germany to help in the war effort. There are also reports of elephants working in Britain at the same time

13,000 Australian horses survived the war but due to quarantine restrictions they could not be shipped back. 2,000 were killed and the remaining 11,000 were sold. One, a horse named Sandy, was returned at the request of Australia’s Defence Minister

It was fired by Edward Thomas, of the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards, during a patrol in the build up to the Battle of Mons

The leader of the regiment, David Campbell, believed it would be better to fight on foot but he obeyed his orders and charged. As well as being an army officer Campbell was a successful sportsman. He rode the winning horse in the 1896 Grand National

The dogs were identified by a scarlet collar. It was a serious offence to stop a dog in its line of duty

Alternatively a fine of £100 could be paid. This in a time when the average weekly wage was around 17 shillings (85p) for 52 hours work

The use of traditional cavalry charges during the war resulted in the loss of many troops and horses to the enemy's machine guns. The long era of the horse in battle was coming to an end

They were called Summer Dogs because they were ‘Summer this and Summer that’ i.e. mongrels. Another name for them was ‘Heinz Terrier’ because they had '57 varieties' in them