The forgotten heroes of history: How 16,000 pigeons became secret agents during World War II

Time of India

10 hours ago

Some of history's darkest moments are witness to unlikely heroes, who emerged like a blessing disguise. One such story involves humble birds, like the homing pigeons that served as silent but vital secret agents, during World War II.
Even though they are overlooked in mainstream history, these feathered messengers became crucial to the Resistance movements used across Nazi-occupied Europe.
Their handlers were ordinary villagers and not spies, who risked everything to provide invaluable information to British intelligence. These pigeons flew messages into the hands of the little-known branch of British military intelligence specializing in German-occupied territories.
The forgotten spy heroes of history
Operation Columba, which was a secret WWII pigeon spy mission run by MI14's Special Pigeon Service, saw British intelligence drop around 16,000 homing pigeons into Nazi-occupied countries between 1941 and 1944. Each crate was placed with rice paper, a small pencil, instructions, and often a recent newspaper to establish credibility of the information.
Villagers across France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Denmark found these birds and used them to send intel about troop strength, radar and rocket site from the front lines.
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Roughly 10 % of the pigeons returned, but that small percentage yielded over a thousand vital messages, which was enough to influence Allied strategic decisions.
According to Smithsonian magazine, some messages came from the Belgian resistance cell code-named Leopold Vindictive, led by Father Joseph Raskin. His intelligence reached as high as Winston Churchill and prompted MI6 to parachute agents behind enemy lines to support the network.
Sadly, Raskin and several members were eventually betrayed, arrested, and executed near the war's end.
Pigeons also faced dreadful deaths
Among these pigeons, many were shot down, captured by German hawk handlers, or simply eaten by starving civilians before they could carry their messages home. Yet the missions that succeeded had huge impact, some messages helped identify German radar sites shooting down RAF bombers, others warned of rocket launch areas targeting London.
Out of this daring experiment, several pigeons earned the Dickin Medal, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross, for bravery and service. Famously, pigeons like Commando and William of Orange carried life-saving intelligence on dozens of missions, including messages that helped save over 2,000 soldiers.
From their secret service roles in military intelligence, the image of pigeons completely changed. Once seen merely as common birds, they came to be acknowledged as wartime heroes. Their legacy reminds us that even in the age of developed warfare, spirit and simplicity can perform extraordinary tasks beyond expectations.