The Soviet perro-bomba during the second world war

Dogs have been used in war since ancient times., and the Soviet Union had approved its use for the military during a series of less destructive tasks since 1924. Was not up 1930, However, that the idea of use to the dogs as mobile mines gained interest, and with it the explosive devices adapted to our four-legged friends. In 1935, the Red Army unveiled its first anti-tank division formed by dogs.

The dogs were trained to carry boxes or bags of explosives subject by means of a harness on his back. Were initially instructed them to pursue a static goal, The idea was to pull a rope, with the help of his teeth, in order to rid the lethal cargo. The explosive charge was triggered by a timer, so the dog's life depended on the ability and speed it had to pull the cord in time..

Dogs, mostly street, they could not dominate the task, and what is more, They often ran back to their coaches with the bomb without delivering. These errors in the battle would have been catastrophic to causing a boomerang effect and placing its Division into a countdown.

As a result of this setback, the idea has been simplified. The dogs were trained to find any enemy tank, detonating bombs in contact with its target. Each dog was taught to dive under the tank so that a wooden lever that stood out from its packages broke when it collided with the low cars, producing the detonation of explosives. Both the enemy and the unfortunate dog jumped into a thousand pieces.

Training was to keep the fasting dogs for several days then give them to eat under the tanks idling. In this way they related the armoured with food. The ground floor of the tanks are the part with less armour, so the explosion of an explosive charge in that area was lethal for his crew.

When the conflict intensified in the eastern front, so did the use of dogs, and in the summer of 1941, 30 Members of the anti-tanm canine deposit had reached the front line of the front. But, What effective had these forced kamikazes, mostly alsatian shepherds, in the battle? Not many.

The dogs immediately sought the well -known smell that the diesel engines of the Soviet tanks gave, They also refused to dive into the tanks were on the move and is frightened by the unknown noise of firearms. The dogs that were running, persistently, next to the German tanks they were shot, While the they retreating to the trenches often they detonated the load, killing and injuring the Soviet soldiers.

The few dogs that did not die in the act of service had to be sacrificed, so hopeless people coaches refused to train new ones.

The first group of 30 dogs, only four managed to detonate their bombs near the German tanks, While six exploded in his return to the Soviet trenches and three were shot. Some lucky ones were taken by the German army, Once freed of his load.

In part, Thanks to the capture of these dogs, the German army soon learned of this Soviet practice and took action against what, However saw this as a program desperately ineffective, giving orders to shoot the dogs you will find at the sight.

The-Mina dogs had occasional successes – in the battle of Kursk, for example, When 16 dogs exploited 12 German tanks that had broken near the Soviet lines, and close to the airport of Stalingrad , where 13 tanks were destroyed -, But these successes were few and distant from each other. In short – and despite the liar Russia propaganda – the dangerous drawbacks of the use of the Panzerabwehrhundethey were more than advantages, and the use of this cruel practice declined rapidly after 1942.

It was, However, later, to resurface in other conflicts, including the fight between the Viet Minh in Indochina in the years 1940 And without success among Iraqi insurgents in 2005.

Sources: 1, 2, 3