Season 5 History: Beasts of Burden in WWII
In the wartime setting of All Creatures Great and Small Season 5, Tristan Farnon returns from the front in Egypt to train soldiers in the Royal Army Veterinary Corps to work with mules. But with bombers, battleships, and armored tanks, why were mules and other beasts of burden part of the fight against the Axis powers in World War II? The production’s historian, Dr. Mark Roodhouse of the University of York, explained.
While World War II was highly mechanized, Roodhouse noted, it wasn’t completely mechanized, and there was still a place, particularly behind the lines, for using horse-drawn vehicles, and in areas where the terrain was difficult to cross, four-legged transport rather than wheeled. “In fact, in Burma (which is obviously not the theatre referred to in the show), it was absolutely vital that they used mules to move stuff through the jungle. The American general “Vinegar Joe” Stilwell, when he was fighting in Burma, depended on mules because of the nature of the terrain. So it feels like a throwback, but actually it was the most appropriate form of transport in certain situations.”
In All Creatures Great and Small Season 5, Tristan Farnon was brought back to the UK, to the Royal Army Veterinary Corps base in Doncaster, to train the men who would be deployed to do the work he’d been doing in Egypt. During the war, horse racing was suspended, and Doncaster Racecourse, one of the UK’s top premier racing venues, was turned into a depot for the Royal Army Veterinary Corps’ training of commissioned and non-commissioned officers, and the stables were used to teach people to look after the horses, mules, asses who would be used in the war effort. Doncaster is close to Thirsk, so Tristan would have been able to easily take the train in a direct line back and forth.
The Royal Army Veterinary Corps still exists today.
