Lest We Forget: World War StoriesThompson, John G. (John Gilbert)
History
Lest We Forget: World War Stories
Thompson, John G. (John Gilbert)
Readers -- History; Readers -- World War, 1914-1918
Sometimes, to attract the attention of an ambulance driver, the dogs
give several short, quick barks; but usually they do their work
silently, for if they bark, the enemy will fire.
Many times a dog finds a man unable to get back to the lines, but not
so seriously wounded but that he can help himself somewhat. In such a
case, before running for help, the dog stands quiet, close to the
soldier, and allows him to take the flasks and first-aid bandages from
the wallet which is hung about the dog's neck or pinned to the blanket
on his back.
Thus, by the help of these faithful friends, the lives of many hundreds
of men have been saved. Over one hundred were rescued in one night
after a battle. A big Newfoundland, named Napoleon, had the credit of
saving as many as twenty. One of the men, in speaking of him, said,
"Part of his tail has been blown away, and once he was left for dead in
No Man's Land, but he is still on the job, working for civilization."
When not fighting or on watch, the men in the trenches enjoy the
company of the dogs and teach them to perform all sorts of tricks, the
fox terriers proving especially intelligent. They also do good work in
keeping the trenches free from rats.
At night, a French sentinel sometimes crawls through the entanglements
on his way to a "listening post" out in No Man's Land. With him goes a
sentinel dog. The sentinel's purpose is to discover if the enemy are
getting ready for a surprise attack. Lying flat on the earth, or
crouching in a shell hole, he listens with bated breath for any
telltale noises. The dog, listening too, creeps along beside him, or
slinks silently out into the darkness. He can tell, when his master
cannot, if an enemy is abroad. Making no sound, giving no betraying
bark, as soon as he discovers the enemy the dog draws near to his
master, stands at attention, his ears pricked up, his hair bristling,
his tail wagging as he silently paws the ground or growls so low that
only his master can hear him. If the German soldier attempts to fight,
the dog springs at him and throws him to the ground.
A group of soldiers were on watch one night in one of the front
trenches, when all of the dogs suddenly became uneasy, growling low,
and growing more and more excited. The soldiers knew their dogs and
trusted their warnings, so they telephoned back to the main trenches
for help. In less than half an hour, an attack was made from the
German trenches opposite. Meanwhile, however, reënforcements had
arrived for the Allies, which sent the enemy back to his own lines
again. How the dogs knew so long before that the attack was coming,
whether they could have heard the first faint signs of preparation in
the enemy trenches, the soldiers could not tell.
When a front line trench of the enemy is captured, it is the faithful
dogs who draw up the many cartloads of ammunition and supplies, and
some of the smaller guns. For this, the Belgian dogs are especially
well fitted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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