These 17 Brave Cats Helped Soldiers Win Their Battles During WWI

By | August 19, 2015

During the First World War, cats were a common sight. You’ll find these brave creatures in the trenches and aboard ships, helping soldiers by killing mice and rats, as well as serving as gas detectors.

Here are just some of them:

1. Togo the cat of the battleship HMS Dreadnought.

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IWM

2. Two cats posing in the breech of a 4-inch caliber gun aboard an unidentified U.S. ship.

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U.S. Naval Institute

3. A cat looks up at a soldier, Gallipoli Peninsula, 1915.

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Australian War Memorial

4. British soldier playing with a cat.

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Illustrated War News, Vol. 7, London, 1918

5. Portrait of Company O’Connor on August 12th, 1915.

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Australian War Memorial

6. Ship’s cat strutting along the barrel of a 15-inch gun on board the HMS Queen Elizabeth in Gallipoli Peninsula, 1915.

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Bibliotheque nationale de France

7. Two men of the 9th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, 15th Division with their pet cat “Martinpuich,” August 25th, 1916.

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IWM

8. Officers of the US 2nd Army Corps with a cat they found in the ruins of Le Cateau-Cambrésis.

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Pictorial Record of the 27th Division

9. Ship’s cat aboard the HMAS Encounter.

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Wikipedia

10. Portrait of a soldier holding a kitten in Melbourne, 1915.

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Australian War Memorial

11. “Spark Plug” was the cat mascot of this plane.

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Library of Congress

12. A sailor on board the Royal Australian Navy Destroyer HMAS Swan shaking the paw of “Ching” the ship’s mascot.

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Australian War Memorial

13. A gunner with the regimental cat in a trench in Cambrin, France, February 6th, 1918.

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IWM

14. Sailor on board the HMAS Melbourne holding two of the ship’s cats, 1917.

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Australian War Memorial

15. A Canadian soldier with “Tabby” the unit’s cat, on Salisbury Plain, September 27th, 1914.

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IWM

16. Another cat mascot.

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kinja-img

17. “Pincher” the cat mascot of the HMS Vindex, sitting on the propeller of one of the sea planes carried by the ship.

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Wikipedia

Here's the true value of cats during the war as explained by the U.S. Naval Institute:

"It is believed that the ancient Egyptians were the first seafarers to realize the true value of having these fluffy creatures as shipmates. In addition to offering sailors much needed companionship on long voyages, cats rid ships of vermin.

"Without the cats, a ship might be overrun with rats that would eat into the provisions, chew through ropes and spread disease. The more superstitious sailors strongly believed that the cats protected them by bringing good luck."