Coo! Pigeon rescued 500 trapped troops
THE incredible tale of a heroic British carrier pigeon who helped rescue hundreds of soldiers lost and under fire has been revealed.
Lt James Leak was among 700 men who became cut off during a major offensive on German positions in the FirstWorldWar.
Encircled by enemy forces in a French forest in September 1917, almost 200 men were killed either by constant German shelling or friendly fire.
Runners were intercepted by the enemy and carrier pigeons sent up by the so-called Lost Battalion were shot out of the sky by German snipers.
Finally, a British bird named Cher Ami flew 25 miles to deliver the life-saving message – despite being shot through the breast, losing a leg and being blinded in one eye.
The message, written on onion paper, read: “On road parallel to 276.4. Our own artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us. For heavens sake stop it.”
Reinforcements then managed to push the German forces back.
Cher Ami survived and a wooden leg was carved for her.
Lt Leak, who served in the American Army’s 77th Division, was captured after being hit by shrapnel and discovered by a German patrol.
Now an archive of letters and documents relating to him is for sale at Bonhams in New York. It is expected to sell for £5,000.
One of the documents is the officer’s hand-written account describing his experience in the Argonne Forest and his capture.
Lt Leak returned to the US after the war and died in 1942 aged 53. The timed auction ends on January 29.