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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — You're a 16th century German prince plotting to crush a peasant rebellion, or perhaps you're leading an army against the Ottoman Empire or looking to settle the score with a rival nobleman. What's a guy looking for a tactical edge to do?
Bring on the rocket cats!
Fanciful illustrations from a circa-1530 manual on artillery and siege warfare seem to show jet packs strapped to the backs of cats and doves, with the German-language text helpfully advising military commanders to use them to "set fire to a castle or city which you can't get at otherwise."
Digitized by the University of Pennsylvania, the unusual, full-color illustrations recently caught the attention of an Australian book blog and then found their way to Penn researcher Mitch Fraas, who set out to unravel the mystery.
"I really didn't know what to make of it," said Fraas, a historian and digital humanities expert at the Penn library. "It clearly looks like there's some sort of jet of fire coming out of a device strapped to these animals."
So were these unfortunate animals from the 1500s really wearing 20th-century technology?
Fraas' conclusion: No. Obviously.
The treatise in question was written by artillery master Franz Helm of Cologne, who was believed to have fought in several skirmishes against the Turks in south-central Europe at a time when gunpowder was changing warfare.
Circulated widely and illustrated by multiple artists, Helm's manual is filled with all sorts of strange and terrible imagery, from bombs packed with shrapnel to missile-like explosive devices studded with spikes — and those weaponized cats and birds.
According to Fraas' translation, Helm explained how animals could be used to deliver incendiary devices: "Create a small sack like a fire-arrow . if you would like to get at a town or castle, seek to obtain a cat from that place. And bind the sack to the back of the cat, ignite it, let it glow well and thereafter let the cat go, so it runs to the nearest castle or town, and out of fear it thinks to hide itself where it ends up in barn hay or straw it will be ignited."
In other words, capture a cat from enemy territory, attach a bomb to its back, light the fuse and then hope it runs back home and starts a raging fire.
Fraas said he could find no evidence that cats and birds were used in early modern warfare in the way prescribed by Helm.
A good thing, too.
"Sort of a harebrained scheme," Fraas said. "It seems like a really terrible idea, and very unlikely the animals would run back to where they came from. More likely they'd set your own camp on fire."
Its okay Frazz.really.it is
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/03/07 01:59:05
Proud Member of the Infidels of OIF/OEF
No longer defending the US Military or US Gov't. Just going to ""**feed into your fears**"" with Duffel Blog Did not fight my way up on top the food chain to become a Vegan...
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There is a story about a Mongol general who had a city under siege. He promised he would end the siege if the city gave him a few thousand birds, which the inhabitants eagerly complied with. He then had strips of cloth tied to the birds and set alight just before freeing them. The birds flew back to their nests, consequently setting fires which burned the whole city to the ground. Seige ended.
Sampson, from the book of judges, had a grudge against the Phillistines and caught several Foxes. He tied torches to their tails and turned them loose in the fields, burning up the Phillistines crops.
Lesson here, tying flammable materials to several small animals and turning them loose on your enemies stuctures can be fairly effective.
Relapse wrote: There is a story about a Mongol general who had a city under siege. He promised he would end the siege if the city gave him a few thousand birds, which the inhabitants eagerly complied with. He then had strips of cloth tied to the birds and set alight just before freeing them. The birds flew back to their nests, consequently setting fires which burned the whole city to the ground. Seige ended.
Sampson, from the book of judges, had a grudge against the Phillistines and caught several Foxes. He tied torches to their tails and turned them loose in the fields, burning up the Phillistines crops.
Lesson here, tying flammable materials to several small animals and turning them loose on your enemies stuctures can be fairly effective.
I believe that the US was planning on doing the same thing to Japan with Bats during WW2.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2014/03/07 03:15:18
I believe that the US was planning on doing the same thing to Japan with Batsuring WW2.
There's an entire wiki page devoted to the use of animals in warfare
1500pts
Gwar! wrote:Debate it all you want, I just report what the rules actually say. It's up to others to tie their panties in a Knot. I stopped caring long ago.
Relapse wrote: There is a story about a Mongol general who had a city under siege. He promised he would end the siege if the city gave him a few thousand birds, which the inhabitants eagerly complied with. He then had strips of cloth tied to the birds and set alight just before freeing them. The birds flew back to their nests, consequently setting fires which burned the whole city to the ground. Seige ended.
Sampson, from the book of judges, had a grudge against the Phillistines and caught several Foxes. He tied torches to their tails and turned them loose in the fields, burning up the Phillistines crops.
Lesson here, tying flammable materials to several small animals and turning them loose on your enemies stuctures can be fairly effective.
I believe that the US was planning on doing the same thing to Japan with Bats during WW2.
There is indeed. There was a children's book written about it (from the point of view of one of the bats) and I did a history report on it way back in the mists of time. If I recall correctly my teacher gave me a low score because she thought I was making it up.
The Russians did the same with dogs during WW2, iirc.
They strapped anti-tank explosives onto the poor puppies, and trained them to chase after tanks. It didn't really work; the dogs tended to go anywhere they pleased after release, and as the Russians used Russian tanks as training dummies, the dogs would often seek out Russian tanks instead of German tanks.
The Romans also had an unorthodox way to deal with enemy Elephants - they would get a bunch of pigs, splatter them with oil or some other flammable liquid, push them towards the enemy elephants and set them alight. The pigs would panic and (best case scenario) run towards the Elephants. Elephants, despite their size and strength, are easily spooked by fire and the squeals and pigs, and tended to panic and turn against their owners when the flaming swines got close.
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2014/03/07 13:07:54
What I have
~4100
~1660
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Yep incendiary animals have long been apart of warfare as stated numerously on this thread. I noticed the article from the OP in the Indian Times yesterday, same badly researched source.
There were no 'rocket cats' there were plenty of incendiary cats though, cats being a good example of an incendiary weapon because a cat on fire is fast an evasive and low to the ground.
n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.
It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion.
kronk wrote: Animals and explosives? It's been done.
Oh jeeze, that made me tense. I was half expecting the critter to become a fountain.
Weiners are tough.
Plus, there's an America's Funniest Videos logo on it. They won't accept videos where animals get seriously harmed.
You know you're really doing something when you can make strangers hate you over the Internet. - Mauleed
Just remember folks. Panic. Panic all the time. It's the only way to survive, other than just being mindful, of course-but geez, that's so friggin' boring. - Aegis Grimm
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1500pts
~4100
~1660
