dead

The Isonzo River , known as the Soča in Slovene, is a river that flows from the Alps to the Adriatic through present day Slovenia and Italy, near their border with one another. The river valley was the scene of almost continual battles between 1915 and 1917, fighting which by some estimates took 600,000 lives.
www.firstworldwar.com/battles/isonzo.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So%C4%8Da#Significance_in_World_War_I

wiedererweckte Tote - Grabkammer

A shame!

"I don’t think I could stand the thought of my old fancy hack Just crawling round old Cairo with a ’Gyppo on his back. Perhaps some English tourist out in Palestine may find My broken hearted waler with a wooden plough behind. No, I think I’d better shoot him and tell a little lie:– “He floundered in a wombat hole and then lay down to die.” Maybe I’ll get court martialled; but I’m damned if I’m inclined To go back to Australia and leave my horse behind." Major Oliver Hogue (“Trooper Bluegum”) www.awm.gov.au/wartime/44/page54_bou/

"In early 1919 the Australian government decided that its animals in the Middle East would be classified according to age and fitness, with the better mounts being either passed to imperial units, pooled in remount depots for later reissue or, failing that, sold. The older and unfit horses would be destroyed. Thus in February 1919 veterinary officers began examining horses: all riding horses over 12 years old, all draught horses over 15 years old, all unsound horses and those requiring more than two months’ treatment were marked for destruction. After their manes and tails were shorn (horse hair was valuable) and their shoes removed, these horses were taken to selected spots near their camps where working parties under the command of a veterinary officer shot them with pistols. They were gutted and the skins salted (these were valuable too). In all, 3,059 of the AIF’s horses were destroyed in this way by members of Australian or British military forces." www.awm.gov.au/wartime/44/page54_bou/

'Sandy', the only horse to return from the First World War. In the First World War 136,000 “walers” (the general name applied to Australian horses abroad) were sent overseas for use by the Australian Imperial Force and the British and Indian governments. One horse from the 136,000 made it back to Australia. Sandy belonged to Major General Sir William Bridges, who was killed at Gallipoli. He was one of 6,100 horses who had embarked for Gallipoli. However, very few of the animals were put ashore, as Lieutenant General Sir William Birdwood decided there was not room or requirement on Anzac Cove. On 5 May Birdwood sought approval to send the horses back to Alexandria. In October 1917 Senator George Pearce, Minister for Defence, called for Sandy to be returned to Australia for pasture at Duntroon. In May 1918 the horse was sent from the Australian Veterinary Hospital at Calais to the Remount Depot at Swaythling in England. He was accompanied by Private Archibald Jordon, who had been at the hospital since April 1917 and classed as permanently unfit for further active service. After three months of veterinary observation, Sandy was declared free of disease. In September 1918 he was boarded on the freighter Booral, sailing from Liverpool and arriving in Melbourne in November. Sandy was turned out to graze at the Central Remount Depot at Maribyrnong. www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/horses/sandy/ www.awm.gov.au/wartime/19/one-came-home/