Soldiers & Sled Dogs: A History Of Military Dog Mushing

by Charles L. Dean

Sled dogs have been serving humans since they were first tamed and broken to the trace thousands of years ago. Their history of supporting soldiers is much more recent and, for all its drama and heroism, remains little known. This hundred-year history of canine military service from the frozen reaches of Alaska to the snowy battlefields of World Wars I and II is told fully for the first time in this book by former army officer and longtime sled dog aficionado Charles L. Dean.
Dean's book tells a story that begins in Alaska, traverses two world wars and the Cold War era, and ends in the present-day Danish sledge patrol in Greenland. Here are the sled dogs drafted from Alaska and trained by French troops for use in the Vosges Mountains; improvised alpine sled dogs used by the Italians in the Great War; those deployed by the German SS in World War II; and others training in Montana's Camp Rimini, Colorado's Camp Hale, and Nebraska's Fort Robinson. From the nitty-gritty of the making of a canine division to the high drama of dogs conducting daring rescues and parachuting to their destinations, this book richly supplies a missing chapter in military history and in the story of man's best friend at war.

Genres: History, Dogs, Nonfiction, Animals

129 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Stephen Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good information if you like dog sledding and military dogs as much as I do. On an excitement level unfortunately more like 3 or less stars. The author warns us a bit in the beginning when he describes during his 5 years of research for the book that there wasn't a lot of detail. I will give you some excerpts that I find more interesting, but in my mind I wish someone would take a whole tale told in a paragraph, and write a whole book so we can get a feel for how people would feel each step of the way.

During the great war, the French government asked Scotty Allen to supply dogs and sleds and to train soldiers for fighting in the Vosges Mountains on the Western Front. I like the mental image that comes to mind how they transported the dogs:

'For this mission, Allan purchased 106 dogs around Nome. To transport them to a barge that would take them to the cargo ship anchored offshore Allan tied all the dogs to one long rope like a gang line. He attached this rope to a team of horses and a wagon to supply braking power. He put a good lead dog in front, and the world’s longest dog team proceeded without incident to the barge, where the dogs were loaded for the first leg of their journey to France, along with sleds, harnesses, and two tons of dried fish.'

The US did not use dogs in WWI but other countries did. After the war sled dogs were still maintained in Alaska by the military because they were the only dependable transportation. In 1926 the U.S. War Department published a technical regulation concerning dog transportation, which was the forerunner of later field manuals published in 1941 and 1944. Here are some details from those regulations:

'This regulation defined types of dog teams as heavy and light. Heavy transportation was used to carry men and supplies. Loads were not to exceed the total weight of the dogs minus the weight of the driver. These teams could travel from two and a half to three miles an hour for eight hours. Light transportation, also called messenger transportation, was designed for fast travel in emergencies or for speedy communication. Teams for light transportation could travel at five to six miles an hour for eight hours with a load of no more than twenty-five pounds per dog. These classifications remained standard throughout the entire period of military use of sled dogs. Recommended speeds and load-carrying capacities changed slightly over the years.'

'For use in Alaska the technical regulation highly recommended two specific dog breeds: the Mackenzie River husky and the Kobuk Valley dog.” The Mackenzie River husky was finally recognized toward the end of World War II in attempts to breed the ideal Army transportation dog. The regulation also mentioned malamutes and Siberian huskies as being suited for the area. These were the primary dogs used during World War II.'

We get a lot of details of the training and types of sleds in the book as WWII was happening. In most of the books individual dogs were not mentioned too much, but in this excerpt I liked reading the names of the dogs:

'As the number of dogs at the kennel grew, training became more innovative. Lacking snow, men used stripped Austin automobile chassis to train teams. Dogs were assembled into teams as soon as they arrived. One matched team of eight light yellow huskies became known as the Cream Team: Jack, Jill Jr., Saucey, Darkar, Noel, Nome, Mala, and Jill Sr. The Cream Team was trained by David Armstrong, then shipped to Camp Rimini, Montana, and later to Camp Hale, Colorado. Another team of Siberian husky littermates put together by Robert Brown included General, Colonel, Major, Captain, Lieutenant, Sergeant, Corporal, and Private. These eight-dog teams were based on an army conception that teams should consist of seven dogs and one spare, a standard later replaced by eight dogs and one spare. Since there was never a “spare,” in reality it was a team of nine. '

At one point they wanted to bring in dogs to help with the defenders during the Battle of the Bulge, but things didn't work out.

The primary use for the dogs was during rescue situations in the colder regions. Here are the top level facts:

"Men and dogs of search and rescue squadrons effectively retrieved approximately 150 survivors, 300 casualties, and millions of dollars worth of equipment by the close of World War II. Many saves are credited to dogs and mushers in Canada, Alaska, Newfoundland, and Greenland.”

OK, I got to the chapter on the use of dogs for rescue operations and hoped for some excitement. Here are my favorite bits, and you decide how exciting. Then try thinking about it again more slowly imagining yourself one of the people at the time. I feel the book missed an opportunity to do more with these stories, but am still thankful to the author for what he did give us.

'Dog teams were key elements in an amazing Arctic rescue in 1942, when an aircraft crashed in Greenland only twenty-five miles from a weather and rescue station. Its crew of nine men had no Arctic survival equipment or training. A local dog team was sent but could not get through the deep, soft snow to reach the crash site. Search aircraft dropped food and survival equipment, allowing crew members to survive harsh conditions, but storms and poor weather stymied more than an occasional resupply flight. Twenty days later an aircraft was finally able to land nearby, and the two most seriously injured men were taken out. Another rescue aircraft was flying out a third survivor when it crashed, killing all on board. An Eskimo dog team later recovered the bodies of this group. In renewed ground rescue attempts using motor sledges (the forerunner of snowmobiles), Max Demerest was killed when his motor sledge was swallowed up by a crevasse. The crew was finally rescued an incredible 129 days later. Three dog teams plowed through deep snow to the crash site, guided by an aircraft using radio signals. These teams were led by Captain Harold Strong, an Alaskan, and Sergeants Joseph Heally and “Dutch” Dolleman, both of whom had served with Byrd in Antarctica. Remaining crew members were shuttled by dog team to the sled camp, where an aircraft was able to land and carry them to safety. This rescue has been called one of the great sagas of the Arctic. Without rescue by dog team, these men would surely have perished in the cold only a short distance from safety.'

'On another rigorous mission Armstrong, accompanied by two other drivers (Willard E. Gregg and Truman Watson) and pack dog handler Carl F Lowe, was sent to recover the cargo of a crashed C-54 transport plane. They recovered 5,800 pounds of cargo and thirty-two sacks of mail from the crash site in isolated mountains above Codroy Pond, Newfoundland. The teams brought the complete cargo down to the railhead in only two days. Lowe's five Saint Bernard pack dogs were hitched to a basket sled to help pull loads. The entire contingent of sled dog teams and pack dogs went back up the mountain and helped the salvage crew carry as much of the aircraft as could be saved down the mountain, including a dual landing gear weighing 2,800 pounds. The landing gear had to be lashed to the sled with the two wheels trailing behind. This sled was pulled by a team of dogs whose total weight was only 495 pounds. For the steep downhill portion of the trip, the load had to be unhitched and belayed with two hundred feet of five-eighths-inch rope wrapped around a tree. On flat terrain, where the wheel would not roll on its own, dogs were again harnessed to it. Other equipment that dog teams hauled out on this mission included the 1,500-pound nose gear, propellers, and propeller gearing. Five propeller blades were taken out on one load; then on another trip seven blades that had been bent were dragged behind the team with a rope. '7 Wrestling such heavy loads down the mountain was extremely labor intensive and dangerous. Drivers sometimes narrowly missed serious injuries when they were smashed between bulky loads and trees as sleds slid off the trail.'

So good book if you want to read the history and see detailed measurements and descriptions of the sleds used. But unfortunately not too exciting.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be ungodly boring. I don't like Non-Fiction though. While this book was written for the kind of person who wasn't in the army, it was writtn in the. "Try this. Oh, this doesn't work, so we'll end up trying this," method. I did sort of enjoy the part having to do with the dog training, but that's about all.

[Ranette · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book opened my eyes to a new concept, the use of sled dogs in WW1 to help france. The dogs were purchased in Canada and Alaska. The leaders had 100 or so days to find, buy and transport these dogs to the battlefield.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

How could I not love a book with this title? I had no idea that sled dogs were used by the military at all, let alone in both World Wars. The dogs hauled freight and evacuated the wounded. They were used in search and rescue operations, retrieving the crews of downed aircraft and, piece by laborious piece, the aircraft themselves.

Favourite chapter: the one about landing dogs by parachute, entitled 'Grrr-onimo!'.

[Andy]

Academic, but interesting. I think the right author could re-write as a more compelling story. But I did learn a lot from this book.