Tank demolition dogs of the Second World War. Dogs during the Great Patriotic War

It is known that during the Great Patriotic War, about 70 thousand dogs served in the Red Army, which saved the lives of many of our soldiers and commanders.

The dogs served as scouts, sentries, signalmen, carried dispatches across the front line, laid telephone cables, determined the location of mines, helped deliver ammunition to soldiers who were surrounded, and worked as orderlies. It was precisely these dog-medics who crawled up to the wounded on their bells and offered their sides with a medical bag, waiting for the fighter to bandage the wound.

At that time, only dogs could accurately distinguish a living person from a dead person; very often, many of the wounded were unconscious, then the dogs licked them to bring them to consciousness. It is known that during the war years, almost 700 thousand of our wounded soldiers and commanders were taken from the battlefield with the help of dogs.

In his reports, the head of the 53rd Sanitary Army wrote about the sanitary sleds: “During the time they were with the 53rd Army, a detachment of sled dogs participated in offensive operations to evacuate seriously wounded soldiers and commanders from the battlefield to capture the Demyansk fortified area by the enemy and, despite the difficult evacuation conditions, wooded and swampy terrain, bad, impassable roads, where it was not possible to evacuate the wounded by horse transport, he successfully worked to evacuate seriously wounded soldiers and commanders and supply ammunition to the advancing units. During the specified period, the detachment transported 7,551 people and transported 63 tons of ammunition.”

There are especially many different rumors, speculations and stories about tank destroyer dogs, the so-called kamikaze dogs, what kind of dogs were they, and how were they trained in the Red Army for their only throw under an enemy tank?

It turns out that attempts to use dogs as an anti-tank weapon in the Red Army were made long before the war in 1931-32 in the service dog breeding schools of the Volga Military District in Ulyanovsk, in the Saratov armored school and the camps of the 57th Infantry Division, and in Kubinka they also tested devices for protecting their tanks from enemy dog attacks. However, in the future, our opponents, the Germans, for some reason did not think of using their dogs against our tanks, probably because they already had an abundance of conventional anti-tank weapons.

The use of tank destroyer dogs during the Great Patriotic War was widespread, however, mainly in the initial, most difficult period for the Red Army.

It was then that special units were formed in the Red Army from the “four-legged” friends of man trained to throw themselves under tanks - SITs (companies of tank destroyer dogs, 55-65 per company). Each dog had its own guide.

The process of training kamikaze dogs took quite a long time, and not all “cadets” successfully mastered the course. Mostly ordinary mongrels were used. The training began with the dog being taught to crawl under the bottom of a standing tank, for which it was fed meat. After this, the procedure was repeated, only this time the tank was standing with the engine running, at the next stage the tank was already moving.

The most difficult thing was to teach the dog to carry a sling charge on its back. Usually they began to kick, trying to free themselves from the unfamiliar load.

Soon, a special canvas belt-bandage was created to carry the charge, in special pockets of which two anti-tank mines or an explosive charge with a pin fuse were placed. The principle of using this live mine was as follows: a dog, trained to rush for food, ran under the tank, while touching the bottom of the vehicle with a special metal antenna, which activated the fuse. A standard mine had five kilograms of explosives and reliably hit the bottom of tanks.

The first such battalion of tank destroyer dogs reached the front at the end of July 1941. Subsequently, their number constantly increased, reaching its maximum by the fall of next year. Tank destroyer dogs showed themselves to be particularly effective in the battle of Moscow and the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk.

So, for example, it is known that:

On July 21, 1942, north of the village of Chaltyr, from the direction of Taganrog, about 40 tanks advanced on the position of the 68th Separate Marine Rifle Brigade. Twelve of them, having suppressed a battery of 45-mm anti-tank guns, moved to the command post. The situation became critical. And then the brigade commander, Colonel Afanasy Shapovalov, used the last reserve - the 4th company of the SIT.

Fifty-six dogs rushed towards the tanks. As recorded in a brief historical account of the brigade’s combat operations, “at that time, tank destroyer dogs rushed through the battle formations of the defending sailors. A charge with a tol was fastened to their backs and, like an antenna, a lever protruded, from the contact of which with the bottom of the tank the fuse was activated and the tol exploded. The tanks exploded one after another. The field was covered with plumes of black acrid smoke. The tank attack stopped. The surviving tanks, along with the infantry accompanying them, began to retreat back. The battle has died down..."

On July 22, 1942, near the village of Sultan-Saly, northwest of Rostov, in the defense zone of the 256th Infantry Regiment of the 30th Irkutsk, Chongar, Order of Lenin, twice Red Banner, named after the Supreme Council of the RSFSR rifle division, an emergency situation developed. At 11.40 more than fifty German tanks and up to a regiment of motorized infantry went to the rear of our battalions. And just like the day before, near Chaltyr, north of the village of Krasny Krym, the dogs saved the situation. By order of the commander of the 30th division, Colonel Boris Arshintsev, Captain Ivancha released 64 suicide dogs from their leashes. In a matter of minutes, 24 enemy tanks were blown up.”

Tank destroyer dogs were especially widely used in urban battles in Stalingrad. Thanks to the large number of rubble and shelters, the enemy could see the dog only at the very last moment, when he had practically no time left to react to the danger.

Thus, during the Battle of Stalingrad, only one special detachment of demolition dogs of the 62nd Army, which bore the brunt of the fighting outside the city, destroyed 63 enemy tanks and assault guns. In just one day of fighting for Stalingrad, fighting dogs blew up 27 fascist tanks. The Germans feared such dogs more than anti-tank guns. Frightened by the use of such weapons, German soldiers shot all the stray cats and dogs in the city.

However, tank destroyer dogs were living creatures and were also afraid, especially of German flamethrowers, after the Germans fired a stream of fire at them, it also happened that the frightened dogs turned around and rushed back, with explosives on their backs, straight to their trenches.

The book “Fighting Tank” (author G. Biryukov, G. V. Melnikov) gives an example of how near Kursk in 1943, in the zone of the 6th Guards Army, 12 enemy tanks were knocked out by dogs in the Tamarovka area.

Twice Hero of the Soviet Union Army General D.D. Lelyushenko commander of the 30th Army, was an eyewitness to repelling an attack of enemy tanks by anti-tank dogs of the 1st detachment of anti-tank dogs (detachment commander Lebedev). On March 14, 1942, he indicated that “the practice of using tank destroyer dogs in the army has shown that with the massive use of enemy tanks, anti-tank dogs are an integral part of the defense.” “The enemy is afraid of anti-tank dogs and specifically hunts for them.”

The operational report of the Soviet Information Bureau dated May 2, 1942 stated: “On another section of the front, 50 German tanks tried to break through to the location of our troops. 9 brave tank destroyers from the detachment of Art. Lieutenant Shantsev set fire to 7 tanks.”

In the 6th Army in the Belgorod direction, 12 tanks were destroyed by dogs.

In the Directive of Gen. Headquarters No. 15196, based on the results of the use of anti-tank service dogs, said:

“The anti-tank dogs received wide recognition on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War and acted reliably in defensive battles near Moscow, Stalingrad, Voronezh and other fronts. The German command, fearing Soviet tank-destroying dogs, distributed instructions to its troops on how to fight Russian tank dogs.”

From the book “Fighting Tank” we know the combat activities of military dog units formed by the Central Military-Technical School and sent to the active army in defensive and offensive battles during the period of hostilities in 1941–1942:

Enemy tanks knocked out and destroyed - 192
Tank attacks repulsed with the help of dogs – 18
Enemy detected by guard dogs – 193
Combat reports delivered by messenger dogs – 4242
Ammunition transported by sled dogs - 360 tons
Seriously wounded were transported from the battlefield on ambulance sleds - 32362

It is not known exactly how many enemy armored vehicles were destroyed with the help of fighter dogs throughout the war; the same figure appears everywhere - over 300 tanks and self-propelled guns.

Throughout the war, the very tactics of using combat dogs were constantly improved; the facts of the use of sapper dogs on armor as part of infantry landings are especially interesting:

Thus, from the directive of the chief of engineering troops of the Soviet Army on November 17, 1944, it is known to all fronts that: “In the Iasi-Kishenevsky operation, a platoon of mine-detecting dogs successfully completed the task of escorting tanks. This specially trained platoon accompanied the tanks throughout the entire depth of the enemy’s operational obstacle zone. The dogs got used to riding on the armor of tanks, to the noise of engines and firing from guns. In areas suspected of mining, mine-detecting dogs, under the cover of tank fire, carried out reconnaissance and discovered minefields.”

If by the beginning of the war there were over 40 thousand registered in Osoaviakhim clubs, then by the end the Soviet Union came out on top in the world in the use of dogs for military purposes. Between 1939 and 1945, 168 separate military units were created that used dogs. On various fronts there were 69 separate platoons of sledge detachments, 29 separate companies of mine detectors, 13 separate special detachments, 36 separate battalions of sledge detachments, 19 separate battalions of mine detectors and 2 separate special regiments. In addition, 7 training battalions of cadets from the Central School of Service Dog Breeding periodically participated in combat operations.

For their dedication and boundless devotion to man, tank destroyer dogs have monuments erected in Kyiv and Volgograd.

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9 May 2014, 20:22

How many words have been said?

Maybe someone's muse is tired

Talk about war

And disturb soldiers' dreams...

It just seems to me

Little has been written to the point of insult

About fighting dogs

Those who protected us during the war...

The fighting has long since died down. Many who created military dog breeding are no longer alive, especially since the dogs that participated in the Great Patriotic War are no longer alive. But the memory of the immortal feat of the tailed warriors is alive.

German, Caucasian, Central Asian, South Russian shepherd dogs, huskies of all varieties, hounds, mixed breeds of these breeds and mongrel dogs possessing the above qualities were accepted for military service.

In the southern sectors of the front (at the beginning of the war in the territory of Ukraine, the North Caucasus, and then in Romania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, southern Poland and Germany), other breeds of dogs also fought: wire-haired and short-haired continental pointers, setters, great Danes, greyhounds and their mestizos , although they had a weak coat, were powerful and hardy enough to work in these conditions.

Tank destroyer dogs

Tank destroyer dogs brought real terror to the Nazis. A dog hung with explosives, trained not to be afraid of the clang of armored vehicles, was a terrible weapon: swift and inevitable. In the spring of 1942, in the battles near Moscow, the mere appearance of dogs on the battlefield sent several dozen fascist tanks to flight.

At first it was a living weapon. The mine explosion also killed the dog. But by the middle of the war, mines were designed that could be unhooked under the bottom of the vehicle. This gave the dog a chance to escape. Sabotage dogs also undermined enemy trains. They dropped a mine on the rails in front of the locomotive and ran away under the embankment to their conductor.

Kamikaze dog units existed in the Red Army until October 1943. It is believed that they destroyed about three hundred German tanks. But many more four-legged fighters were killed in battles. Many of them did not even have time to throw themselves under the tracks and died on the way to the goal. They were shot from machine guns and machine guns, they were blown up... even their own (a dog with a mine on its back that did not complete the task was dangerous).

The operational report of the Sovinformburo dated July 2, 1942 stated: “On one of the fronts, 50 German tanks tried to break through to the location of our troops. Nine brave four-legged “armor-piercers” from the fighter squad of Senior Lieutenant Nikolai Shantsev knocked out 7 enemy tanks.”

Saboteur dogs

Sabotage dogs blew up trains and bridges. These dogs had a detachable combat pack attached to their backs. Military reconnaissance dogs and saboteurs participate (behind the front line) in the strategic operation “Rail War” and its continuation “Concert” - actions to disable railway tracks and rolling stock behind enemy lines.

According to the plan, the dog gets to the railway track, pulls the lever to release the saddle, and the load is ready for sabotage.

The shepherd Dina showed extraordinary abilities in this, having entered the front line from the Central School of Military Dog Breeding, where she completed a tank destroyer training course.

Miner dogs

More than six thousand dogs served as mine detectors. In total, they discovered and the sapper counselors neutralized four million mines and land mines! Miner dogs cleared mines in Belgrade, Kyiv, Odessa, Novgorod, Vitebsk, Polotsk, Warsaw, Prague, Budapest, and Berlin.

Service dogs

A participant in the Great Patriotic War, Tyumen resident Sergei Solovyov told how during the battles he often witnessed the feat of four-legged orderlies: “Because of the dense fire, we, orderlies, could not get to our seriously wounded fellow soldiers. The wounded needed urgent medical attention, many of them were bleeding. There were only a few minutes left between life and death... Dogs came to the rescue. They crawled up to the wounded man and offered him his side with a medical bag. They waited patiently for him to bandage the wound. Only then did they go to someone else. They could unmistakably distinguish a living person from a dead person, because many of the wounded were unconscious. The four-legged orderly licked the face of such a fighter until he regained consciousness. In the Arctic, winters are harsh, and more than once dogs saved the wounded from severe frosts - they warmed them with their breath. You may not believe me, but dogs cried over the dead...”

Thanks to their intelligence and training, dog teams could act with amazing coordination, initiative and efficiency. This is how Tamara Ovsyannikova, who served as a signal operator in the 268th Rifle Division, described the work of such a “unit” during the lifting of the blockade in 1944: “I took the reel and ran across the field near the railway. And suddenly I see: two dogs, and next to the wounded man a dragnet. Shaggy-haired orderlies are hovering around the wounded man. I dragged them a drag. The dog lay down next to the wounded man, and there was a medical bag on her side - the wounded man bandaged his leg, I helped them load him onto the drag, they harnessed themselves and dragged him. That’s how I saw paramedic dogs for the first time. This amazed me very much. Since then I have a lot of respect for dogs...”

During the Great Patriotic War, ambulance dogs carried more than 700 thousand wounded soldiers from the battlefield! It is worth noting that the orderly for 80 people carried from the battlefield was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Sled dogs

On the Karelian front, in conditions of snow drifts, impassable roads and muddy roads, sled teams were the main mode of transport for delivering food to the front line and transporting ammunition.

In his reports, the head of the 53rd sanitary army wrote about the sanitary sleds: “During the time they were attached to the 53rd army, a detachment of sled dogs participated in offensive operations to evacuate seriously wounded soldiers and commanders from the battlefield during the capture of the Demyansk fortified area by the enemy and , despite the difficult evacuation conditions, wooded and swampy terrain, bad, impassable roads, where it was not possible to evacuate the wounded by horse transport, he successfully worked to evacuate seriously wounded soldiers and commanders and supply ammunition to the advancing units. During this period, the detachment transported 7,551 people and brought in 63 tons of ammunition.

The head of the sanitary service of the 855th Infantry Regiment noted: “Sanitation teams have a great ability to camouflage themselves. Each team replaces at least three to four orderlies. Evacuation with the help of medical harnesses is carried out quickly and painlessly for the wounded.”

On August 29, 1944, the head of the Main Military Sanitary Directorate of the Red Army reported in a welcoming letter on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the Central School of Service Dog Breeding: “During the past period of the Great Patriotic War, 500 thousand seriously wounded officers and soldiers were transported by dogs, and now this type of transport has received general confession".

In total, during the hostilities, about 15 thousand dog sleds were formed, which delivered wounded soldiers to shelter, where they could be provided with urgent medical care. And this may be the most important feature of dogs helping to save our soldiers.

Communication dogs

Many of you remember the serial Polish film “Four Tankmen and a Dog,” which shows an episode of how a dog named Sharik was used to convey an important military message. It was attached to the collar and delivered to the command. This is how specially trained military dogs were used, which could act quickly and secretly, often under cover of darkness. The dog sees very well at night and can successfully cope with a task on which the fate of an entire battle could sometimes depend. The secret report will be delivered to its destination.

Sometimes even a seriously wounded dog crawled to its destination and completed its combat mission. The German sniper shot out both ears of the messenger dog Alma with the first shot, and shattered the jaw with the second. And yet Alma delivered the package.

The famous dog Mink for 1942-1943. delivered 2,398 combat reports. Another legendary dog, Rex, delivered 1649 reports. He was wounded several times, crossed the Dnieper three times, but always reached his post.

From a report from the headquarters of the Leningrad Front: “6 communication dogs... replaced 10 messengers (messengers), and the delivery of reports accelerated 3-4 times.”

Intelligence dogs accompanied scouts behind enemy lines to successfully pass through his forward positions, detect hidden firing points, ambushes, secrets, assist in capturing the “tongue”, worked quickly, clearly and silently.

Watch dogs worked in combat guards, in ambushes to detect the enemy at night and in inclement weather. These clever four-legged creatures only by pulling the leash and turning their torso indicated the direction of the impending danger.

Dogs also served as living mascots, helped soldiers overcome the hardships of war, and sometimes simply fought alongside them...

Palaces over the Danube, castles of Prague, cathedrals of Vienna. These and other unique architectural monuments have survived to this day thanks to the phenomenal flair Julbars.

Documentary confirmation of this is a certificate stating that from September 1944 to August 1945, taking part in mine clearance in Romania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Austria, a service dog named Dzhulbar discovered 468 mines and more than 150 shells. On March 21, 1945, for the successful completion of a combat mission, Dzhulbars was awarded the medal “For Military Merit.” The excellent sense of the tireless dog was also noted by the sappers who cleared the grave of Taras Shevchenko in Kanev and the St. Vladimir Cathedral in Kyiv. By the day of the historical parade, Dzhulbars had not yet recovered from his injury.

WWII participant Scottish collie Dick, who was able to detect more than 12 thousand mines.

And besides, Dick managed to discover a 2.5-ton landmine with a clock mechanism an hour before the explosion in the foundation of the Pavlovsk Palace. After the war, Dick returned to his master and, despite his battle wounds, lived to an old age.

Photos of soldiers with dogs during the war

Shepherd dog Dzhulbars - a dog awarded the medal "For Military Merit"

Monuments to dog warriors

The opening of the sculpture “Military Instructor with a Dog” in one of the most beautiful corners of the east of the capital - the Terletskaya oak grove - became a tribute to the memory of our smaller brothers, who during the Great Patriotic War, together with the soldiers on the battlefields against the Nazi invaders, brought Victory Day closer. They were not given orders, they did not receive titles. They performed feats without knowing it. They simply did what people taught them and died, just like people. But by dying, they saved thousands of human lives. Address: Russia, Moscow, Entuziastov highway, Svobodny prospect, Terletsky forest park

Monument to Demolition Dogs

05/28/2011 In Volgograd, the only monument in Russia to the demolition dogs of the 10th Infantry Division of the NKVD, who defended the city during the Battle of Stalingrad, was opened. The sculpture by Sergei Karpov depicts a dog equipped with a bag with TNT and a fuse on its back. The monument was erected in the park on Chekist Square, not far from the monument in honor of the soldiers of the 10th NKVD division, who participated in the defense of Stalingrad. During the Great Patriotic War, four-legged demolitionists of the 28th separate detachment of dogs as part of the 10th NKVD division destroyed and damaged 32 fascist tanks , destroyed more than a company of German machine gunners.

Monument to dogs killed in the war in the village of Legedzino near Uman

Among the retreating Red Army formations was a separate battalion of the Kolomiysk border detachment, which had 250 service dogs. During protracted battles, higher authorities repeatedly suggested that Major Lopatin release the shepherd dogs, but he did not do this, although it was problematic to feed and keep the four-legged “border guards” in order.
And at the most critical moment of the endless German attacks near the village of Legedzino, when the commander felt that he could no longer resist, he sent... dogs to attack the Nazis.

Old-timers still remember the heart-rending screams, panicked screams, barking and roaring that sounded all around. And eyewitnesses said that the wounded tailed fighters, even in their death throes, clung to the enemy’s throat.

Not expecting such a turn, the Germans were embarrassed and retreated. And quite rightly (albeit a little late - on the eve of May 9, 2003) on the outskirts of the village, in the place where this battle ended, a monument was erected in honor of the border guards and their four-legged helpers.

Monument to heroic doctors and sanitary dogs

(The monument was erected in the city of Essentuki, on the territory of the Victoria sanatorium)

From the memoirs of nurse Elizaveta Aleksandrovna Eranina (Samoilovich):
The dogs cleared minefields, delivered reports, unwound communications, and transported the wounded on sleds. Shepherd dogs were harnessed in groups of four. Mutts and little huskies - five to seven each. The wounded and seriously wounded kissed the dogs and cried.
My Migulya drove a team to the front line under fire. A team of dogs crawled to hand the sledge to the wounded man. Just imagine - crawling for one hundred to one hundred and fifty meters. There and back - over potholes, through snow, over the ground. Once a seriously wounded, overweight man shouted to me: “Stop, stop, sister, stop!” I thought I needed to bandage it. And with the last of his strength he tells me: “Sister, I have sausage and sugar in my duffel bag, give it to the dogs. Now, give it to me in front of me!” My team carried seventy-two people to the breakthrough. And our other teams are no less...

The first saboteur dog in the Red Army, Dina.

Memoir of a veteran (V. Malyutin)

Recently, having read in the newspaper,

Frozen in amazement:

Some uncle, that's what the children wrote

Beat the dog to death.

And I immediately remembered the past,

One of those war days:

Heroes fought under tanks

For the earth and for life on it!

Believe me, it was very scary

When the iron "Tarantas"

The tower turns towards you...

So, listen to the story:

The tank is rushing, the fourth attack,

The earth is burning, all on fire,

I see a dog crawling towards him

With some kind of pack on his back.

There's less than a meter between them,

A jerk... and terrible black smoke

It's already blowing in the wind...

The soldiers sighed, there is one...

That fight ended in success

Five attacks were repulsed that day,

And he would still be hot,

Whenever there were no dogs!

And after the fight, near the hole

Farewell words sound

Small dogs remains

They bury her for her deeds.

A sloping mound has been skillfully built

Between the aspen and birch trees,

And seasoned gray-haired soldiers,

Without shame, they wipe away tears with their sleeves.

Like this, always risking yourself,

They went to battle without fear,

And with affectionate words I repeat:

A dog is a friend and a dog is a hero!

Four-legged fighters...

Updated 09/05/14 20:37:

Among the participants in the Victory Parade were honored dogs who had completed the Military Dog School. But the dog Dzhulbars was recently wounded and could not walk. The head of the school, Major General Grigory Medvedev, reported this to Rokossovsky, who commanded the parade, and he reported to Stalin. Stalin ordered the dog to be carried in his arms and allowed him to take his old jacket without shoulder straps for this purpose. Dzhulbars was carried in the arms of the commander of the mine clearance battalion, Major Alexander Mazover.

Updated 09/05/14 21:57:

In the late autumn of 1941, during the battle of Moscow, an event occurred that was not noted in the orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, but earned the right to be included in military chronicles. A group of fascist tanks trying to attack the Soviet line turned back when they saw... dogs rushing at them! However, the Nazis’ fear was completely justified - the dogs blew up enemy tanks.

The report of the commander of the 30th Army, Lieutenant General Dmitry Lelyushenko, said: “... In the presence of massive enemy use of tanks, dogs are an integral part of anti-tank defense. The enemy is afraid of fighter dogs and specifically hunts for them.”

Memoir of a veteran (V. Malyutin)

Recently, having read in the newspaper,

Frozen in amazement:

Some uncle, that's what the children wrote

Beat the dog to death.

And I immediately remembered the past,

One of those war days:

Heroes fought under tanks

For the earth and for life on it!

Believe me, it was very scary

When the iron "Tarantas"

The tower turns towards you...

So, listen to the story:

The tank is rushing, the fourth attack,

The earth is burning, all on fire,

I see a dog crawling towards him

With some kind of pack on his back.

There's less than a meter between them,

A jerk... and terrible black smoke

It's already blowing in the wind...

The soldiers sighed, there is one...

That fight ended in success

Five attacks were repulsed that day,

And he would still be hot,

Whenever there were no dogs!

And after the fight, near the hole

Farewell words sound

The first training sessions showed good results. The mongrels were unpretentious, strong and, to the surprise of dog breeders, easy to train. They were used to perform a variety of combat missions: delivery of ammunition and food, security, removal of the wounded, mining of territory, reconnaissance, destruction of armored vehicles, sabotage, establishing communications, etc. The exploits of dogs during the Great Patriotic War were widely known to the entire Soviet people, they are still remembered today.

Frontline dog units

On all military fronts the following were trained and formed into special combat units:

17 battalions of mining dogs;
14 squads of dogs - armored vehicle fighters;
37 battalions of sled dogs;
2 specialized units;
4 battalions of signal detachments.

Sled dogs

Long before the start of the war, in 1924, at the military school “Vystrel” a kennel was set up for training military and sled dogs. The institution formed detachments not only of sled teams, but also of signalmen, orderlies and sappers.

The first time was used in the Winter War of the USSR against Finland. In 1940, the sled dogs performed so well that Army Headquarters established a new sled service.

During the Great Patriotic War, sled dogs were a very important part of the transport connection between army units both in winter and summer.

With the help of sledding teams, they transported the wounded from the battlefield and delivered reinforcements and ammunition to firing positions. The sleds were especially effective in winter in off-road conditions and snowdrifts.

During the war, sled dog units, which amounted to about 15 thousand teams, removed more than 6,500 thousand wounded from the battlefield, brought more than 3.5 tons of ammunition and ammunition to positions, and also delivered countless amounts of food.

Service dogs

Medical dogs had an excellent sense of smell and detective abilities, so they found the wounded not only on the battlefield, but also in the forest and swamp. Then they were brought in while carrying emergency medications. During the fighting, the orderly dog named Mukhtar carried about 400 seriously wounded soldiers from the battlefield. Such records are unique in world military history.

During the Great Patriotic War, paramedic dogs acted very harmoniously and intelligently. Even Western war correspondents who visited the Soviet Union admired them.

Demolition dogs

“Disruptive” dogs during the Great Patriotic War were, perhaps, the most selfless examples of defenders of the homeland. Already in the summer of 1941, dogs attacked German tanks - destroyers of such vehicles. The German troops did not expect such a tactical move and lost a significant amount of equipment. Their command even issued special instructions to tank crews on how to fight tank destroyer dogs. But Soviet dog breeders expected this and began to train demolitionists more diligently.

The dogs were taught to quickly rush under the equipment from a short distance in order to immediately find themselves in a zone of the tank inaccessible to machine guns. A mine was placed in the demolitionist's pack, which contained 3-4 kilograms of explosive and a special detonator.

Over the years of bloody battles, demolition dogs destroyed a total of more than 300 enemy tanks, as well as armored personnel carriers, assault guns and other equipment. Subsequently, the need for such dogs disappeared, as the tank and artillery power of the Soviet Union increased so much that it could easily resist the German army without such expenses. In the fall of 1943, the demolition dog squads were eliminated. To understand during the Great Patriotic War, the following fact can be cited. In the Battle of Stalingrad alone, demolition dogs destroyed 42 tanks and 3 armored vehicles.

Mine detection dogs

At the end of 1940, the first small detachment of mining dogs was created, and instructions for their training were also developed.

There were about 6 thousand dogs that were engaged in mine clearance in the Soviet Union. During the entire war, they cleared about four million charges of various types. These actions saved the lives of tens of thousands of people. Hero dogs cleared mines in Kyiv, Novgorod, Warsaw, Vienna, Berlin and Budapest.

A prominent dog handler and officer A.P. Mazower, who commanded a battalion of mine-detecting dogs during the war, came up with the legendary “Tablet 37.” Seeing this sign on the road, everyone understood that safe movement was guaranteed by the dog’s sensitive sense of smell. Among the most talented dogs were record holders who cleared about 12 thousand mines during the entire war. Having comprehended this figure, you will appreciate the enormous role played by mining dogs during the Great Patriotic War.

Tasks of mine detection dogs

During the war years, teams of mining dogs performed the following combat missions.

During preparations for offensive operations, mining dogs were used to make passages in minefields. Thus, rifle units and armored vehicles could pass through them.
One of the main tasks of mining dogs was to clear mines from transport roads, which the enemy was constantly mining as he retreated.
If time and the situation allowed, units were used to completely clear mines from populated areas, individual buildings, and the general area.

Saboteur dogs

During the Great Patriotic War, this type of detachment, such as sabotage dogs, was used in SMERSH detachments to search for enemy saboteurs, especially German snipers. The sabotage detachment consisted of several dogs, a rifle squad, a signalman and an NKVD employee. The deployment of such a detachment was preceded by careful and painstaking preparation, selection and training. The saboteur dogs successfully carried out not only search tasks, but also undermined German trains, even while moving.

Sheepdog Dina

A striking example of a saboteur dog is the shepherd Dina. She served in the 14th Sapper Brigade and went down in history as a participant in the “rail war” on the territory of Belarus. While still young, the shepherd underwent very good training at a military dog breeding school. After which she worked under the command of dog handler Dina Volkats in the 37th separate engineering battalion.

The shepherd successfully put her talent into practice. So, in mid-August 1943, Dina blew up an enemy train on the Polotsk-Drissa stretch. The shepherd literally flew onto the rails right in front of the approaching train, in which there were German officers, dropped the pack with the charge, pulled out the detonator with its teeth and ran into the forest. As a result of the explosion, about 10 carriages of enemy personnel were destroyed, and the railway was also disabled.

During the Great Patriotic War, Dina the dog carried out dozens more successful sabotage operations, and also helped clear mines in the city of Polotsk.

Scout dogs

Reconnaissance dogs have proven themselves to be more than excellent, especially in operations such as “Rail War” and “Concert”. This type of fighting dog ensured the stealth of scouts behind enemy lines and the success of their activities among the overwhelming majority of opponents. If there was a reconnaissance dog in the search group, then preventing an unwanted clash with an enemy ambush was not difficult. Scout dogs underwent special training and never barked. The dog informed its owner that a detachment of enemy forces had been detected only by specific body movements. The legendary scout dog named Fog knew how to silently knock down a sentry at a post and put a death grip on the back of the head, after which the scouts could safely operate behind enemy lines.

Also, reconnaissance dogs could detect enemy sabotage groups that were trying to covertly penetrate the Soviet defense line.

Feats of dogs during the Great Patriotic War

Archival information about the history of the Great Patriotic War stores the names of a person’s true friends. Demolitionists Raid and Dick, scouts Sailor and Jack, miners Boy, Elik, Dick. They all died...

To better understand the role that dogs played during the Great Patriotic War, one should learn about their exploits.

The shepherd dog Mukhtar has already been mentioned. She was trained (and later became her guide) by Corporal Zorin. During all the years of the war, the dog carried more than 400 seriously wounded soldiers from the battlefields. He also saved his conductor, who was shell-shocked by a shell explosion.
A guard shepherd dog named Agai dozens of times discovered German saboteurs who were trying to get into the rear of the Red Army.
A dog named Bulba worked as a messenger at the front. During the entire war, he transmitted more than 1.5 thousand dispatches and laid hundreds of kilometers of cable. And the camp counselor Terentev taught him this craft.
A dog named Jack and his guide, Corporal Kisagulov, went through the entire war as scouts. They collectively accounted for dozens of captured “tongues,” including officers. In such a combination, man and dog could do amazing things. As we can see, service dogs played an important role during the Great Patriotic War.
Laika, whose name was Bobik, together with her guide Dmitry Trokhov, took about 1,600 wounded from the front line during three years of military service. The conductor was awarded the medal "For Courage" and the Order of the Red Star. Which is a little unfair, since the orderly was given the title of Hero for 80 soldiers taken from the battlefield.
The signal dog Rex swam across the Dnieper three times in one day under heavy machine gun and artillery fire, delivering very important documents. And all this was in cold November water.

The volleys of guns died down long ago. Many people who trained military dogs are no longer alive, as are the legendary participants in the Great Patriotic War. But in people's memory the feat of the four-legged warrior friends is alive.

In the fierce battles of the summer of 1941, the Red Army lost more than 70% of its anti-tank artillery. In the absence of layered defense, the dominance of German aviation in the skies and miscalculations in tactics, Soviet artillerymen could not effectively restrain the advance of enemy armored vehicles. Due to the fact that in the fall German tanks were already rushing towards Moscow, and there was an acute shortage of guns at the front, the command decided to use any means on the battlefield, including anti-tank dogs

Training of “tailed specialists”

The decision to use dogs as tank destroyers in the USSR was made before the war, in 1935. It is believed that the idea of the combat use of dogs was first outlined by the famous Soviet dog handler Vsevolod Yazykov. Research into the actions of animals when armored vehicles are damaged was carried out at the Saratov Armored School and the Research Armored Test Site in Kubinka. The main problem that the military and scientists faced was that the dogs were simply afraid of moving tanks. To overcome fear of tanks, dog handlers did not feed the dog for several days, and then placed food under the tank so that hunger would be stronger than the instinct of self-preservation. After the animal ceased to be afraid of the “steel monsters,” a mock-up of an explosive device was attached to its back and taught to climb under the tank. After this, the task became more complicated - the dog had to get food from under the tank, whose motor was turned on.

Tank destroyer dog training

Mostly mongrels were taken into the extermination squads, and the training course for the “tailed fighter” lasted six months, but after the start of the war it was reduced to three months. The criteria for selecting dogs was simple - the animal had to be strong enough to carry two anti-tank mines. For tank destroyer dogs, a special explosive device was developed - a canvas pack, on the sides of which two TNT blocks weighing 6 kg were placed. In addition, a wooden contact detonator was attached to the animal’s back.

Dog with anti-tank mines

The essence of using such an explosive mechanism was as follows: the dog had to run under the tank in such a way that the detonator came into contact with its bottom (when the detonator was deflected back, the mine exploded). Since the bottom of the tank was the least protected (its armor protection was only 15-30 mm), the vehicle was disabled.

Baptism of fire

In July 1941, combat testing of the new weapon began. The dogs were released on the battlefield hungry - the counselor directed the animal directly towards the tank or at a slight angle to the direction of its movement. The tests were unsuccessful - out of twenty dogs released towards enemy armored vehicles, not one completed the task. Some of the animals were destroyed by German infantry and tanks, while the rest simply fled. Despite the first failure, work in this direction did not stop, and during the war years, thirteen tank destroyer squads were formed in the USSR, each of which consisted of 120–126 dogs.

Tank Destroyer Dog Unit

In August 1941, near Chernigov, the dogs were able to destroy six enemy tanks, and in the fall they successfully operated in battles near Moscow. According to the report of the commander of the 30th Army, Lieutenant General Lelyushenko, “During the defeat of the Germans near Moscow, enemy tanks launched into the attack were put to flight by the dogs of the destruction squad. The enemy is afraid of anti-tank dogs and specifically hunts for them.”.

Tank destroyer dogs in battle
Artist – Ivan Khivrenko

Triumph in the battles for Stalingrad

The most striking episode of the use of “anti-tank” dogs was the battles in the Stalingrad direction. Fierce fighting took place in the defense zone of the 62nd Army, which included special detachments of “four-legged fighters” - the 28th under the command of Major Anatoly Kunin and the 138th under the command of Senior Lieutenant Vasily Shantsev. On June 10, 1942, near the Gavrilovka farm, 50 German tanks broke through the defense of Lieutenant Stolyarov’s rifle platoon, and the 138th detachment became the only obstacle in the enemy’s path. The soldiers allowed German tanks to come close, after which they brought their dogs into the battle. The first tank was destroyed by the pet of senior sergeant Evgeniy Buylin, and then the dogs of counselors Kolesnikov, Romanov, Shamsiev and others successfully completed their work. In total, in the fierce battles of June 1942, the 138th detachment destroyed 14 German tanks. Senior Lieutenant Shantsev was awarded the Order of the Red Banner - according to his award sheet, “06/10/1942, in the area of the Khudoyarovo and Gavrilovka farms, fighters of the detachment under the leadership of the detachment commander, Senior Lieutenant Shantsev, knocked out 11 enemy tanks. 06/23/1942, along the Novo-Nikolaevka-Kupyansk road, fighters of a detachment led by Lieutenant Shantsev knocked out 3 enemy tanks.”. In these clashes, nine members of the squad died along with their charges, but the enemy’s offensive was stopped. “Anti-tank” dogs were also active later, during urban battles in Stalingrad - in street clashes they had the opportunity to hide behind rubble and walls of houses, unexpectedly appearing in front of the enemy. On September 15, 1942, the dogs of the 28th detachment managed to destroy 6 tanks. A fighter from this detachment, Nikolai Maslov, recalled:

“We used dogs to blow up tanks one after another, and the Germans turned back. When our unit was given the task of holding the approaches to the tractor plant, we were urgently transferred to our positions at night. The Germans tried to take the plant with a night attack, but they met strong resistance from our units, and the dogs were particularly active. In this battle, when an enemy tank was coming at me, I threw a Molotov cocktail, but did not reach the target. The crew, seeing me, fired a shot from the tank and wounded me with a shell fragment: the thumb on my left hand was torn off. The dog was also injured. But I managed to give her a command, and she blew up the tank.".

The detachment in which Maslov fought was able to destroy 42 German tanks during the battles for Stalingrad, and together with the results of Shantsev’s detachment, this figure amounted to 63 vehicles. The losses of the extermination squads were also very high, amounting to three quarters of their original strength (about 200 dogs died).

On other sectors of the front

On July 22, 1942, when repelling an enemy attack near the village of Sultan-Saly (not far from Rostov-on-Don), the dogs of the 30th Irkutsk division showed aerobatics. 64 dogs rushed towards the German tanks and, despite the fact that the Germans opened heavy machine-gun fire, the animals managed to destroy 24 vehicles (all 64 four-legged soldiers died). A day earlier, 56 fighter dogs were able to stop the attack of 40 tanks near the village of Chaltyr, destroying over ten of them.

For German tank crews, destroying “anti-tank” dogs was not an easy task, since tank machine guns were located very high and could not always hit a low-lying target, which, moreover, was moving quickly. Trying to somehow solve the problem, the Germans came up with a protective apron made of a metal mesh with spikes, which was attached to the front of the tank, preventing anyone from approaching it. However, this solution turned out to be ineffective - while the car was moving, the mesh clung to the ground, raised heaps of garbage, or even broke off. In addition, Soviet dog handlers began to teach dogs to approach a target from behind. Realizing the danger that “anti-tank” animals posed to armored vehicles, the German command ordered each soldier to open fire on any dog that appeared in sight. However, in 1943, the need for tank destroyer dogs almost disappeared, since the Red Army already had a huge number of anti-tank guns and armored vehicles in service. But still, the dogs managed to take part in the Battle of Kursk - so, on July 5, 1943, in the defense zone of the 52nd and 67th Guards Rifle Divisions, dogs from Lieutenant Lisitsyn’s unit destroyed 12 German tanks. On another section of the front, 20 enemy tanks rushed to storm the heights defended by Soviet infantrymen, but the soldiers of the special detachment under the command of Junior Lieutenant Mukhin, who kept their pets in the trenches, waited until no more than a hundred meters were left before the tanks, and released seven dogs on them (all the animals died, destroying four tanks).

Unnamed Kamikaze Heroes

During the Great Patriotic War, tank destroyer dogs were not widely used, since the “anti-tank” animal was a disposable weapon, the preparation of which required time and great effort. In addition, even a well-trained dog could be killed before approaching the enemy or run away, frightened by the roar of explosions. German tank crews used flamethrowers, machine guns and their personal weapons to destroy the dogs. In Paul Karel's book “Hitler Goes East” there is a fragment of the memoirs of a German tank driver, where he describes his “acquaintance” with tank destroyer dogs:

“The first dog dived right under the lead tank. A flash, a muffled roar, fountains of dirt, clouds of dust, a bright flame. Non-commissioned officer Vogel was the first to understand what was happening. "Dog! - he shouted. - Dog!" The shooter pulled out a P-08 Parabellum and shot the second dog. Missed. Shot again. And again by. There was automatic fire from tank No. 914. The animal, as if tripping, flew over its head. When people approached the shepherd, she was still breathing. A pistol bullet put an end to the dog’s suffering.”

According to some reports, during the war, Soviet fighter dogs destroyed about 300 German tanks, although this figure has not been documented. At the same time, the book “Fighting Tanks” (authors G. Biryukov and G. Melnikov) provides more modest figures - 187 armored vehicles destroyed. “Anti-tank” dogs remained nameless heroes of the war, but were still honored with immortality. In 2010, in Volgograd, on Chekistov Square, the world’s only monument to tank destroyer dogs was erected - a life-size bronze dog.

Monument to tank destroyer dogs in Volgograd