WWII Eastern Front

The Russian military also trained suicide dogs, during WW II. The dogs (half staved) were loaded with explosives, and trained to seek out food under moving tanks; a trigger device attached to their backpacks, would depressed causing an explosion capable of cutting through the steel under belly of the tanks.

In one day, alone, on the Izyum sector, these canine tank busters destroyed nine tanks and two armored cars. So feared by the Germans, that as soon as they heard the barking and saw the running dogs, they would frantically turned their tanks around and head back towards their own lines, for they knew from experience what was in store for them.

One Russian correspondent stated that "the dogs have saved thousands upon thousands of lives on the Russian front." And he was right!

The Japanese also like the Russians, used some dogs as suicide commandos; these dogs were trained to pull small carts towards the enemy (Americans) position, in which fifty pound bombs were loaded, once they were near enough, the bomb would be exploded!

This is the Russian WWII "believe it or not" Anti-tank dog mine. The dog was affixed with a large demolition charge and conditioned through starving to run under tanks. The dogs would be starved for periods of time before "service" and then be fed only by putting food under a tank. The process was repeated until the dogs were conditioned to run under the tank when released, then they were starved again, fixed with the pictured harness and released on the battlefield when enemy tanks were present. When the dog went under the tank for "food", it triggered the fuze on the dog's back and well you can imagine the consequences...