Anybody hear of this?

[Der Kuenstler]

Anti-tank dogs:
Hungry dogs with explosives



Anti-tank dogs, also known as dog bombs or dog mines, were hungry dogs with explosives harnessed to their backs and trained to seek food under tanks and armoured vehicles. By doing so, a detonator (usually a small wooden lever) would go off, triggering the explosives and damaging or destroying the military vehicle.

The dogs were employed by the Soviet Union during World War II for use against German tanks. The dogs were kept without food for a few days, then trained to find food under a tank. The dogs quickly learned that once released from their pens, food could be found under tracked vehicles. Once trained, the dogs were fitted with an explosive charge and set loose into a field of oncoming German tanks and other tracked vehicles. When the dog went underneath the tank—where there was less armour—the charge would detonate and damage the enemy vehicle.

According to Soviet sources, the anti-tank dogs were successful at disabling a reported three hundred German tanks. They were enough of a problem to the Nazi advance that the Germans were compelled to take measures against them. An armoured vehicle's top-mounted machine gun proved ineffective due to the relatively small size of the dogs and the fact that they were low to the ground, fast, and hard to spot. Orders were dispatched that commanded every German soldier to shoot any dogs on sight. Eventually the Germans began using tank-mounted flame-throwers to ward off the dogs. They were much more successful at dissuading the attacks, but some dogs would not stop.

In 1942, one use of the anti-tank dogs went seriously awry when a large contingent ran amok, endangering everyone in the battle and forcing the retreat of an entire Soviet division. Soon afterward the anti-tank dogs were withdrawn from service. Training of anti-tank dogs continued until at least June 1996.

(I saw it on oddee.com)

[Der Kuenstler]

Cat Bombs:
To sink German ships



The most creative way to use a cat as a weapon happened in World War II. The United States' OSS (Office of Strategic Services, the precursor of the CIA) needed a way to guide bombs to sink German ships. Somebody hit upon the inspiration that since cats have such a strong disdain of getting wet and always land on their feet that if you attached a cat to a bomb and drop it in the vicinity of a ship, the cat's instinct to avoid the water would force it to guide the bomb to the enemy's deck. It is unclear how the cat was supposed to actually guide a bomb attached to it as it fell from the sky but the plan never got past the testing stages since the cats had a bad habit of becoming unconscious mid-drop.

Not to be outdone by its predecessor, the CIA also attempted to use cats but this time as a bugging device during the Cold War. Although a disaster as a guided bomb, the CIA thought that a cat would make the perfect covert listening device in a project known as Operation Acoustic Kitty. They attempted to surgically alter the cat by placing a bugging device inside him and running an antenna through its tail. The project took five years and $15 million dollars before the first field test hit a slight snag when the bugged kitty was released near a Russian compound in Washington and was immediately hit by a car while crossing the street. The project was ended soon after.

[Wittman]

very clever, I didnt know any notice about that.

[wigam]

Cat Bombs:
To sink German ships



The most creative way to use a cat as a weapon happened in World War II. The United States' OSS (Office of Strategic Services, the precursor of the CIA) needed a way to guide bombs to sink German ships. Somebody hit upon the inspiration that since cats have such a strong disdain of getting wet and always land on their feet that if you attached a cat to a bomb and drop it in the vicinity of a ship, the cat's instinct to avoid the water would force it to guide the bomb to the enemy's deck. It is unclear how the cat was supposed to actually guide a bomb attached to it as it fell from the sky but the plan never got past the testing stages since the cats had a bad habit of becoming unconscious mid-drop.

Not to be outdone by its predecessor, the CIA also attempted to use cats but this time as a bugging device during the Cold War. Although a disaster as a guided bomb, the CIA thought that a cat would make the perfect covert listening device in a project known as Operation Acoustic Kitty. They attempted to surgically alter the cat by placing a bugging device inside him and running an antenna through its tail. The project took five years and $15 million dollars before the first field test hit a slight snag when the bugged kitty was released near a Russian compound in Washington and was immediately hit by a car while crossing the street. The project was ended soon after.

ROTFLMAO

Thanks DK. I have a hard day at work and needed a good laugh.

[Jobu88]

On old classic early 1970's movie:





and today the USN operates four Marine Mammal Units made up of bottlenose dolphins and seals for harbor defense, mine location, anti-diver, etc.

[Pvt. Sofronije]

The big problem with the anti-tank dogs was that they were mostly trained on Russian tanks, so when released they had a bad habit of running under the familiar Russian tanks.

I didn't know about the cats. Imagine the look on the faces of the CIA agents when they hear the car running over their $15 000 000 agent!

[Mike Abberton]

DK, you missed. Da-na-na-na-na-na-na--Bat Bombs!

[From Wikipedia]

Bat bombs were bomb-shaped casings with numerous compartments, each containing a Mexican Free-tailed Bat with a small timed incendiary bomb attached. Dropped from a bomber at dawn, the casings would deploy a parachute in mid-flight and open to release the bats which would then roost in eaves and attics. The incendiaries would start fires in inaccessible places in the largely wood and paper construction of the Japanese cities that were the weapon's intended target.

Developed by the United States during World War II, four biological factors gave promise to this plan. First, bats occur in large numbers (four caves in Texas are each occupied by several million bats). Second, bats can carry more than their own weight in flight (females carry their young — sometimes twins). Third, bats hibernate, and while dormant they do not require food or maintenance. Fourth, bats fly in darkness, then find secluded places (often in buildings) to hide during daylight.

The plan was to release bat bombs over Japanese cities having widely-dispersed industrial targets. The bats would spread far from the point of release due to the relatively high altitude of their release, then at dawn they would hide in buildings across the city. Shortly thereafter built-in timers would ignite the bombs, causing widespread fires and chaos. The bat bomb idea was conceived by dental surgeon Lytle S. Adams, who submitted it to the White House in January, 1942, where it was subsequently approved by President Roosevelt. Adams was recruited to research and obtain a suitable supply of bats.

By March 1943 a suitable species had been selected. The project was considered serious enough that Louis Fieser, the inventor of military napalm, designed 0.6 ounce (17 g) and one ounce (28 g) incendiary devices to be carried by the bats. A bat carrier similar to a bomb casing was designed that included 26 stacked trays, each containing compartments for 40 bats. The carriers would be dropped from 5,000 feet (1,525 m). Then the trays would separate but remain connected to a parachute that would deploy at 1,000 feet (305 m). It was envisioned that ten B-24 bombers flying from Alaska, each carrying a hundred shells packed with bomb-carrying bats could release 1,040,000 bat bombs over the target — the industrial cities of Osaka Bay. A series of tests to answer various operational questions were conducted. In one incident the Auxiliary Army Air Base in Carlsbad, New Mexico, was set on fire when armed bats were accidentally released. The bats incinerated the test range and roosted under a fuel tank. Following this setback, the project was relegated to the Navy in August 1943, who renamed it Project X-Ray, and then passed it to the Marine Corps that December. The Marine Corps moved operations to the Marine Corps Air Station at El Centro, California. After several experiments and operational adjustments, the definitive test was carried out on a mockup of a Japanese city built by the Chemical Warfare Service at their Dugway Proving Grounds test site in Utah.

Observers at this test produced optimistic accounts. The chief of incendiary testing at Dugway wrote: “A reasonable number of destructive fires can be started in spite of the extremely small size of the units. The main advantage of the units would seem to be their placement within the enemy structures without the knowledge of the householder or fire watchers, thus allowing the fire to establish itself before being discovered.” The National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) observer stated: “It was concluded that X-Ray is an effective weapon.” The Chief Chemist’s report stated that on a weight basis X-Ray was more effective than the standard incendiary bombs in use at the time. “Expressed in another way, the regular bombs would give probably 167 to 400 fires per bomb load where X-Ray would give 3,625 to 4,748 fires”. Walter Ying, Lecturer at Harvard University suggests that the number of viable fires would be approximately 20 times less than this figure

One person involved in this project was actor Tim Holt. This was revealed in a conversation between Mr. Holt and Bob Marshall at a rodeo in Ada, Oklahoma in 1954 where Tim was signing autographs. The two had become friends during the summer of 1943 at El Centro. Apparently, Holt and his crew would carry canisters of bats in bombers, release the canisters for bat deployment. If the canister opened properly, the crew would search for bats. If the canisters failed, the crew would retrieve the failed canister (along with many dead bats) to determine the reason for the canister's failure to open.

More tests were scheduled for the summer of 1944 but the program was cancelled by Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King when he heard that it would likely not be combat ready until mid-1945. By that time it was estimated that $2 million had been spent on the project. It is thought that development of the bat bomb was moving too slowly, and was overtaken in the race for a quick end to the war by the atomic bomb project.

Dr. Adams maintained that the bat bombs would have been effective without the devastating effects of the atomic bomb. He is quoted as having said:

“Think of thousands of fires breaking out simultaneously over a circle of forty miles in diameter for every bomb dropped.
Japan could have been devastated, yet with small loss of life. ”

The infamous "Invasion by Bats" project was afterwards referred to by Dr. Stanley P. Lovell, director of the Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.) as "Die Fledermaus Farce."

Mike

[Der Kuenstler]

We count the human casualties of WWII - I wonder how many poor animals were killed or maimed because of it.....think of all the horses killed!

[Jobu88]

The Military Channel just this weekend ran a show about the Pacific theater and the dogs that went with our troops into the jungles. Very good show (unlike most of the Military Channel -- am I crazy or has the quality of their shows dropped like a brick in the last couple years??).

They intereviewed a bunch of the old vets. Fascinating to hear all the the stuff other than their intended purpose of spoiling ambushes. Marines said they could finally sleep at night because they knew the dog would alert them if the Japanese were sneaking up. Other units would always invite the dog handlers to take a free already-dug foxhole, give them cigarettes, etc. Really good show. All Dobermanns and German Shepherd dogs in the footage.

[Mike Abberton]

Jobu88,

Regarding the MC, I think as they realized that they couldn't keep just replaying the same old documentaries (many of which were decent, some of which were quite good) and had to make new ones, the quality dropped quick. Now they shovel out mostly superficial drivel with the same old archival footage included in every other doc, and prop up the hour with about 20+ minutes of commercials.

I also like the 1-2 minutes of recap of the preceding 10 minutes that they feel is necessary after every commercial break to fill out time. Although considering the length of some of those commercial blocks, it's not the worst feature. :rolleyes:

And it's not just the MC channel either. The other Discovery channels, The History Channel (probably the worst offender), Natural Geographic and the rest are just as bad. Most of that programming has gone from Must See to background chatter for me, unfortunately.

Mike