Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 January 1917 — Donkeys in War [ARTICLE]

Donkeys in War

Donkeys of the small African kind have taken the place of mules for transport work in the French trenches. It is not the first time that donkeys have taken part in military operations. The Persians and Greeks made use of them in their convoys, and there is the Instance of the donkeys which carried the members of the French institute on Bonaparte’s Egyptian expedition. Whenever the column was attacked by the enemy, the soldiers formed a square and shouted “Donkeys In the center”; whereupon the academicians would seek the refuge thus proffered. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire Is responsible for the story.