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field, the dogs refused to dive under moving tanks. Some persistent dogs ran near the tanks, waiting for them to stop but were shot in the process. Gunfire from the tanks scared away many of the dogs. They would run back to the trenches and often detonated the charge upon jumping in, killing Soviet soldiers. To prevent this, the returning dogs had to be shot, often by their controllers and this made the trainers unwilling to work with new dogs. Some went so far as to say that the army did not stop with sacrificing people to the war and went on to slaughter dogs too; those who openly criticized the program were persecuted by "special departments" (military counterintelligence). Out of the first group of 30 dogs, only four managed to detonate their bombs near the German tanks, inflicting an unknown amount of damage. Six exploded upon returning to the Soviet trenches, killing and injuring soldiers. Three dogs were shot by German troops and taken away without attempts by the
Soviets to prevent this, which provided examples of the detonation mechanism to the Germans. A captured German officer later reported that they learned of the anti-tank dog design from the dead animals, and considered the program desperate and inefficient. A German propaganda campaign sought to discredit the Red Army, saying that Soviet soldiers refuse to fight and send dogs instead.
248:. The dogs, called "demolition wolves", were taught to run to a bunker, enter it, and sit while waiting for a simulated explosion. Each dog carried a bomb strapped to its body in canvas pouches, as with the Russian method. The program was terminated on 17 December 1943 out of safety concerns. During the training, dogs often returned to the senders without entering the bunker or waiting there for supposed period of time which would have caused friendly casualties in a live fire situation. It was feared that in the actual battle, dogs would return much more often, scared by enemy fire. Attempts to continue the program in 1944 and 1945 failed.
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latter was too rare and expensive at the time to be used. A group of dogs practiced this for six months, but the reports show that no dogs could master the task. They performed generally well on a single target but became confused after the target or location was changed and often returned to the operator with the bomb unreleased, which in a live situation would have killed both the dog and the operator.
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kept hungry and their food was placed under tanks. The tanks were at first left standing still, then they had their engines running, which was further combined with sporadic blank-shot gunfire and other battle-related distractions. This routine aimed to teach the dogs to run under the tanks in battlefield situations.
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The first group of anti-tank dogs arrived at the frontline at the end of the summer of 1941 and included 30 dogs and 40 trainers. Their deployment revealed some serious problems. In order to save fuel and ammunition, dogs had been trained on tanks which stood still and did not fire their guns. In the
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The German forces knew about the Soviet dogs from 1941 onwards, and so took measures to defend against them. An armored vehicle's top-mounted machine gun proved ineffective due to the relatively small size of the attackers as the dogs were too low to the ground and because of the dogs' speed and the
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Each dog was fitted with a 10–12-kilogram (22–26 lb) mine carried in two canvas pouches adjusted individually to each dog. The mine had a safety pin which was removed right before the deployment; each mine carried no markings and was not supposed to be disarmed. A wooden lever extended out of a
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Continual failures brought about a simplification. The bomb was fastened on the dog and detonated upon contact with the target, killing the dog. Whereas in the first program, the dog was trained to locate a specific target, this task was simplified to find any enemy tank. Dogs were trained by being
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The original idea was for a dog to carry a bomb strapped to its body, and reach a specific static target. The dog would then release the bomb by pulling with its teeth a self-releasing belt and return to the operator. The bomb could then be detonated either by a timer or remote control, though the
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approved the use of dogs for military purposes, which included a wide range of tasks such as rescue, delivery of first aid, communication, tracking mines and people, assisting in combat, transporting food, medicine and injured soldiers on sleds, and destruction of enemy targets. The idea of using
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The efficacy of using anti-tank dogs in World War II remains uncertain. There are claims by the Soviet sources that around 300 German tanks were damaged by Soviet anti-tank dogs. This claim was considered propaganda by many
Russian historians who believed it was meant to justify the dog training
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After 1942, the use of anti-tank dogs by the Red Army rapidly declined, and training schools were redirected to producing the more needed mine-seeking and delivery dogs. However, training of anti-tank dogs continued after World War II, until June 1996.
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had no dedicated dog trainers in the 1930s, so they resorted to using hunters, police, and even circus trainers. Several leading animal scientists were also involved, in order to help organize a wide-scale training program.
244:. In 1943, U.S. forces considered using armed dogs against fortifications. The aim was for a dog to run into a bunker carrying a bomb, which would then be detonated by a timer. Dogs in this secret program were trained at
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program. There are, however, documented claims of individual successes of the program, with the number of damaged tanks usually being within a dozen. For example, at the front of the 160th
Infantry Division near
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were favored for the program for their physical abilities and ease of training, but other breeds were used as well. In 1935, anti-tank dog units were officially included in the
Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.
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pouch to about 20 centimetres (7.9 in) in height. When the dog dived under the tank, the lever struck the bottom of the tank and detonated the charge. Because the underparts of the
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Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II: The Comprehensive Guide to Over 1,500 Weapons Systems, Including Tanks, Small Arms, Warplanes, Artillery, Ships and Submarines
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189:. In that period, dog training schools were mostly focused on producing anti-tank dogs. About 40,000 dogs were deployed for various tasks in the Red Army.
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dogs as mobile mines was developed in the 1930s, together with the dog-fitting mine design. A specialized dog training school was founded in the
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engines. As the dogs relied on their acute sense of smell, the dogs sought out familiar Soviet tanks instead of strange-smelling German tanks.
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difficulty in spotting them. Consequently, every German soldier received orders to shoot any dog in combat areas.
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were the most vulnerable area of these vehicles, it was hoped the explosion would disable the vehicle.
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military forces between 1930 and 1946, and used from 1941 to 1943, against German tanks in
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131:. Twelve regional schools were opened soon after, three of which trained anti-tank dogs.
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Zaloga, Steven J.; Jim
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Another serious training mistake was revealed later; the
Soviets used their own
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Dogs taught to detonate explosives in the vicinity of tanks, trained by the USSR
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Soviet Tanks in Combat 1941–45: The T-28, T-34, T-34-85, and T-44 Medium Tanks
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626:(in Russian). М.: Воениздат. Archived from the original on 1 September 2010.
110:. Initially, dogs were trained to leave a timer-detonated bomb and retreat.
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392:"Из истории военного собаководства (History of military dog training)"
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In 2005, insurgents attempted to use a bomb-equipped dog during the
98:, and other military targets. They were intensively trained by the
742:: Official Handbook of the Not Terribly Good Club of Great Britain
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599:. New York City: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. p. 205.
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212:, six dogs had damaged five German tanks; near the airport of
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tanks to train the dogs rather than German tanks which had
567:"Our Allies...The Soviet Union and Their Use Of War Dogs"
542:. Oxford, United Kingdom: Osprey Publishing. p. 43.
482:"Soviet-Empire.com - The Soviet Anti-Tank Dog Mine"
255:. The dog was detonated without inflicting damage.
636:: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
539:The Red Army of the Great Patriotic War, 1941–45
778:Abandoned military projects of the Soviet Union
732:Museum-Style Anti-Tank Dog Exhibit Photographs
655:. Hong Kong: Concord Publication. p. 72.
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419:The Exploding Anti-Tank Dogs of World War II
216:, anti-tank dogs destroyed 13 tanks. At the
367:Раздавлена при падении “железного занавеса”
352:Раздавлена при падении “железного занавеса”
679:War Dogs: A History of Loyalty and Heroism
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376:. Донецкий кряж, № 2352 (24 November 2006)
704:"Terrorists tie bomb belt to dog in Iraq"
43:Soviet military dog training school, 1931
319:Aneculaesei, Calin (12 September 2020).
620:Biryukov G. F.; Melnikov G. W. (1967).
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124:Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
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426:from the original on 2 March 2022
718:– via www.telegraph.co.uk.
301:Military animals as living bombs
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30:For the comic book website, see
141:Workers' and Peasants' Red Army
169:Deployment by the Soviet Union
120:Revolutionary Military Council
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682:. Brassey's. pp. 89–91.
187:Eastern Front of World War II
759:Собаки – истребители танков
740:The Book of Heroic Failures
676:Lemish, Michael G. (1999).
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321:"The Soviet Anti-Tank Dog"
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512:"General Specifications"
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372:11 December 2013 at the
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737:Pile, Stephen (1979).
595:Bishop, Chris (2002).
536:Zaloga, Steve (1989).
455:Противотанковая собака
238:Imperial Japanese Army
232:Use by other countries
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64:противотанковые собаки
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486:www.soviet-empire.com
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325:History of Yesterday
181:, Moscow, 1 May 1938
146:German Shepherd Dogs
82:, "dog-mines") were
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518:on 21 October 2007.
177:Military parade on
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783:Animal-borne bombs
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179:Red Square
114:Background
88:explosives
80:Hundeminen
632:cite book
714:15 March
708:Archived
577:8 August
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460:Archived
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402:8 August
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259:See also
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202:gasoline
135:Training
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365:Mirror
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122:of the
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