IF you had been at Minehead station on December 18, 1914 you would have been in for a surprise.

A special train of cattle trucks arrived at the goods sidings to release an unruly torrent of animals never before seen in Minehead - semi-wild mules, crossed between horses and donkeys, which had been shipped across the Atlantic from Lathrop, Missouri.

This trainload was the first of many that were to arrive over the next 18 months.

These mules were on their way to serve as pack animals on the Western Front in France and Belgium, and a large depot just outside Minehead had been prepared to allow the animals to recuperate and be prepared for the next stage of their journey.

Shopkeepers boarded up their windows as the unruly animals were herded through the town.

The full story of this operation is told in a new book - Mules Go To War - now on sale at Minehead Museum, and the result of extensive research by Rita Tremain and Ian Davidson, chronicling for the first time many details of these extraordinary events.

When hostilities broke out in August 1914, the British army moved quickly to secure pack animals to carry supplies. Motor transport was in its infancy, the army had good experience of mule transport in skirmishes in India and the earlier South African war.

A contract to supply large, strong American mules was quickly concluded. Mules were to be shipped to Avonmouth and depots were set up all over Somerset to receive them, Minehead being one of the largest.

Headquarters for this operation was the 364-acre Bratton Court farm, just outside Minehead. Farmer Lovelace and his family were quickly moved to Woodcombe to make room for the newly set-up F Squadron of the Somerset Mule Remount service, commanded by Indian veteran Major George Badcock.

Eighty local men were recruited to care for the mules: new research by Ian Davidson reveals details of these men, where they lived, their families and what happened to them through the war and later.

During their weeks at Bratton Court, mules had the chance to recover from the rigours of a transatlantic voyage, to be medically checked and shod by a team of local farriers, to feed on lush Somerset grass, supplemented daily by 11kilos (25 pounds) of oats, beans, bran and hay.

After several weeks, the sleek and now placid animals were driven back through Minehead’s streets for the next stage of their journey to France.

With trainloads of mules arriving and departing almost weekly, residents became familiar with mobs of mules moving up to Bratton Court, and strings of more placid animals making the return trip.

At any one time there were up to 500 mules scattered across the green fields surrounding Bratton Court, and the local employees were kept busy.

Once at the front, the mules proved their worth, carrying supplies, ammunition and even wounded men. It has been estimated that 75% of the ammunition fired up to 1917 had been carried by mules.

By spring 1916, however, the War Office decided to centralise operations in just two depots, both away from Somerset, and operations were wound up. The employees, who by now were army conscripts, were drafted away, and once again sheep and cattle grazed placidly at Bratton Court farm.

Mules Go To War details the full story of this remarkable operation as well as biographies of all the local men who worked with the mules. In addition, more than twenty rarely seen photographs from the Imperial War Museum collection show the lives of these animals on the front, and the impact of this operation on Minehead is also discussed.

Mules Go To War, researched by Rita Tremain and Ian Davidson and compiled and edited by Geoff Lloyd, costs £7.50. All proceeds go to support the further development of museum. The book is also obtainable at [email protected].

Minehead Museum is now open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday 10am-4pm and Sundays from 11 am to 4 pm.