This amazing photo shows a heartwarming and moving tribute created by WW1 soldiers paid to the horses who died in battle.
This photo shows approximately 650 soldiers forming an incredible image that takes the shape of a horses head. This would have taken hours to create and nail perfectly, especially at a time with no drones available to reposition the soldiers into the correct formation!.
It is believed the picture was taken by officers of the Auxiliary Remount Dept No.326 in Camp Cody, New Mexico in 1915.
The photo pays tribute to brave horses who died during the First World War. It is believed that in total an astonishing 8 million war horses were killed, along with mules and donkeys. Many died in battles and had terribly tragic endings to their lives.
The animals were mainly used to help carry medical supplies to men on the front along with food and water, some even carried ammunition to the front line. It was at this time that many of these poor defenceless animals died.
In addition to the brave horses that sadly perished in the war, many many dogs believed to be in the millions also lost their lives as a result of conflict.
The bravery of horses was spoke of in the book War Horse by Michael Morpurgo. The book was later adapted into a movie directed by the legendary Steven Spielberg, it even went on to spawn a show in the west end.
Many books have been written on the subject as well, including the 2011 book “The War Horses: The Tragic Fate of a Million Horses in the First World War” by historian Simon Butler.
Butler said: “I was always interested in this subject, but I never realised how what happened to the horses was not properly documented before. My whole book is about the tragic story of how these ordinary horses were taken from farms by the military … For the men who served in the trenches it was a tragedy and for the people at home it was a tragedy too because they lost animals to which they had become attached.”
It is worth noting that of the one million horses which left the UK for the war, only 60,000 returned.
An incredibly sad tale and one we wanted to share with you, we believe the soldiers who created this no credible photo to pay their respects deserve to have this image shown around the world.
