Cher Ami: Spot the Pigeon
A true story of war, ingenuity and a bird that couldn’t be intercepted
The French army is the only one in Europe that still breeds working carrier pigeons. Based at Mont Valérien near Paris, they’re kept as a backup for disasters when all other comms fail. In today’s high-tech world, you can hack a radio — but not a pigeon. They are immune to power cuts, cyberattacks and electronic jamming. In an age of digital vulnerability, the humble pigeon remains one of the most secure messengers ever used.
This tradition, the ‘Section Colombophile,’ dates back to World War I, when pigeons carried messages across enemy lines. The most famous was Cher Ami, who saved the U.S. 77th Division (later known as the ‘Lost Battalion’) in 1918.
Trapped in the Argonne Forest, short on food and ammo, and even being shelled by their own artillery, the battalion sent pigeons with their coordinates. Most were shot down, but Cher Ami flew 25 miles in 25 minutes with the message: “We are along the road parallel to 276.4. Our own artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us. For heaven’s sake stop it.”
Despite being hit in the chest, blinded in one eye, and losing a leg, he got through. The shelling stopped, and about 194 men were saved.
Army medics patched him up with a tiny wooden leg, and he was awarded the French Croix de Guerre. Cher Ami died in 1919 and can still be seen today at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington.
Today, the French army remains the only military force in Europe to maintain a working pigeon unit, still known as the Section Colombophile, based at Mont Valérien near Paris.
In a war defined by machinery and mass destruction, one wounded pigeon changed history with nothing more than instinct, training and determination.
DID YOU KNOW
- During World War I, over 100,000 pigeons were used by Allied forces
- Carrier pigeons had a success rate of over 95%
- Messages were carried in tiny aluminium capsules tied to a leg
- Pigeons often flew through gunfire and gas attacks