War dogs

[Rex_Pelasgorum]

I`m just curios in what wars where the dogs used in the battlefield to attack the enemy infantry/cavalry, and to what effect... examples of battles, and actuall effect of such an attack.

I`ve heard about the Mollosian dogs, very ferociuous kin of dogs from Illirya. Attila the Hun might have used them.

Also, i found some references of the English using wardogs against the Celts.... anyway, against unarmoured man, war dogs would be extremely effective... cinically effective.

[Antagonist]

I don't think war dogs were ever used on a large scale (inside the historical period anyway) but interestingly they seem to have been used at some point in quite a lot of places.

The one that always sticks in my mind is the Soviet Union using dogs as "living mines" to be detonated underneath German tanks. I thought that was an urban legend but apparently they were quite real.

I was reading through the Gallic Wars last week (specifically the bit about Britain) and I vaguely recall a mention of British war dogs somewhere, but I might be imagining it.

Also, i found some references of the English using wardogs against the Celts

That's funny, I know Wikipedia mentions this, but I heard almost the exact opposite: Irish Wolfhounds (apparently the largest domesticated dogs in existence) being trained to bring down English knights by pulling them out of the saddle or hamstringing their destriers. Maybe both sides used them.

I've read about them being employed in Eastern Asia as well, but I don't know how reliable the source was. Stories about war dogs are probably highly prone to exaggeration and embelishment in general.

Antagonist

[Subedei]

I read a book about "Raubritter" [translates smth. like robber knights] this summer. In there dogs are mentioned very often as "knight´s best friend" in battle and en route. I guess they used them in battle to keep nasty infantry away from them.

In the Bavarian forrest and other woody areas of Europe people often had wolfhoundes or other sorts of huge dogs to protect themselves and their belongings, esp. in the middle ages.

The ´"hopefully in hell burnin´" conquistadores used tons of them to hunt down indians..... I remember seeing a picture once in a book on them....

Nobody used dogs like it is suggested in vanilla....I guess.

Burning pigs were always a fundamental part of warfare in all periods of mankind though.

[Watchman]

I've read "barbarians" occasionally employed wardogs as disposable precursor attacks to cause disarray in enemy shieldwalls before contact. But the factual basis of that I won't vouch for.

As for odd uses of animals in combat, would you believe the Chinese apparently occasionally did a trick where they strapped a barrel of gunpowder to the hind end of a buffalo, set it on fire and drove the animal out of the gates towards enemy siege engines...? Pretty spectacular when it went right presumably, but no doubt more than little unreliable.

[Orda Khan]

I've seen references to a large Mastif type dog known as an Alaunt

......Orda

[KrooK]

Accroding to mine information these russian living mines didn't work.
Germans defused them with sausage :)