Anti-tank dogs - fearsome weapons in World War II

The dogs, carrying 9 kg of explosives, were a terrifying weapon for both German tanks and Soviet trainers.

A dog with explosives is trained with a T-34 tank. Photo: History

During World War II, explosive-tipped dogs were a fearsome weapon commonly used by the Soviet Red Army against Nazi German tanks, according to War History Online.

During World War I, dogs were primarily tasked with search and rescue and warning soldiers of impending gas or artillery attacks. By the 1920s, the Soviet Union increasingly valued the use of dogs for communication and search and rescue work. Therefore, the country recruited many trainers and built special military dog ​​training camps.

The original idea was to strap a bomb to a dog and let it run straight towards an enemy tank. This “live bomb” would be detonated by a timer or remote control when the dog reached its target. However, in practice, this process was very complicated and was considered an unsuccessful attempt.

The Soviets tested this method for 6 months without getting the desired results because the dog fighters could only attack one tank. If there were multiple tanks on the battlefield, the dogs would become confused, not knowing which one to attack, and would eventually run back to their trainer with the unexploded bomb. This could kill both the dog and the trainer.

The Soviet military furthered this idea by turning dogs into suicide fighters. The dogs were fitted with bombs with fuses attached to them. When the dog crawled under a tank, the fuse would hit the tank’s body and detonate a 9 kg explosive, powerful enough to destroy the tank and kill the crew inside.

To do this, Soviet trainers used food to lure dogs. They were starved, then the trainers placed food under tanks for them to find. The dog fighters were also trained to get used to the sound of explosions on the battlefield.

Model of an anti-tank dog with an explosive on its back. Photo: Prime Portal

When World War II broke out, the Soviet Red Army deployed more than 40,000 anti-tank dogs, mostly from 1941. However, this was not an effective tactic because the dogs often showed fear in real combat, ruining the plan.

The reason is that during the training, the Soviet Union tried to simulate the battlefield conditions as close as possible to reality but failed. The dogs were trained with T-34 tanks that used diesel engines, while German tanks used gasoline engines. The obvious difference between the smell and sound of these two types of vehicles made it impossible for the dogs to distinguish which target to attack.

Of the first 30 dogs to go into battle, only four detonated bombs near tanks. The dogs were not used to all battlefield situations, so they did not run under enemy vehicles as expected. Instead, they ran alongside the tanks and were shot dead, or were killed before they even got close to the tanks.

Sometimes they would return to their handlers just as the time bombs were about to explode, killing them both. Six of the first 30 dogs exploded as they returned to the trenches. They caused such panic that the handlers were forced to shoot the returning dogs before they could get close.

The use of dogs as anti-tank weapons gradually decreased after a year. They were still used in combat, but not as prominently as before. It is estimated that more than 300 Nazi tanks were destroyed by canine warriors. By the end of the war, dogs were being trained for logistical tasks rather than anti-tank tasks.

The Nazis are said to have trained some 25,000 dogs for combat, including anti-tank purposes.

The Soviet Union and Russia continued to train anti-tank dogs until 1996. In Iraq, insurgents have also been using dogs to carry remote-controlled explosives for the past 10 years. However, these efforts have often failed, forcing them to switch to training monkey warriors to act as suicide bombers.

According to VNE