Anti-tank dog
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Anti-tank dogs, or Hundeminen as they were known by the Germans, were dogs taught to carry explosives under tanks and armoured vehicles where they would detonate and inflict the most damage upon the vehicle, killing the dog in the process.
The most concerted effort to use dogs as anti-tank weapons came during World War II when the Soviet Union used them against German tanks. When training the dogs, the Soviets kept them hungry in order to teach them to find food beneath tanks. On the battlefield a dog was fitted with an explosives-packed box and then released before oncoming German tanks. When the dog dove under a tank, a wooden lever sticking up from the top of the box was tripped which detonated the charge. Because the chassis was the most vulnerable area of these vehicles, it was hoped the explosion would gut the vehicle.
Among the plan's failings was the Soviet use of their own diesel tanks to train the dogs rather than German tanks, which had gasoline engines.[1] On the battlefield this resulted in the dogs tending to seek food under and thus destroying the Russian tanks with which they were familiar instead of the strange German tanks. This was not always an issue, however, as the dogs were sometimes spooked by the noise and vibration of the tank engines and fled the field immediately upon release.[2]
Despite these problems the anti-tank dogs were said to have been successful at the Battle of Kursk: the Soviets claimed 12 German tanks were destroyed by 16 dogs.[1] As such the Germans were compelled to take measures against them. An armored vehicle's top-mounted machine gun proved ineffective due to the relatively small size of the attackers, the fact that they were low to the ground, their speed and the difficulty in spotting them. Consequently orders were dispatched that commanded every German soldier to shoot any dogs seen on sight as they might be rabid.[2]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Zaloga, Steve (1989). The Red Army of the Great Patriotic War, 1941-45. Oxford, United Kingdom: Osprey Publishing. p. 43. ISBN 9780850459395.
- ^ a b Bishop, Chris (2002). The 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. New York, New York: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.. p. 205. ISBN 9781586637620.
[edit] External links
- Museum-Style Anti-Tank Dog Exhibit Photographs
- Pile, Stephen (1979). The Book of Heroic Failures: Official Handbook of the Not Terribly Good Club of Great Britain. Futura. ISBN 0708819087.
- Dog Anti-Tank Mine, Soviet-Empire.com. Retrieved May 20, 2005.
- World War Two Combats: Axis and Allies
- Illustration "Tankhund mit Sprengausrüstung"
- Protitankovaya podvizhnaya mina (Russian language, with photos and illustrations)
- U.S.S.R. LANDMINE, ANTITANK, DOG
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