Quiet heroes: remembering donkeys this VE Day
French soldiers with a donkey during WWII (credit: Norbert Schiller Collection/Photorientalist).
This Victory in Europe Day (or VE Day) marks 80 years since the end of World War Two.
It also falls on World Donkey Day (8 May 2025), and to mark this Brooke is giving a spotlight to the unsung heroes of war – donkeys.
When you think about animals used in war, horses usually come to mind, but donkeys were a vital asset to WWII and other conflicts.
VE Day marks the anniversary of the end of WWII, once Germany had surrendered.
Donkeys played a quiet, but powerful role, especially in regions where modern transport was difficult or even impossible.
Donkeys were used to carry food, weapons, and medical supplies, especially in mountainous or rough terrain where vehicles couldn’t go. Their sure-footedness made them ideal for areas like North Africa, Greece, and the Balkans.
In the mountainous terrain of Italy, Allied forces often relied on donkeys to haul supplies where trucks couldn’t go. Soldiers often bonded with their pack animals, naming them and caring for them like comrades.
US soldiers move supplies with a donkey-drawn cart to the front line in Sicily, 1943 (credit: The National WWII Museum).
In some areas, especially with the British and Commonwealth forces, donkeys helped evacuate wounded soldiers when vehicles or stretchers weren’t an option. A medic in WWI, John Simpson, famously used donkeys to carry wounded soldiers from the front lines to safety during the Gallipoli campaign.
In North Africa, British medics used donkeys to carry wounded soldiers back to field hospitals, especially in desert or rocky terrain where ambulances couldn’t reach.
A soldier brushes his unit's mascot, GI Jenny, whilst Pito the terrier watches in North Africa, 1943 (credit: US National Archives collection).
Donkeys were crucial to resistance fighters in occupied territories, helping move equipment and supplies discreetly through mountainous regions and forests.
During the Allied campaign against the Japanese in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, donkeys transported heavy loads through the jungle and helped protect soldiers from bombs nearby.
Soldiers strap packages on a donkey, to be taken to an isolated post in a jungle in Southeast Asia, 1944 (credit: Norbert Schiller Collection/Photorientalist).
In areas lacking infrastructure, donkeys sometimes helped carry communication equipment like radio sets.
In the Balkans, Allied special forces operating behind enemy lines needed to carry portable radio equipment to maintain communication with London. Donkeys were used to haul this equipment up remote hills and through thick forest.
Donkeys also enabled code messages that helped coordinate supply drops and sabotage missions, with the Yugoslav Partisans and Special Operations Executive units using them to stay connected.
A donkey used by Yugoslav Partisans during World War II to transport radio equipment through challenging terrain (credit: GM4ULS ham radio station).
What about today?
Women's group and donkeys carrying water in Kenya.
Today, there are over 50 million donkeys globally, most of which work in some of the most challenging environments like coal mines and brick kilns, across Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Transporting water, food and goods, these are intelligent animals who feel pain and emotion just like us, yet are often overlooked, despite supporting so many communities.
Brooke provides donkeys with veterinary care, trains owners and lobbies governments for stronger animal welfare laws – particularly to safeguard them against the donkey skin trade.