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Old 07-06-2006, 08:52 AM   #38
mark12_30
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Squatter of Amon Rûdh
Although the infantry did use horses, it was for portage, pulling carts and carrying baggage. Stationed in the reserve trenches as Signals Officer, Tolkien would have been concerned with semaphore, morse code, field telephones and runners, even, at a pinch, carrier pigeons, which were the staple forms of communication on the Western Front. He was unlikely to have had a horse or, for that matter, any tack as part of his combat duties.
Hmmmm-- no horse for combat; but with all that stuff to lug around (carrier pigeons, telephones, rolls of wiring?) perhaps he had regular access to a pack horse.
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