Soviet military dog training school in Moscow Oblast
Exploding Dogs Were Used as Mobile Anti-Tank Mines During World War II (part of my sometime series, The Annals of Human Depravity).
In a tactic pioneered by the Soviets, the dogs (usually Alsatians and also called hundminen or dog mines in German) ‘were trained to carry explosives on their bodies to enemy tanks, where they would then be detonated’ by timer or remote control, with obvious consequences for the animal in question.
Fortunately for the dogs, a number of impracticalities, described in the article, limited the extent and duration of this approach, although various countries including the United States continued to train dogs as suicide bombers until the end of the 20th century and ‘insurgents attempted to use them during the Iraq War. In this case, there’s only one documented case of a bomb actually being detonated while attached to a dog though; protests rose up among Muslims who believe that animals should be killed only for food.’
Other animals have been trained to become wartime munitions delivery systems as well, including cats, birds, rats, camels, donkeys, mules and horses, monkeys and marine mammals. (Gizmodo).
Related:
- The Western Front’s dogs of war revealed (telegraph.co.uk)
- Declassified 1943 Film ‘The Use of War Dogs’ by US Military (Video) (theepochtimes.com)
