So, I was reading my Christmas present from a couple years ago. It's a HUGE book called "The Weapons of World War II" and it covers absolutely every weapon used in the war. From improvised Molotov cocktails to the experimental Jet aircraft to the largest warships. It's all there with a small level of detail.

Anyway, in the Allied anti-tank weapons section I came across the strangest anti-tank weapon devised by thaose clever Soviets...

In the great history of Pavlov, the Soviets devised the Soviet Dog Mine. That's right a Dog Mine. No, it's not designed to blow-up those ever-dangerous German Shepherds.

A dog was trained to rub itself against enemy tanks. What the hapless pup was not aware of was this, when he was released into the combat field he'd be wearing explosive charges.
That's right. the poor mutt was laden with explosives and a triggering mechanism which would detonate when the dog rubbed against that pesky Panzer. Sick.

Anyway, the experiment didn't last long as the Soviets soon found out the dog lacked the detail orientation required to distinguish a Panzer 4 from a T-34. Apparently, dogs are not only color blind, but insignia blind as well.

Just thought I'd share that tidbit. #:-)

What would the ASPCA or PETA have to say? Kind of reminds me of the story about the "good old boys" who went ice fishing on a frozen pond and would throw dynomite onto the lake to blow holes in the lake. Until their Labrador retriever retrieved one of the sticks. I don't know if this is a "urban myth" or not.

Have you ever heard of the British anti tank team that was developed after Dunkirk for the Home Guard? As I remember one team member was supposed to shove a piece of railroad rail into the sprocket of the tank, bringing it to a stop. Another member was to throw a blanket, or something, over the tanks engine vents, the third member was supposed to throw a bucket of gasoline onto the blanket, finally one of the team would ignite the gas. Poof, up goes the panzer. Obviously since Herr Hitler never made it across the chanel this wasn't put into practice.

Since this has turned into a bizzaro weapon thread I'll submit two links:

Mine detecting bees
Brought to by DARPA, the folks who, with the help of Al Gore, invented the internet, and,

Bat Bombers
Brought to you by some really optimistic dental surgeon.

Enjoy.

Shaun

Hi, Have read of this before. Got to hand it to the Russians though, as this did work quite effectively for a very short time. Till the Germans starting shooting all the dogs they saw, just to be sure. Desperate times call for desperate measures I guess.

I do remember my late father-in-law talking about his time in France with the 28th Inf. Div. and how it was sometimes a last ditch defence to try to get logs jammed in between the slack spots on German tank's tracks to try to stop them in order to get aboard and try to get a grende down a hatch. Don't know if he was ever one to personally try this, but he had seen it done evidently.

Take care, Sgirty

The Final Thoughts of Comrade Doggy
A memoir
Translated from the Russian

In defense of my Motherland I have volunteered to serve with my comrade master's tank battalion. My misiion is to show affection to enemy tanks in order to lull them into a less aggressive threat before the trap is sprung and my comrade master blasts the tank with his cannon.

My training has been extensive and has garnered me many treats. I am an acceptional affection shower and have been rewarded for my dedication to the task of loving enemy tanks despite all the noise.

The fascist enemy now threatens our capital. We have been dispatched to drive away the enemy. My mission, to show love and affection despite my inward hate of the enemy.

The enemy is sited and my orders given. In defense of the motherland I will love my enemies and be rewarded with a bit of bread, or maybe even a morsel of meat. My comrade master attaches my "love pack". It helps protect me from the rough edges of the enemy's tanks. Gee. It does feel a bit heavier than the one from training. Must be thicker to help protect better. Hmmm. don't remember seeing that stick before. Oh well, must be there for a reason.

I'm off, charging into battle before my comrades. I'm the front now! I see the enemy creeping forward, crushing my beloved earth beneath. The noise is defeaning. cannons, machine guns, screams and shouts. Explosions surround me. The concussion pounds at my chest and my ears. The dust and smoke is choking.

But I press on. My mission is all that matters now.... my mission, and the piece of meat at the end of it all. Truthfully, it's all about the meat. But the meat can only be gained by completing my mission.

They've spotted me. They are shooting at me. I duck, I weave, I jump and I dive. Their bullets kicking up dust at my heals. They cannot stop me. I'm drawing closer now. closer still. I can smell the smoke from their belching pipes. They stink of oil and fuel and dirt. Drawing closer.

At last I am upon them! I avoid the moving parts and nestle in against the front. That's where they like it. That will calm the beast. That's right! fall asleep.

It 's not working.I must rub harder. Yes, for Mother Russia I must show my enemy love! Perhaps a kind little bark will help.

"Woof, Woof " KA BOOM

Mine dogs - leave it to the Russians. Life is cheap - dogs cheaper.

But for bizarre anti-tank weapons look no further than the British PIAT. A spring loaded shape charge that kicked like a battery mule and had little accuracy out past 20 yards. The Brits turned down the American bazooka for this "wonder." Go figure.

There's a wirerd and tracable history of animal weapons explored specifically by the US and Soviets. If you think about it, an animal is kinda like a computer, but a bit less predictable and a bit more easily confused.

Pavlov really got the ball rolling on conditioned response research which led to all sorts of crazy ideas. The Soviet dog mine being one.

B. F. Skinner also proposed using dolphins to deliver explosive charges to enemy subs. One of Skinner's ideas, a very inventive and strange one, was to use pigeons to guide rockets fired from Naval vessels. here's how it was to work...

A pigeon was trained to peck at a picture of an enemy ship.
The rocket was equipped with a chamber to hold the pigeon and a camera on the nose of the rocket piped live video to a screen in the pigeons chamber.
The enemy ship would show up on the screen and the pigeon would peck at it. The rocket's course would be corrected based on where the pigeon pecked leading to a mroe accurate trajectory for the missle.
Sure you may hit the target and kill more of the enemy efficiently, but what about the conscience of the poor pigeon? how do you know he was in agreement with the whole thing?

I recently read about the US Government's attempts (in the cold war era) to use dolphins as assasins! Basically, the dolphin was fitted with an explosive nose cone and would bump into the target in the water, destroying both.

What a crazy world!

Ola People

I have said it before.... There is only one tank design that is Bizarre, Ugly, Dumblooking, unusual, not userfriendly at the same time. a short description of the tank I`m speaking of:


And here is the Clown of the Battle field:


Here is a short summary of this "wonderfull" piece of Armor. Check out the last point

Crew: 4 Commander, driver, gunner, loader
Physical Characteristics
Weight - 39,000 lb
Length w/gun - 18' 2"
Length w/o gun
Height - 9' 3.25"
Width - 8' 7.5"
Ground clearance
Ground contact length
Ground pressure
Turret ring diameter
Armament (mm)
Main - 25 pdr howitzer Mk I
Secondary
MG - .303 cal Bren, AA
Side arms
Quantity
Main - 32
Secondary
MG
Side arms
Armor Thickness (mm)
Hull Front, Upper 60
Hull Front, Lower
Hull Sides, Upper
Hull Sides, Lower
Hull Rear
Hull Top
Hull Bottom 8
Turret Front
Turret Sides
Turret Rear
Turret Top
Engine (Make / Model) - AEC
Cylinders - 6
Net HP 131
Transmission
Fuel type Diesel
Octane
Capacity (gallons)
Performance
Traverse - 4° left and right
Max Speed - 15 mph
Cross Country - 7 mph
Road radius - 90 miles
Turning Radius
Elevation Limits - +15° to -5°
Fording depth - 3'
Trench crossing - 7' 6"
Vertical Obstacle - 2' 9"
Suspension (Type) - "Slow motion" with 3-wheel bogies
Wheels each side - 6
Return rollers each side - 3
Track length
Tires
Track width - 14"
Track centers/tread - 7' 3"
Production - 1942-1943: 80
Interesting Facts: There were 80 of these tanks produced and all saw action in Africa. Another interesting fact is that all were fully loaded and operational but only Two tanks managed to fire in total 6 rounds at the enemy that had not yet laughed themselves to death. Presumably these were the only Germans and italians that did not have any sense of Humor.


Well this should be enough Try to beat me
#:-) #:-) #:-) #:-) #:-) #:-) #:-) #:-)

Bishop the Clown of the Battlefield

Yep, its true. There is a dog in our reenacting unit who we use as a mine dog. He has a little strap on bomb that he wears, though he never actually blows up. His name's Patton.

The little antena is the part that rubs the tank, and when it is pushed back by the bottom of the tank, it detonates the bomb.
If you cant see the picture please tell me.

~Katyusha~

Sorry, get the dreaded red X.

I have heard of this as well. From what I heard the dog would run under a tank and a stick on its back would be hit, pulling some sort of triggering device.

HalfYank, I too have heard of the "explosive" fishing story-- I think chalk that up to urban myth though

Sean

I had heard of the bats story, but the bees and dog story is new to me.

I have read that the Russians would release pigs before an attack to clear the minefields.

Another British Home Guard goody designed to combat invading panzers was a multiple bomb thrower which propelled soft drink bottles (there goes the refund) filled with a liquid explosive, sort of like molotove cocktails served up in a Coke bottle. I read this in a book on artillery by Ian Hogg. Apparantly the weapon was never accepted as the bottles sometimes had the nasty habit of breaking and exploding in the breech!

What about weird anti-aircraft weapons?
I've heard of one that the british use to counter low flying german bombers, apparently coils of steel wire were loaded into rockets, and when the german bomber was close enough, a whole row of them would be fired creating a wall of wire, these would then get caught on the plane and deploy a parachute, stalling the plane.

Hi'
taking the Russian dogs theme...in modern times it's been reported Americans have experimented with dolphins as magnetic mine layers.
Cheers
Peter

In addition,
a little off topic but maybe of interest...
Check "Oddities" on www.luft46.com
Cheers
Peter

the piat was accurate to around 100 yards, (isnt that around the bazooka's effective range)

it had much better penetrative power, and the firer was able to remain concealed due to the lack of any backblast.

the piat was a very effective weapon, and could fire a range of different shells, including a sabot round that could penetrate the frontal armour of a king tiger!

cheers

joe

Another real weirdo of an AT weapon, was the "Smith Gun" , mounted on large concave wheels (which were used as it's support) this masterpiece was (thankfully) never used in combat. It was only ever issued to Home Guard units. No vehicle was required to tow it, rather it was pulled about from place to place by the Home Guard themselves. My father's HG platoon had one on strength. No, he wasn't impressed by it either....Jim #:-)

I hope this works, but here is a photo of a mine dog from my unit, the 193rd Rifle Div. The name is Comrade Patton......Bill Gibbs

the gunner of the piat remained consealed?

its a spring fired weapon
he had to stand up put his weight on the butt and pull back the spring.
I woudnt like doing That in the middel of a fire fight Id have the backblast any time