Fighting dogs

[FROGSMILE]

5 hours ago, kerry said:

Would you know if British soldiers used mercy dogs in the Ypres Salient in early 1915?

When looking into this I found that it has been clouded by the writings of lots of romantic dog enthusiasts, who have ended up conflating the activities of the [collectively] ‘war dogs’ employed by the French, Belgians, Americans, British and Germans into a single narrative.  As so often the truth of the matter is more complex.  For example under the subject of Mercy/Hospital/Sanitats Dogs you will find conflicting assertions that Collies, Boxers, Bloodhounds and Airedale’s (or even German Shepherd Dogs!) make “the best” such dogs, but that seems purely to have depended upon the prejudice of the writer, rather than any particular evidence.

From a British perspective the British Army was very slow to accept the training and use of war dogs and a school for such was not set up until 1917, long after Ypres 1915.  The fact that one was opened was largely down to the persistence of Lt Col E H Richardson, a former army officer and enthusiastic dog trainer who had been trying to get police and military authorities interested since 1910, and who as a recognised expert travelled throughout Europe and attended shows and continental training schools pre-war, including some in Germany.

Early in the war Richardson tried to promote the use of trained mercy dogs, but learned early on that, distinguished by red crosses on white, they were being deliberately shot by opposing forces and, in any case, lost most of their utility once the stagnation of trench warfare set in by the end of 1914 into 1915.  At that point the French Army ordered a halt to the use of mercy dogs.  The use of such mercy dogs seems to have declined significantly after that, apart from in the German Army, where there was more successful activity by such dogs on the Eastern Front due to the more fluid conditions of warfare that prevailed there**. 

Lt Col Richardson apparently passed his few such dogs to the British Red Cross who continued to use a limited number of dogs in suitable conditions, but himself turned his full attention to two types of employment for dogs that met emerging military demands.  The most urgent of these was for message dogs to improve situational awareness, and the second was for guarding.  From that point on demand for these two specific types of war dog grew so much that after a successful trial with two Airedales working for the artillery, Richardson was ordered to establish an Army War Dog School, which he did in Shoeburyness, Essex, dedicating himself to it (the school) for the remainder of the war.  You can read his written account here, with the pertinent details starting on page 51: https://archive.org/details/britishwardogsth00richrich/page/n5/mode/1up

Turning to your specific point about Ypres in 1915, only the Red Cross Mercy Dogs seem to have been functioning at that point, and I can find no evidence so far that any were employed by the British at Ypres.  The British High Command had apparently shown a singular lack of enthusiasm for them anyway, so I imagine that any use would have only been arranged by the Red Cross at a very local level.  If you’re looking for any suitable narrative for a dog with the British Army at that time, I did though discover the poignant story of Sammy, a Terrier who was adopted by a battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers and who served with them in the trenches at Second Ypres and Arras, before being tragically killed alongside his masters at the opening of the Somme battle(s) in July 1916 (see photo).

NB. In Oliver Hyde’s book, 'The Work of the Red Cross Dog on the Battlefield', written in 1915, can be found a paean to the bravery of the mercy dogs, the author captures their value as follows:  “To the forlorn and despairing wounded soldier, the coming of the Red Cross dog is that of a messenger of hope. "Here at last is help, here is first aid. [The soldier] knows that medical assistance cannot be far away, and will be summoned by every means in the dog’s power.”

** Nevertheless:  “as many as 10,000 dogs are known to have served as mercy dogs during WWI, and they are credited with saving thousands of lives, including at least 2,000 in France and 4,000 wounded German soldiers.”

Edited 6 April by FROGSMILE

[kerry]

@FROGSMILE thank you for your comprehensive and very helpful reply.

My assumption then, is that wounded were left in No Man's Land to either crawl back under their own steam - or perish where they lay, with no hope of rescue aside from any rare local truces?

[FROGSMILE]

4 minutes ago, kerry said:

My assumption then, is that wounded were left in No Man's Land to either crawl back under their own steam - or perish where they lay, with no hope of rescue aside from any rare local truces?

That is my understanding.  The medical evacuation arrangements for 1914-1915 were significantly less well organised and resourced than those for 1916 onward.  That wasn’t through callousness, or lack of attention, but simply because the resources were still evolving.  The Army of July 1916 onward was much better prepared for mass casualty events.

Edited 6 April by FROGSMILE

[PRC]

As a side note I was in the Norfolk County Archive earlier today and looking at August 1914 local newspapers. In the edition of the Norfolk Chronicle dated Friday, August 21st 1914 there was an agency picture of Major Richardson departing for France with his four bloodhounds, trained for use as hospital dogs in the field.

The reproduction was very low quality, but a search of the internet shows the same picture here https://www.mediastorehouse.com/mary-evans-prints-online/major-richardson-leaves-belgium-bloodhounds-ww1-14206062.html

Given the BEF was some quarter of a million strong four dogs were not going to go very far once the fighting started!

Cheers,
Peter

[kerry]

Thanks @PRC I think it's safe to assume they weren't used in May 1915.

[Bob Davies]

2 hours ago, kerry said:

Thanks @PRC I think it's safe to assume they weren't used in May 1915.

From  reading a lot of War Diaries from the Field Ambulances and many infantry Battalion/Brigade WDs  in the Ypres area 1914/15,

I have never come across any mention of the use of dogs Kerry. @David_Blanchard may be able to confirm my thoughts, as he I know, has read and studied this particular area more than I have.

There is a picture here that others may glean more from. Barney the Dog pictured under training, it is dated 1914. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WW1;_military_medicine,_Rouen;_rescue_dog_Wellcome_L0024985.jpg

Captioned;  'Photograph collection of Lieutenant Colonel G.J.S. Archer, RAMC. 7-8, two albums of photographs of No. 5 Stationary Hospital at Rouen and No. 40 Field Ambulance, during the First World War, 1914. "Barney", a dog trained to rescue casualties.'

 

4 hours ago, kerry said:

@FROGSMILE thank you for your comprehensive and very helpful reply.

My assumption then, is that wounded were left in No Man's Land to either crawl back under their own steam - or perish where they lay, with no hope of rescue aside from any rare local truces?

Unfortunately this was the case Kerry as far as I am aware.

The cover of darkness had to be used which not without its problems.

The Regimental Stretcher Bearers are with their respective Battalions, so when casualties need to be evacuated to their regimental aid post they do this to the best of their ability under fire.

Medals are won my men, either regimental bearers or their fighting comrades, doing their best to get their mates back to the comparative shelter of a trench or other such place.

I imagine that if you are wounded and are in a place that will give you some shelter, then trying to crawl out if you can under the cover of darkness would be the best option, if you were able to. However if your mates will meet certain death whilst trying to rescue you then you may have a time to wait.

Some where there is a letter written by a soldier as he lies mortally wounded in a shell hole, only found on his corpse at a later date.

The R.A.M.C. Field Ambulance units attached to the Battalions then have to get the casualties from the Regimental aid posts to the advanced dressing stations. Some times carrying the wounded for many miles, other times in carts or cars over tracks/ roads pock marked with shell holes and always under the threat of being hit by a bullet or a shell, day or night.

Some interesting reading can be found here;https://archive.org/details/medicalservicesg02macp/page/410/mode/2up

 

[kerry]

@Bob Davies many thanks for your as usual comprehensive reply.  

I was worried this might be the case. Studying the attack by 2 Bn KOYLI on the Zwarteleen Salient of 7/8 May 1915, I learned that the last of those abandoned in No Man's Land, finally made it back after twelve days, according to the Intelligence Summary. My distant relative Albert Lamb may well have been one of the 40 listed as missing, who never made it back.

[Bob Davies]

On 06/04/2024 at 21:57, kerry said:

@Bob Davies many thanks for your as usual comprehensive reply.  

I was worried this might be the case. Studying the attack by 2 Bn KOYLI on the Zwarteleen Salient of 7/8 May 1915, I learned that the last of those abandoned in No Man's Land, finally made it back after twelve days, according to the Intelligence Summary. My distant relative Albert Lamb may well have been one of the 40 listed as missing, who never made it back.

It is a sad fact Kerry, that 40 grown men can vanish without a trace within an area not much bigger than than a mile square within a few minutes.

The shell fire on a particular area must have been out of our understanding in todays world.

Imagine you are hit with a rifle bullet, you will be either dead in an instant or hurting like you have never known before or perhaps you feel no pain at all, ones adrenaline carries you through.

Next you are hit with a shell burst, which covers you in earth, another lands on top of you and deadens your mind to the fact that the first buried you, perhaps only with a few inches of earth, however you are cut off from the world you once knew.

Next a machine gun round hits you, though you are covered in earth, one more then it all goes quiet, as your life ebbs away, another shell bursts above you, burying you in Flanders Field.

The avalanche of shells and rounds covers you over, till in 2015, you surface again.

The remnants of your Regiment, give you the last post and courus, a title on your shoulder says who you have been.