Sporting Lad
Regular
- Location
- Vancouver Island
Pavlov's contribution to the war effort?
We need pics!!
This one has the hand of Doktor Pavlov written all over it!
We need pics!!
This one has the hand of Doktor Pavlov written all over it!
Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
- Start date
Here you go... Embrace the google-fu, young padawan...
I especially like the second photo, which gives the basics of how the mechanism works.
I remember reading about this in a wartime issue of Mechanics Illustrated magazine. At the time I wondered how good the dogs were at discriminating between German and Russian tanks. Sense of smell and humane care does matter though. Each of the Finnish positions on the Golan Heights used to keep a tamed down Syrian dog as an early warning system, especially at night. The dogs were well cared for by the Finns and would sure sound off if they got a snoot-full of a Syrian prowling around the wire. The Syrians ate a lot of garlic (as did the Russians) and that, plus poor personal hygiene, probably made them smell pretty hummy in comparison to the Finns who were pretty religious about their daily sauna routine.
From what I recall, they were lousy at picking the right tanks... It might be apocryphal, but the story goes that because they were trained using Soviet tanks, when they went to the front, they had a tendency to...
Run under Soviet tanks.
It was not a successful program, by any stretch. The Soviets claimed they managed to destroy something like 300 German tanks this way, but that number is disputed by, well, pretty much everyone.
- Location
- East of Home, West of the Rest
I posted a pic haha.
I talked to a fellow at the Vernon gun show this summer that was in the Finn Army and was posted to the Golan heights. He talked about those dogs. Those dogs were mean as hell when they first grabbed them. Mostly wild scavengers. The Syrians didn't pay them much attention let alone feed them. They certainly didn't use them as a food source and mostly looked upon them as vermin ridden, dangerous nuisances to be killed or chased away if they didn't belong to them.
The Finn told me they preferred a ##### with at least one pup as she was easier to calm down. They tried not to get to friendly with the dogs because they would be left behind when their deployment was finished. He didn't mention what happened to the dogs when they left. Likely put down or turned back out to scavenge.
Poor buggers.
The Finn told me they preferred a ##### with at least one pup as she was easier to calm down. They tried not to get to friendly with the dogs because they would be left behind when their deployment was finished. He didn't mention what happened to the dogs when they left. Likely put down or turned back out to scavenge.
Poor buggers.
Sporting Lad
Regular
- Location
- Vancouver Island
Other species at war:
Maybe Pavlov, maybe Monte Python. Interesting that they used dogs, but they never tried cats.
There was a Dr. Skinner, an American who tried putting trained pigeons inside torpedos and rockets and such, the idea being that the poor bird would peck at a target depicted on a screen thereby guiding the warhead as well as itself to assured destruction. IIRC, the plan was scrapped when it was discovered that too many of the carefully trained birds died of fright soon after being launched.
Maybe Pavlov, maybe Monte Python. Interesting that they used dogs, but they never tried cats.
There was a Dr. Skinner, an American who tried putting trained pigeons inside torpedos and rockets and such, the idea being that the poor bird would peck at a target depicted on a screen thereby guiding the warhead as well as itself to assured destruction. IIRC, the plan was scrapped when it was discovered that too many of the carefully trained birds died of fright soon after being launched.
Sporting Lad
Regular
- Location
- Vancouver Island
"Ah so, what you got?"
Japanese bat: "Ah so, Newguy. What you got strapped on back?"
American bat: "Er, dunno. A man stuck it on there this morning before I woke up."
Japanese bat: "It's ticking."
A cruel and sadistic plan, but at least there was no nuclear fallout.
A-Hah! And look: Here's Dr. Skinner's Pigeon Pecker Missile !
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pigeon
Japanese bat: "Ah so, Newguy. What you got strapped on back?"
American bat: "Er, dunno. A man stuck it on there this morning before I woke up."
Japanese bat: "It's ticking."
A cruel and sadistic plan, but at least there was no nuclear fallout.
A-Hah! And look: Here's Dr. Skinner's Pigeon Pecker Missile !
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pigeon
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
Those poor lil' bats. 
Ah, well. As SL says, at least they weren't teeny bat-borne nukes.
Meanwhile, talking about critters and WW2, here's Beautiful Scenic East Prussia, February 1945:
...and four years earlier, likely going the other way. Can anyone read that shoulder flash?
And one more, because I can't resist it. Looks like a still from a lost Kurosawa film:
Ah, well. As SL says, at least they weren't teeny bat-borne nukes.Meanwhile, talking about critters and WW2, here's Beautiful Scenic East Prussia, February 1945:
...and four years earlier, likely going the other way. Can anyone read that shoulder flash?
And one more, because I can't resist it. Looks like a still from a lost Kurosawa film:
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- Location
- Leduc County, Alberta
The Image file says it's a French Volunteer... but... from the writing on the top of the Tricolor Shield, I'm thinking Legion Wallonie? Or maybe even a Romanian Wehrmacht Volunteer?
EDIT: After looking closer, it may actually appear to be a French Sleeve Patch..
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Of course the guy with a horse is French can,t you see the guy is smoking a Gitane? Pretty crafty of those Germans to slap a coat of white wash on the horse for winter cam.The Image file says it's a French Volunteer... but... from the writing on the top of the Tricolor Shield, I'm thinking Legion Wallonie? Or maybe even a Romanian Wehrmacht Volunteer?
EDIT: After looking closer, it may actually appear to be a French Sleeve Patch..
- Location
- Kawartha Lakes
Belgian flash......
Until they get et.
Thanks bellero. When I was in the combat zone, dogs were considered prime sources of meat. Quite good if they were reasonably well fed but often they were just tough and stringy. In Africa, I don't ever remember a dog of any size or breed that came to us willingly. Maybe one of the Portuguese farmer's dog that had been treated well but most of them had been trained to hate blacks and were big enough to take on a full grown man with ease.
I just really like dogs and don't like seeing them under such conditions. When in such situations, you gotta do what you gotta do. We used the mules and horses until they couldn't go any further under the conditions we were under. Often very little food and water. Again, I felt bad for them. Work their hearts out willingly and someone comes up to them when they are done and cuts their throat and cuts them up for dinner that night, if there was time. Mostly they were eaten raw.
I love dogs too, we had a platoon mascot dog in Bosnia that we managed to keep by proving them it was healthy. One of the guy's wife sent us anti-fleas collars and worms medicine. One guy looked into taking it back to Canada but it proved to be very complicated since CBSA and CFIA would have had to be involved. We left it with the guys who replaced us but I don't know what happened to it after that.
