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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Dogs Attacking


Patrick

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Dogs attacking

Never seen or read about what is represented in the Drawing

Dogs used in an attack , yes in ancient times … but in wwi?

Subtitles without the first word ….that I can’.t seem to translate

Says …….on German Machine gun positions

DOGS1.jpg

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I know the French used a certain breed of dog to search for wounded in No Man's Land, but to attack... ?? (wasn't there a dig food advert featuring this some years ago??!!)

This looks like a bit of propaganda to me.

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Patrick,

the depicted picture says: "Barking of (at) German Machine Gun positions"; the artist is quite known , so the addition of "Originalzeichnung" , which means original drawing from actual combat szene, can be taken authentic.

It was quite common to use dogs in WW I . One of the most famous breed used on both sides was the Airedale Terrier , which obviously is shown here(don't be disturbed by the depicted picture, since the trimming of Airedales than was rather different than from nowadays).

Germany used Airedales since 1900 in the Boxer War (China) very successful as Communications- and Red Cross dogs. The Japanese used this breed in the Russian-Japanese war1904/05. In WWI Airedales were first introduced by German-Austrian "Jaegerbattailone". They used the special characters of this breed: reliable, loyal, self-confident, toughness. The literature says, that very large numbers of wounded soldiers were saved by these tough and weatherresistant Red Cross dogs. They tracked down the wounded and showed the stretcher party the location. Their use as communication dogs (or also known as messanger-dogs) from actual inner combat zone to Battalion- and/or Regiment command post is proven. They were the last resort to keep communications lines open, and actual were trained to run through the barrage fire of artillery when humans failed.

The use of Airedales in the British Army is also well known, the Airedale "Jack" even received the Victoria Cross!!!! ; see related story: http://community-2.webtv.net/Hahn-50thAP-K...K9/K9History33/

P.S. one of my two Airedales is a descendant of a famous messanger dog...but that's another story

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Good evening

Thanks for the interesting and excellent answer ,

And the clue to Barking

I know about dogs ,horses , pigeons

And so many more animals man has or is still using at war .

I appreciated your knowledge on trims and races used and the history of it . Great links thanks

But I have never heard , read of them (dogs) being used in a global attack like depicted here above … so that must probably be propaganda ,

Thats what prompted me to post it .

@Later

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The British Army certainly used messenger dogs on the battle field, and believe it or not, also provided them with gas masks as they did for horses. I would post the pictures but they are on slides unfortunately.

Terry Reeves

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Yeah Chris,

I am still thinking about the drawing: "truth or consequences?"=I don't know. But with additional research in the web I found more clues and amazing sites about war dogs and the purposes of their use ( The Germans alone employed >30.000 dogs).

Coming back to the drawing of Patrick, I guess I have to describe the word "verbellen" a bit better, since there is no crystalclear translation avail: verbellen means , a trained dog is supposed to bark upon a certain completed action he is trained for. I.e. a sniffing dog must bark, when smelling explosives.

Maybe the French trained dogs to bark upon detected machine gun positions which they could not locate easily in combat???

I also consulted my Airedale on duty, he gave the full picture and explained: wuff, wuff, wow, grrrrrrrrr

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There is an excellent, dramatic picture of a German messenger dog in action in Barrie Pitt's book '1918'. It shows a dog tearing out of a front-line position towards the rear.

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Hedley,

could you post this picture within this thread; seems to be interesting. By the way for all the other folks , who are interested in this thread: I researched a couple of hours in the web , specially in German and French sites. At numerous occasions dog-services during WWI were mentioned and described, to include service as messanger- , sentry-, Red Cross-, ammunition carrier!-dogs. Interesting: on three occasions, there was also word of "Assault- or Attack dogs "!!! But unfortunately with no further hints. Does anybody know more details?

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On behalf of , and thanks to Hedley:

The caption of the photo is ' The tide turning: German Storm Troops under attack during the fighting in the Marne Bulge'. It is undated, but it will have been taken in Spring 1918. It shows two dogs working as messengers. One can be seen as a canine blur in the bottom right-hand corner heading for the rear The photo is in Barrie Pitt's book '1918', published by Cassel, 1962, pp.114-115. I am not up on dog breeds, but someone who is should be able to identify them.

Regards

Hedley Malloch

dog.jpg

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  • 2 years later...

What would a dog do in an attack that could possibly support the infantry? Do the enemy have a particular scent that make them easy to locate, or even macine guns versus other artillery pieces? I think this image, and the thought of attack dogs used in combat is pure propoganda - albeit humorous. Andy

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Stop thinking as educated civilized westerners! I was at an ex warsaw pact tankadrome near Prague. Go and read up on the Attack dogs of the Soviet Union in WW2! Dogs were starved and then only fed under tanks and self propelled guns. These dogs were then released by forward troops against the Wermacht,s AFV,s. Each dog had a magnetic mine strapped to their back. The dogs then ran under the German tanks and blew themselves and the tanks up! Very clever, I,d say! Once the soviets got their tanks in the area, they had to stop this practice as the dogs were running under any tank they found! Including the Russian tanks. Wonderful accounts and paintings in the museum there too! :o Chris.

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Being attacked by dogs? That would be a bit "rough".  Unless you came from Barking.  :P

Maybe this IS why the Germans had stick grenades, once they threw them the dogs would chase them and blow up WHEN THEY FETCHED THEM!!!!!! :lol:

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Being attacked by dogs? That would be a bit "rough".  Unless you came from Barking.  :P

Probably as well they didn't come from Catford. Though the Isle of Dogs would be safe.

Seriously, following from chrislock's response, I believe the problem with the Soviets using dogs with explosives strapped to them to attack panzers: they trained them using Soviet tanks, which smelt different to the German ones....QED!

There is an Animals in War memorial being unveiled in London but I am ashamed (working for one of the animal charities sponsoring it) to say that I can't remember details. I'll check it out and get back to you all.

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