Dogs for war
Media
Part of Panorama
- Title
- Dogs for war
- Creator
- The Commentator
- Language
- English
- Year
- 1939
- Subject
- Dogs.
- War use of dogs.
- Animals in war.
- Rights
-
- Fulltext
- 1JU1eful in peace and war. DOGS FOR WAR DoGS for use in war are now being trained all over the world. Russia has its school for dogs in Moscow. In Japan a training kennel has been functioning since 19 3 3. In Poland and Italy kennels for war dogs have been common. The frontier guards of Estonia are provided with dogs. In France Alpine troops are making tests with them. The dogs are trained for a number of purposes. They are used to carry messages for the medical corps and fot guards. They will travel fast over rough terrain and swim rivers to reach their destination. They go to find medical corps men when they have located the wounded. If the end of telephone wire is attached to the collar of a military dog he will lay the wire more quickly and more silently than can men. He will carry supplies on his back and can also work with a gas mask. Since remotest history, dogs have been used in campaign and defense. Herodotus states that Cyrus had war dogs. According to Plutarch, dogs in an outpost saved a Corinthian garrison. Philip of Macedonia used dogs in his conquest of Argo12 lis. Roman dogs guarded the ramparts. The Gauls had dogs who never abandoned their masters. The Celtic dogs were trained to leap at the nostrils of horses. Attila's Huns had enormous dogs. In the Middle Ages dogs were used more frequently. The Scottish troops had them; so did the- Knights of Rhodes. Swiss and Burgundian dogs fought furiously at Granson and Morat. Until 1770 the City of Saint-Malo had dogs to guard the walls. The Finns were noted for their ability in training dogs to fight against cavalry. In 1799 Napoleon recommended to Marmont the employment of dogs to help guard Alexandria. In 1870 the Germans made great use of dogs to protect their marches, to guard cantonments and bivouacs, and for liaison agents. In 1895 two dogs were assigned to each chasseur battalion to carry ammunition. In 1914 the German army had 600 trained dogs and thousands of civilian dogs were requisitioned during the campaign. The use of dogs was so auspicious that the French MinPANORAMA ister of War recognized them in November, 1915. Training was started in 1916. In 1917 General L yautey reorganized the service; some 9,000 dogs were recruited, assembled in Paris, classified for aptitude, and sent to special training kennels. After training, the dogs rendered valuable services; many are the tales of their exploits.The Commentator.