The Western Front: Paintings of Horses

War Horse Painting 1: "Charge of Flowerdew's Squadron" by Sir Alfred Munnings

Sir Alfred Munnings was a British Artist best known for equestrian art. In 1918, Munnings was commissioned by the War Memorials Fund to paint the Canadian Cavalry Brigade [1]. Munnings did not paint battle scenes often. Rather, Munnings preferred to focus on landscapes or images of the Canadian Cavalry behind the frontlines. However, the efforts of the Canadian Cavalry Brigade in the March 1918 Battle of Moreuil Wood marked a significant turning point in the war. These events inspired Munnings to paint one of his only battlefield paintings [2]. 

In March of 1918, Germans attempted to take the crucial French City of Amiens. Allied forces were ordered to defend the French territory. The battle took place in a nearby forest called Moreuil Wood where the Canadian Cavalry played a critical role in preventing the German advance. Munnings’ painting depicts Lieutenant Gordon Flowerdew leading a squadron of the Canadian Cavalry Brigade on a bayonet charge to push the Germans out of Moreuil Wood [3]. Although successful in holding the Germans back, the Allies suffered heavy losses of both men and horses. Lt. Flowerdew died after succumbing to injuries. As a result of his bravery in action, Flowerdew was awarded the Victoria Cross. According to one Canadian cavalryman “Everything seemed unreal, the shouting of men, the moans of the wounded, the pitiful crying of the wounded and dying horses” [4].     

War Horse Painting 2: "Artillery Horse Killed" by Lieutenant Alfred Theodore Bastien

Bastien was a Belgian painter who was commissioned by the War Memorials Fund to paint Canadian forces both on the battlefront and behind the lines. This painting depicts the reality that many warhorses faced throughout WWI.

The emergence of 20th-century warfare tactics and weaponry, such as the introduction of the machine gun, rendered the use of cavalry in battle rare [5]. Nevertheless, horses played a crucial role on the battlefront. Horses were generally used to transport heavy loads of supplies and weaponry. Over the course of WWI, Canadian forces relied on more than 24,134 horses in Belgium and France alone [6]. Being on the Western Front meant that horses, along with troops, were under constant threat of attack and bombing. By the end of WWI it is estimated that a total of 8 million horses were killed [7]. This painting speaks to the tragic reality that the vast majority of wartime horses faced.  

The love that most soldiers had for the horses they worked with made the gruelling experience of war slightly more bearable. Tragically, however, soldiers also had to endure the constant sight and sound of dead and dying horses. In fact, it was not uncommon for wartime propaganda to use images of dead horses on the battlefront in order to tug on the heartstrings of those on the Homefront [8]. 

As stated on the National War Horse Memorial website, paintings of wartime horses exist to “pay tribute to the nobility, courage, unyielding loyalty and immeasurable contributions these animals played in giving us freedom of democracy we all enjoy today, and signifies the last time the horse would be used on a mass scale in modern warfare” [9].