Didn't I read about the Allies parachuting dogs and handlers in on D-Day? Some excellent pix. Thanks all. Gage, you certainly did, Emil Corteil and his dog Glen are buried in Ranville. SOURCE : 3rd Brigade WW2 Reenactors - Emil Corteil & Glen
Saw on the news last night about a dog at Bastion camp had got toxic poisoned somehow and is now recovering well, knew they had a fantastic medical unit out there, but did not realise they had a vets clinic as well, I think the report said that the army has about 33 dogs working for them there. A good book on animals at war is Silent Heros The bravery & Devotion of Animals in war by Evelyn Le Chene includes the story of sea dog Bamse, Stubby and Fleabite, Rob of the SAS. Chindit Minnie (mule) the one I liked best is Voytek of Monte Cassino (let you guess what animal that was) Picked up the Silent Heroes, book last week and what a enthralling book once you start a chapter on one of the animals you cant put it down, great book did not expect it to be so intresting.
A good book on animals at war is Silent Heros The bravery & Devotion of Animals in war by Evelyn Le Chene ..... On its way from Amazon. Thanks
Gage, you certainly did, Emil Corteil and his dog Glen are buried in Ranville. SOURCE : 3rd Brigade WW2 Reenactors - Emil Corteil & Glen There is another dog called Salvo, mentioned in the Silent Heroes book(only shows a pic and caption) who jumped with the Paras I looked but could not find any information anyone know any more?
hi Im new to this site, and joined as it seemed like it could be a help in answering a question thats driving me mad......Im a ex - RAVC dog handler and once read about the British army having a programme after WW2 that rehomed the many dogs returning from front line service.....Does anyone have any info on this??? im aware of the rehoming policy now used but am hopefull that I can get info on the subject to establish if the programme had much success??
Shropshire war dog “Rob” receives the Dickin Medal – the animals’ Victoria Cross – from a human VC holder, Major William Sidney, the MP for Chelsea, at a ceremony in London on February 8, 1945. The original caption said that “Rob, a cross-bred collie dog, has made over 20 parachute jumps while on secret war work, and took part in the North African landing.” Rob was a two year old black and white collie from Kenwick Park, near Ellesmere. He died in 1952. There is a modern claim that Rob’s exploits were deliberately greatly exaggerated by the SAS to make him appear indispensable when his owners asked for him back. http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2015/01/23/pictures-from-the-past-january-23/9125538/
Gordon Highlanders Regimental Aid Post puppy mascot "Peace Happy!" born on D-Day, found at Ranville. Aberdeen Press and Journal 31st August 1944
I think, I seem to remember other stories of puppies being rescued from Tilly-sur-Seulles, so it's interesting to see one mentioned here... TILLY IS NOW ARMY HEADQUARTERS MASCOT And - TILLY IS NOW ARMY HEADQUARTERS MASCOT Original wartime caption: Tilly enjoys a romp round the Army Commander's quarters at 2 Army Headquarters, Creully.
I am unsure, as yet, whether this is a sad epitaph or another episode of another dog called "Tilly"... Unfortunately, due it's being auto-transcribed from an original article some parts of it are textual mistakes, but the majority of the text is nevertheless readable. This "Tilly" was mostly accompanying a war reporter... https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.118007/2015.118007. Masterpieces-Of-War-Reporting Courage Under Fire: Richard D. Macmillan Reports No Purple Heart for Tilly [June 27, 1944] . . She was the first dog to enter the war-ravaged citadel.” Richard D. Macmillan, United Press correspondent, found the homeless pooch, named her for the town in which he picked her up, and then made her known to the entire world in this dispatch describing her courage under fire. Wounded by shrapnel, the correspondent was sent back to London for treatment. Here he learned the sequel to his own story, related to him by Captain Philip Dunn: She died in action. We were under heavy mortar fire during the battle for Caen. Tilly tried to cross the road under a barrage of shells to join us. Suddenly a group of British tanks crashed down the road. For once Tilly lost her nerve, hesitated, and was crushed to death under the treads. In a subsequent dispatch McMillan wrote that Tilly was buried beside the road. "Her marker reads merely, ‘Tilly' but scores of American and British soldiers will remember her as the dog who shared field rations with privates and generals alike, who was the first French dog to welcome General Charles de Gaulle when he landed and who stood at attention when King George VI arrived on the Normandy beach.” (United Press, June 27, 1944. By permission of United Press International) WITH AMERICAN FORCES IN CHERBOURG, June 27 (U.P.) We found her amidst the powder and rubble of the shellswept little township of Tilly-sur-Seulles when the British battered their way through after nearly two weeks of bitter fighting. That is why we christened her Tilly right away. She was shell and bomb happy and she shivered nervously and whined and whimpered. She was an ersatz fox-terrier puppy of about five months. Just another battlefield stray. She joined our party. Today she is a veteran of both British and American fronts— a heroine of the capture of Cherbourg, and if she were able to write front-line dispatches, she could begin by saying she was the first dog to enter the war-ravaged ettade). That’s true, and she would have a story to tell too. The French are not travelers. I think she must be of English ancestry. Her taste for travel suggests it. She goes into the front lines every day. When we start off, she comes to the jeep and puts her forepaws up and gets lifted in, since she is too small to jump. Then she stands with her feet planted on someone's stomach as we go through the countryside. It’s true she does not like gunfire it sends the tiny stump of her tail drooping. But she never shows signs of deserting. She has suffered the thunder of Normandy's famous barrages and has been strafed by machine guns time and again. But her worst taste of fire happened with the Americans during the siege of Cherbourg. We went forward toward the rip-snoning, crackling bonfire of the battlefield. Below us the port spouted smoke and sparks like a mighty railroad engine at full belch. Flames seethed and swayed over the arsenal’s rooftops around Fort dll Roule. Some unks came over the brow of the hill to the east of Ocieville “Let’s go down that way.” someone suggested. Our jeep bumped over the shell craters past dead Germans and Americans, freshly killed and awaiting burial, through narrow lanes past the grinning skulls of ruined houses we edged through the tanks and came to a field. It began to look hot as the enemy barrage came closer up the hill toward us we could hear the thunderous whoof of each burst, and deadly black smoke poured up through the trees ahead. Tilly's tail went down. She looked at us with appealing eyes and seemed to say; "Boys, shouldn’t we be getting out of this’" We scored Jxer, We did not hear her whine, or the shell or the explosion in the continuous din about us. I got it in the back — a piece of shrapnel just below my spine. A young sergeant next to me was killed outright. Some others, mainly officers, were sadly wounded, their noses, mouths, and ears trickling blood. One captain crawled feebly towards me, a hole in his back the size of a pudding basin. They took me to the dressing station where they patched me up. The doctor told me to get an X-ray since the splinter might still be beneath the skin. In the meanwhile, we had forgotten about Tilly — that is we forgot about her until we saw her shivering. For she had been hit too. A splinter had struck her square between the eyes and blood oozed down the soft velvet star over her nose. After we had bathed her wound, she thanked us with her customary lick behind the ear. The American doctor told me, “You can get a Purple Heart for this if you wish.” I told him that I didn’t deserve it, that the Purple Heart should be only for soldiers who were doing the real fighting. Besides, I said to myself, if I deserved a Purple Heart, what about Tilly? -- x -- SCENES IN THE RUINS OF TILLY SUR SEULLES B6589 : Original wartime caption: A lonely dog in one of the devestated streets of Tilly sur Seulles. THE BRITISH ARMY IN THE BATTLE OF NORMANDY, JUNE-SEPTEMBER 1944 B6594 : A British soldier giving a drink of water to an abandoned puppy dog in the devastated village of Tilly-sur-Seulles, 7 July 1944.
Proving the instinct still continues. A Brit. Volunteer in Ukrainian service was befriended by this pup in Bakhmut recently. I'll try to keep you updated.
NORTH AFRICA : LIEUT. GENERAL CLARK INSPECTS MILITARY POLICE DOG KENNELS NORTH AFRICA : LIEUT. GENERAL CLARK INSPECTS MILITARY POLICE DOG KENNELS NORTH AFRICA : LIEUT. GENERAL CLARK INSPECTS MILITARY POLICE DOG KENNELS NORTH AFRICA : LIEUT. GENERAL CLARK INSPECTS MILITARY POLICE DOG KENNELS NORTH AFRICA : LIEUT. GENERAL CLARK INSPECTS MILITARY POLICE DOG KENNELS NA13607 : Original wartime caption: A police dog is paraded past Lieut. General Clark. THESE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE TO ILLUSTRATE OBSERVER STORIES BY CAPT. SHEARER NA13608 : Original wartime caption: Lance Corporal E. Williamson of 59 Holbrook Street, Heanor, near Notts, seen fastening the collar of his Police Dog, "Jack". Observer Story No.77. THESE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE TO ILLUSTRATE OBSERVER STORIES BY CAPT. SHEARER NA13609 : Original wartime caption: L/Cpl. H. Wallis of 68 King Alfred Street, Derby, is seen exercising his police dog, "Lady". Observer Story No. 78. THESE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE TO ILLUSTRATE OBSERVER STORIES BY CAPT. SHEARER NA13610 : Original wartime caption: Cpl. R. Gray of Towngate, Market Deeping, Peterborough, stroking his police dog "Bruce". Observer Story No. 79. THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORTH AFRICA, 1944 NA13611 : Corporal A Wilde with his German Shepherd dog 'Rin' at the Military Police dog training centre at Ain Taya in Algeria, 2 April 1944 THESE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE TO ILLUSTRATE OBSERVER STORIES BY CAPT. SHEARER NA13612 : Original wartime caption: SSM T.Tilbrook of "The Kennels" Wilton, Salisbury teaching discipline to police dog "Jack". Observer Story No. 81.
Hi, I attempt to sort out the 6th Airborne Para Dogs in this PDF for download or preview here: https://icedrive.net/s/zGBZu6bkwPCZQwBCiGCia7wbxVYS Regards ...
