Military Working Dogs: Impact on War and Handlers

Sydney Kirchenheiter Mr. Brant U. S. History 27 April 2018 Military Working Dogs: Impact on War and Handlers Over hundreds of years warfare tactics have continued to evolve and improve. From spears, to guns, to bombs, to nuclear weapons. These weapons are the deciding factor of outcomes of wars. Win or lose. Life or death. Military working dogs (MWDs), first used by the United States in World War I, are an example of this evolved and improved warfare. Sometimes these dogs are considered more useful than their handlers or other soldiers because of their heightened senses, tracking ability, loyalty, and ability to go where a soldier cannot. MWDs have served as companions and heroes to soldiers during war and post war, and may have even ultimately impacted the outcomes of wars, such as WWI, WWII, and the Vietnam War. MWDs have taken on a number of roles and duties since they were first introduced in WWI. Single Purpose Dogs have one purpose, to sniff out explosives or narcotics. These typically consist of the sporting breeds like, retrievers, vizslas, short/wired hair pointers, Jack Russell terriers, and small poodles.1 Dual-purpose dogs—which are typically German Shepherds, Belgian Malinois, or Dutch Shepherds—perform patrol/detection work and basic scouting. Multi purpose canines, on the other hand, have multiple abilities: sniff out bombs, do patrol work, scouting, and even go on parachute/rappel operations.2 Other dogs typically specialize in one 1 Goodavage, Soldier Dogs, 56. 2 ibid., p. 55 area. For example, there are separate explosive detector dogs, narcotic detector dogs, tactical explosives detector dogs, patrol narcotics detector dogs, IED detector dogs, and patrol explosives detector dogs.3 There are also specialized search dogs, which are typically the same breeds as the dual-purpose dogs. These work off leash at long distances to find explosives. Combat tracker dogs are also dual-purpose dog breeds and track down the person who stashed the explosives. Mine detection dogs —Labs, Shepherds, or Malinois are preferred—slowly and steadily search for buried mines and artillery.4 Each dog serves a purpose and that is just to name a few. Military working dogs serve their handlers in other ways as well, other than just sniffing for explosives and mines etc. Sentry dogs, for example, are the most abundant type. In World War II 9,300 out of 10,425 dogs trained were used for sentry duty. These dogs warn their handlers by growling or barking, and their heightened senses make them "valuable for working in the dark when attack from cover or the rear is most likely."5 Sentry dogs also guard posts like supply dumps, air ports, and war plants, and provide security against intruders. Scout or patrol dogs have to be the most intelligent and quiet. They are trained to work in silence to help detect snipers, ambushes, and other approaching enemy forces. Instead of barking or growling to warn their handler of danger, scout/patrol dogs stiffen their body and raise their ears to stay quiet.6 The presence of these dogs boost soldier's confidence and lessen danger of ambush, as they can detect the presence of the enemy long before men become aware of them (up to 1,000 yards). Messenger dogs deliver messages between their two handlers and learn to "travel silently and 3 ibid., p. 56 4 ibid., p. 56 5 Aiello, "War Dog History," US War Dog Association | National Headquarters. 6 ibid., p. 1 take advantage of natural cover when moving between the two handlers."7 Tunnel dogs were used by the U.S. especially in Vietnam to explore the tunnels the enemy traveled. One very important group of dogs on the battle field are casualty dogs. They are trained to search and report casualties lying in unknown places.8 Minutes saved by these dogs reporting injuries that soldiers otherwise would not discover could be minutes between life and death. These abilities came in handy for the U. S. during the First World War, through the service of at least one dog. During WWI America was the only country lacking the assistance of military dogs. They thought bringing dogs in would be unnecessary because the war would quickly be over, but they were wrong. Luckily for America, a small stray pit bull wandered onto their base one night when the soldiers were training in Connecticut. The pit bull, given the name Stubby, stuck and served for eighteen months and in seventeen battles on the western front.9 Stubby was an unintended, yet incredibly important asset to the U.S. Military during WWI. During his duties, Stubby "saved his regiment from surprise mustard gas attacks, located and comforted the wounded, and even once caught a German spy by the seat of his pants."10 Stubby is one of the most famous Military dogs in history, not only for being the first American MWD, but also for his loyal devotion and heroic actions that saved a number of lives during the war. Stubby set a precedent for America's first military dog program formed through the encouragement of owners across the country to 7 ibid., p. 1 8 ibid., p. 1 9 ibid., p. 1 10 Beauregard, "Stubby the War Dog: The True Story of World War I's Bravest Dog," Biography In Context. donate their pets to the war effort.11 After witnessing Stubby's success in WWI and the creation of the program, the use of military dogs took off going into WWII. As World War II began, the acute senses, docility, watchfulness, speed, and affection of dogs were appreciated in the military. Ten thousand military dogs served as loyal soldiers throughout the war as their roles continued to expand. The Southwest Pacific reported on experiments conducted with scout and messenger dogs concluding that they were "highly favorable" and would serve great purposes in war. Messenger dogs proved that they could cover long distances with great speed over any kind of terrain as they warned patrols of the presence of Japanese up to 1,000 yards away.12 The very first Marine Dog Platoon was deployed to Bougainville in the fall of 1943, attached to the Second Marine Raider Regiment.13 Caesar, a German Shepherd, was one of the dogs that made up the platoon, and perhaps the most well known. Caesar proved the importance of a dogs role in war several times during WWII. He served as a messenger back and forth between his handlers when walkie talkies would not work during heavy rain and while snipers fired at them. Reports even state that Caesar saved his handler from a grenade attack.14 The Marine Dog Platoon was a major success in Bougainville. The dogs made it impossible for the enemy to make surprise attacks at night or enter their camps undetected. The Marine Raider Regiment wrote that, "not one marine was killed while in a marine patrol led by a dog". In fact, 11 Goodavage, Soldier Dogs, 56. 12 Aiello, "War Dog History," US War Dog Association | National Headquarters. 13 Frankel, "Dogs at War: Caesar," National Geographic. 14 ibid., p. 1 only four did not return (two dogs out of twenty-five and their 2 handlers out of 55 men).15 The number of men killed during this expedition could have been much larger without the assistance of these dogs. Smoky is another famous MWD that served in WWII. Smoky was a Yorkshire Terrier, people would think to be too small to serve any purpose on the battlefield, but in reality she prevented the deaths of hundreds of men. The Japanese planes were constantly attacking the Americans which affected communication. American commanders urgently needed to run telephone wires through a pipe line that "stretched roughly seventy feet underground from the base to three separate squadrons, but they lacked the proper equipment" because the diameter of the pipe was only eight inches.16 They would have had to of fed the wire through by hand, but that would have been exposing men to the constant enemy attacks. So, they sent smoky through the pipe with kite string tied to her collar and the string could then be used to thread the wires through the pipe. Smoky established the network connection and was credited with saving the lives of some 250 men and forty planes.17 With the help of one small Yorkshire Terrier, the U. S. was put one step closer toward a victory in the Second World War. Before the Vietnam War, dogs had to be physically examined before being accepted into the military and assigned to a position. Each dog was observed and tested to determine which area of training they would be assigned. If the dog was aggressive they were assigned to a sentry unit. If the dog was less aggressive but still very smart, like Shepherds, they went to scout the 15 ibid., p. 1 16 Frankel, "Dogs at War: Smoky," National Geographic. 17 ibid., p. 1 school. While Labs just went straight to tracker training because of their amazing nose.18 Every dog accepted was highly intelligent and they were used for everything from base security to detecting ambushes to hunting down fleeing enemy units. Richard Cunningham, a member of the 212th Military Police Sentry Dog Company, served in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968 with his German Shepherd sentry dog Smokey. Smokey was responsible for protecting the Tay Ninh Base Camp and the ammunition dump, and detecting, attacking, and tracking the enemy.19 While in Vietnam, handlers and their dogs were used in search and destroy missions, which warned of an ambush long before most of the unit was in danger.

Load more