All went well until the following spring when Belle gave birth to seven puppies. Just as the puppies were born, the regiment received orders to travel across France to help halt the Germans at Marne. At first the soldier took the puppies in an old wicker-shell basket that he carried along with all of his gear. Along the way, all but two of the puppies died, and the soldier put the remaining puppies in his shirt.
At one point the regiment I had to pass through a town that was packed with refugees and soldiers. Verdun Belle was lost in the confusion, and the soldier found himself with two hungry puppies to feed. The marine begged some milk from a farmer and fed the puppies from an eyedropper. However, as he neared the front, he I realized that he could not keep the
motherless puppies and gave them to soldiers who remained at the farm.
Another famous mascot was a setter female named Verdun Belle, who wandered into an American regiment in France. She was starving and caked with mud. A young marine decided to adopt her and gave her food and a bath. They became a devoted pair, with Belle always sleeping at her master's side and quietly following him into battle. Once she was gassed, and after that her master fashioned a gas mask for her. Whenever the Germans started a gas attack, Belle would run to retrieve her gas mask so that the marine could put it on her face.
Verdun Belle The Setter
The Story Does Not End There, However...
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The next morning, while Verdun Belle followed another regiment of marines, they passed by the hospital on the farm. She suddenly stopped, sniffed the air, and ran to a tree in the field. There in a bundle of bloody bandages near the hospital were her two puppies, sound asleep. Belle was allowed to stay with her pups on the farm.
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