A Company of tank-exterminator dogs operated by the Briansk Front engineer units is marching to the frontline.
The dogs were supposed to throw their demolition charges on reaching the targets and go back, but in fact they rarely managed to return.
September 1941.
Everybody's equal, But some more than others!
"Those who come to us with the sword - will be killed by the sword" - Alexander Nevski
Paul Carell, an official historian of the German Army in WW2, gave an interesting, but ghastly, explanation of these so-called "mine dogs", in his excellent account of Operation Barbarossa entitled "Hitler Moves East". Apparently these dogs, while in training, were given their food only under tractors with the engines running. Later, when so conditioned to the noise and clatter, these dogs were fitted with anti-tank mine packs with vertical detonator rods sticking out of the top. When released (VERY hungry, usually), the hapless animals would run under the nearest fascist tank, brushing the vertical rod on the belly of the vehicle, detonating the mine and destroying the tank. Not one of the proudest projects developed by the Red Army, I am sure. :(
Great picture! I knew about these mine dogs, but had never seen such a good document about the subject!
I thought they had a kind of antenna connected to the demolition charge, that would make the charge to explode when they went under the tanks. But many times they were killed before they reached the tanks, by enemy fire!
I've also read that they were not very accurate, because as they were trained to go under the tanks when ordered, they could as well go under a friendly tank...
Guys,
Being an animal friend I also grimaced a bit when I read about this type of anti-tank strategy.
In 1962, the German magazine Kristall published in some thirty installments, an account of Hitler’s attack on Russia under the title Operation Barbarossa. It is a dramatic, and at times over-dramatized account, but it is correct in historical fact. However, in the ninth installment, describing Guderian’s attack on 30th September 1941, the following story appears:
‘On the morning of 30 September the simultaneous battles of Viasma and Briansk Began with the roar of panzer cannon and anti-tank guns. The riflemen of the 1st Company, 3rd Rifle Regiment, cling like grapes to the troop carriers. Why walk While there is no shooting? And the troop carriers of the 1st Company can carry quite a number.
Up front Leutnant Lohse is travelling in the command truck of the 1st Company. “Look for the dogs, Eikmeier” he orders his driver. “Dogs?” remarks the corporal. “Why watch out for dogs, Herr Leutnant?” Corporal Ostarek, the machine-gunner, also looks up surprised. “Dogs?” He says.
Lohse shrugs his shoulders. “Three Russian prisoners were handed over to the regiment yesterday. Each had a dog. They said they were members of a Special Unit who led dogs carrying high explosive charges into action against tanks.” Living mines! Ostarek laughs briefly. “That’s as good an item of latrine news as I’ve ever heard,” he said. “If it hadn’t been the regimental commander who warned Captain Peschke and me, I wouldn’t have mentioned it,” Lohse replied apologetically. “Anyway, you’ve been warned.”
The trucks are driving across a broad field. Russian machine-gun fire can be heard on the left, from advanced positions along the edge of the sprawling village. The 3.7 cm anti-tank guns open up. The riflemen of the 3rd Company have jumped off their carriers and advance on foot. Hand-grenades are being hurled into the wooden shacks. Near the church some well-camouflaged positions between the shacks come into view. Unteroffizer Dreger checks a party of Russians with his machine-gun.
Suddenly Eikmeier shouts, “A dog!”
The dog is running at top speed. On his back he carries a strange-looking saddle. Before Ostarek can bring his machine-gun into action, Captain Peschke has fired his rifle from the other side at 300 yards range. The dog leaps into the air and collapses, in a heap.
Suddenly Corporal Muller shouts, “Look out! Another one!” A lovely Alsation dog approaches cautiously. Ostarek fires and misses. The dog lowers his tail and turns back...
“Radio a warning, Muller,” Lohse orders. “Dora 10... Attention everybody, watch out for mine dogs!”
Mine dogs! A new word has been coined on the spur of the moment and it will go down in history as a new highly debatable weapon of the Soviets.
The dogs carried two linen saddlebags filled with explosives. An upright wooden stick, four inches long, acted as a mechanical fuse. The dogs had been trained to run under the tanks and as soon as the stick bent or broke the load on their backs exploded.
The 3rd Panzer Division did not suffer any losses in their encounter with these “living mines” of the Moscow Rifle Company, but two days later General Nehring’s 18th Panzer division were not so lucky...’
Soviet war literature does not mention this diabolical weapon but there is little doubt that mine-dogs were tried out. Interrogation of the captured dog-leaders by the 3rd Panzer Division revealed that the Moscow Rifle Company was equipped with 108 dogs. They were trained with tractors. The dogs had to get their food from under the tractors while the engines were running. If they refused they went hungry. They were hungry when brought into action and ran under the tanks where they hoped to find food.
Eddie.
Everybody's equal, But some more than others!
"Those who come to us with the sword - will be killed by the sword" - Alexander Nevski
In one day, alone, on the Izyum sector, these canine tank busters destroyed nine tanks and two armored cars. So feared by the Germans, that as soon as they heard the barking and saw the running dogs, they would frantically turned their tanks around and head back towards their own lines, for they knew from experience what was in store for them.
Two Russian Anti Tank "Suicide" Dogs On The German Front.
Eddie.
Everybody's equal, But some more than others!
"Those who come to us with the sword - will be killed by the sword" - Alexander Nevski
06-29-2004, 01:37 PM (This post was last modified: 04-15-2014, 09:29 PM by CtahhR.)
Now up until today I've not paid one bit of attention to soviet uniforms, really not something that's interested me as I've always been more interested in the soviet awards themselves. Today, thanks to a forum member, I now have a bunch of photos of various WW2 soviet officers wearing different awards. I have no trouble what so ever in identifying the awards they are wearing, but where I haven't got a clue how to start is how to identify thier rank and which service they served for.
For example, most photos have the guys wearing shoulderboards with a different number of stars on them, which I assume demonstrates rank. Other have buttoned tunics straight down the middle vs the v neck shirt and tie found on different ones. The button tunic ones have a high neck, sometimes with horizontal strips on them. The v neck ones have various insignia on the lapels of the jackets. Some of the older photos have a reverse V neck, with the V pointing up instead of down.
Basically, I'd like to sort the photos by service and rank. So first of all, how do you identify which one of the three services (Army, Navy, Airforce) the officer belongs to? Having done this, how do you identify the ranks within the various services?
I'll post some sample photos.
The reverse v neck, front.
The back of the photo. What extra info does this tell me?
