Dogs of War Were in the Front Line

Both the Allied and German Armies used dogs in WWII, just as they did in the 1st World War, to carry messages from the front line to advanced headquarters. The Germans, moreover, employed them in advance of patrols to give warning of the whereabouts of Allied patrols. This experiment did not prove altogether successful, for sometimes the dogs would bark. Then the Allied soldiers remained quiet and stationary until the enemy advanced into what had become a booby trap. For patrol work the French Army used cross-bred sheep dogs.

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The eagerness and intelligence with which the French war dogs serve their masters are shown in these two photographs. In the top one a dog carrying a message from a front line trench jumps to his errand. The dogs show, too, extraordinary sagacity in negotiating obstacles and in the one below one of them picks his way cautiously through a barbed wire entanglement.

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This German war dog has been trained to carry messages from the front line and has just arrived back at headquarters. The message is in the cylinder attached to the collar.

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The Swedish army used dogs and sledges for transport. Here is a sledge that would be used in wartime to transport wounded, while, right; a Swedish soldier is harnessing the leading dog to a two dog sledge. The Swedes used Alsatians as sledge dogs as they were more obedient than Huskies.

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