Rare 100-year old message capsule found by an old couple in France

France: An old couple in Ingersheim, France stumbled upon a message capsule used for sending messages through homing pigeons in older days.

After opening the capsule, they discovered that it was sent nearly a century ago by a Prussian soldier. However, the couple could not read it as it was written in rather difficult-to-read German handwriting.

They took the letter to the nearest museum at Orbey. This museum is dedicated to some of the fiercest battles that occurred during the first World War.

Initially, Ingersheim was a part of Germany, which, now is in France's Grant Est Department. Dominique Jardy, curator of the Linge Museum at Orbey got the letter translated by his German friend. The capsule and its message is now a permanent part of the museum's antique display.

The message on the letter (after translation) stated, "Platoon Potthoff receives fire as they reach the western border of the parade ground, platoon Potthof takes up fire and retreats after a while. In Fechtwald half a platoon was disabled. Platoon Potthoff retreats with heavy loss."

Homing pigeons are a specific category of domestic pigeons who are known to be carriers of messages during older days when communication was a difficult task to conquer for long-distance people. Researches prove that pigeons have the ability to navigate on their own and they possess the ability of magnetoreception.

Homing pigeons are trained when they are around 6 weeks old.

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