Tank Dogs?!

Tank Dogs?! (Full Version)

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Jeff489 -> Tank Dogs?! (5/7/2008 11:09:25 PM)
Anyone everheard of this? Anti tank dogs... Dogs strapped with explosives and trained to run underneath tanks and blow up. Used by the Russians who took starving dogs and trained them by placing food under tanks. In combat, they apparently had their fuses lit, and then were set free to run underneath tanks. Wonder if the Germans countered by releasing cats as tank decoys... Happy reading! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antitank_dog

Wozwasnt -> RE: Tank Dogs?! (5/7/2008 11:19:37 PM)
I've read about this before. But the dogs proved to be too smart. They were trained using Russian tanks, so they went looking for food under Russian tanks.

pzrwest -> RE: Tank Dogs?! (5/7/2008 11:59:06 PM)
In Hans von Luck's book "Panzer Commander" he makes reference to the use of dogs with boobytraps on them. Only problem I have is how do you hide the explosives on the dog? To have an effect on a tank it would have to be alot and would be seen strapped to the dog. I guess at night one might not see it on the dog

Wozwasnt -> RE: Tank Dogs?! (5/8/2008 12:19:14 AM)
They strapped mines to the dogs back. Dog crawls under the tank looking for food, mine comes into contact with the bottom of the tank (where the armour is weakest)and Lassie's no more.

Harquebus -> RE: Tank Dogs?! (5/8/2008 8:40:27 PM)
I find this a bit sickening if not downright nasty. I understand the desperation of Stalingrad (or any particular battle the Russians may have been losing at the time) and the "do whatever you have to do to win" mentality but... Dog is man's best friend. Over in Iraq, dogs are being used at this very moment to sniff out bombs and IEDs/boobytraps and assisting with capturing the bad guys. Aside from that, they have this innate sense when something is not right in regard to the environment as well as certain people they come into contact with. If you want some "happy reading" I'd suggest reading about the dogs and dog handlers used throughout history to save soldier's lives. Vietnam readily comes to mind. I'd rather have a Tank Dog right beside the tank commander keeping him company. [;)]

Wozwasnt -> RE: Tank Dogs?! (5/8/2008 11:49:06 PM)
In some conuntries dogs are just another animal and aren't seen as pets.

mizuinu -> RE: Tank Dogs?! (5/9/2008 5:31:58 AM)
and in some countries for gambling.... and meat! aside from that, i kinda recall a movie i've seen long time ago. i think it was a world war 2 movie. in a scene, a soldier encountered a mine mooch but he managed to get rid of the mine & kept the dog instead. but the other guys don't like keeping the dog & threw it out but came back again. finally they threw the dog & the guy who kept the dog outside the tent eventually the dog's "cute" factor affected the other troops & they kept it. i think the movie is about the japanese-american troops who served in the european theater or i could be wrong[:)]

WhiteWolf McBride -> RE: Tank Dogs?! (5/14/2008 10:58:13 PM)
Harq: One of the 'Tour of Duty' episodes was about one of the handlers, and it had a laughable albiet unfair ending (at least for the dog) Dog was plain nasty and wasn't 'synch'd' with the handler, and the detachment head was a butthead. Guy could get out of the duty if he could cook a great meal (beef bourguignon (sp)) for the detachment head. The unit hired the a cook from the restaurant in Saigon to pinch-cook for the handler, but they supplier sent a fish instead of a hunk of beef. The cook said he'd try for extra money, then they jump to the final scenes, where DH is tastinbg the food, and he ~loves~ it... and the guys congratulate the cook. He asks the guys if they want the collar and leash back, because its not worth much to him... Ba-Dum-Bump! (sp) But I agree, its cruel, but remember the outrage when there were stories of the US Navy using dolphins to plant submarine munitions? But sometimes it gets down to 'use what you have' or cease to exist... I'm sure there are more stories that we will never hear about stuff like this. A pet-lover, but a feline-person at heart, WhiteWolf

rivetcounter -> RE: Tank Dogs?! (5/22/2008 7:48:04 PM)
Part of this is correct the Russians starved dogs and fed them under tanks so the dogs would seek out food under tanks, they then tied explosives on the dogs back and set them loose the dogs would run towards German sometimes Russian tanks and run underneath the tank looking for food the explosives where detonated by a pole sticking upwards from the explosive pack when the dog went under the tank the pole would strike the tank and bang no more tank or dog don't forget the underneath of a tank is the thinnest part hence the ease of destruction, the Germans very quickly learned to shoot dogs on sight then find out if they had an explosive pack

Matdragon -> RE: Tank Dogs?! (6/12/2008 8:51:29 PM)
Their is one thing that is disgusting though, on wikipedia it say that although the dogs were often distracted, they were reported to have destroyed over 300 german tanks. well thats all good and happy but that was over 300 innocent dogs with bombs strapped on them that were only trying to survive and eat! poor animals. why couldnt they strap the russian people who came up with the idea with bombs, and hurl them at the enemy with giant catapults! that would be better! Matdragon.

swathdiver -> RE: Tank Dogs?! (6/12/2008 9:12:31 PM)
What's so surprising? Soviet ideology valued human life no more then those dogs.

Wozwasnt -> RE: Tank Dogs?! (6/12/2008 9:59:38 PM)
I love dogs but if it came to killing dogs to save the people I love then the choice is easy. A lot of disgusting things happen in war and remember the Germans didn't invade Russia to make friends with the locals.

Harquebus -> RE: Tank Dogs?! (6/12/2008 10:38:01 PM)
Agreed with the main points presented herein and I am gratified to see that many of you feel the same. I would easily choose humans over animals in a life or death situation. I'm no animal rights zealot wherein I feel they should take precedence over the plight of human beings... It is an interesting piece of history and who knows, it may still be in use, but to glorify this type of tactical thinking just irks me.

Wozwasnt -> RE: Tank Dogs?! (6/12/2008 11:04:24 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Harquebus ............................... it may still be in use................ It wouldn't suprise me if it was. Think about it - a lot of race horses are sold for meat when they stop racing, greyhounds are put to sleep (if lucky) when they don't perform, same goes for a lot of guard dogs (they don't make good pets). This goes on in the UK, a nation of animal lovers.

killick64 -> RE: Tank Dogs?! (6/13/2008 2:09:15 PM)
The Russians were, and are, as much an animal-loving people as anyone else. Only their intense hatred for the Germans and what they represented, fueled no doubt by the rumour (never "officially" discounted) that the inhabitants of Extermination Camps like the hastily-dismantled Sobibor were Captured Soviet Citizens, led them to accept the institutionalization of "Dog Mines" against enemy tanks - something that had been researched since the 1930's, - and the use of pet housecats to send messages back and forth across shell-torn streets. Not all explosive-equipped dogs were sent on one-way missions, by the way. A special subgroup of dogs targetting railway lines almost exclusively was trained to wriggle out of their vests once the "package" was delivered, and return to their individual handlers.

Jeff489 -> RE: Tank Dogs?! (6/13/2008 4:52:15 PM)
Here's another pic I found.

MyRcFun -> RE: Tank Dogs?! (6/13/2008 11:38:35 PM)
quote: why couldnt they strap the russian people who came up with the idea with bombs, and hurl them at the enemy with giant catapults Catapults lack firepower and accuracy [:D]

Matdragon -> RE: Tank Dogs?! (6/17/2008 4:40:58 PM)
you know what i meant.

Mezzerik -> RE: Tank Dogs?! (6/19/2008 3:48:10 PM)
They could of made a Man Cannon, fires men.

McclureMitch -> RE: Tank Dogs?! (6/20/2008 3:55:47 AM)
Amazing!!

wackywheelz -> RE: Tank Dogs?! (6/29/2008 1:49:58 PM)
Found this pic (warning!) and accompanying blurb in a book about the 6th Panzer Div: " The Soviets threw everything into the defence of Moscow-even dogs. This one was shot before it could run under a German tank, as it had been trained - note the vertical detonator rising from the mine strapped to its back "

ostketten -> RE: Tank Dogs?! (6/29/2008 2:07:30 PM)
The use of the tank dogs was a desperate stopgap measure that the Soviets employed early in the war when the German armored spearheads seemed unstoppable, but the Soviets soon gave up on the idea altogether, partly because in the noise and confusion of battle these Russian Canine bombs had as much likelihood of running under a Red Army tank as they did a German one, and partly because the Germans began shooting at any dog they encountered on the battlefield. It's an interesting and somewhat odd footnote in history, but as a weapon it was largely a failure. With regard to previous comments earlier in this thread that some 300 Nazi tanks were dispatched with mine dogs, I would urge people to be very cautious when quoting wikipedia as a sole source for this kind of thing, and the idea that hundreds of German tanks were destroyed in this fashion is pure fantasy.

caragan1970 -> RE: Tank Dogs?! (6/29/2008 6:10:51 PM)
Can't blame the Russians, when at war and in desperate situations everything that can do damage to the enemy is used. Look at the Japanese with thier Kamikaze, sacrificing not dogs but with peoples lives...[:o][:o][:o]

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