Well Done for the Horses and Dogs of the Red Army
At the beginning of World War II, Soviet Russia had millions of horses in service and as the war progressed after the Nazi invasion of 1941, it only increased the Red Army dependence of it. Without them, in despite of a massive rail road system and motor vehicles, it would have been impossible to maintain the constant stream of supplies to the millions of troops holding onto the thousand-mile front. Hundreds of thousands of hordes are put in the direct line of fire everyday, hauling guns, artillery pieces and ammunition wagons; great numbers more were harnessed to ambulances and supply vehicles. Then, of course, there were the famous Russian Calvary, in particular the Cossacks, who in this terrible war as well as in all the wars for centuries past, have had a notable part to play.
The Russians also made good use of dogs, on a larger scale than its British allies or its German foe. They had many jobs, but a new task which had been demanded of them was to literally drag back, from the front lines, the wounded Soviet soldiers after they had been placed on the ledges by the first aid men. Alsatians were found capable too because for this mission and many of the larger, mongrels were also employed because of their usual intelligence. For this job, the dogs not only had to be strong, but swift moving, since with temperatures far below freezing-point the wounded man’s life may well depend on the speed with which he is dragged back on the sledge to the dressing station. It is interesting to know that few of these Red Cross dogs were wounded, probably because they move so close to the ground.
Casualties among the horses, as might be expected, was very high. Not only had a number of them been killed on the battlefield, but many more had been wounded, while all must had suffered in the cruel Russian winter. Day after day they had to labor deep in snow or mud, dragging heavy loads across country which had been reduced by shell-fire to a quagmire; some may had been acclimated to the bitter cold, but those who had been drawn from the warmer districts of the Soviet Union must had suffered indescribably. Yet it is important to know that the men of the Red Army did everything in their power to alleviate the lot of their horses, and from all the reports that came out of the war, the Russian Veterinary Service was highly successful.
In late 1942, a Reuters correspondent made a trip to the Russian front with a view to investigate the Red Army treatment of its horse force, both cavalry and transport animals, and in whole, his report was well received by animal activist, even though these can never be properly reconciled to the idea of animals becoming involved in all the devilries of man-made modern war. The Soviet cavalry units, the report stated, had their own veterinary surgeons, and every effort was made to save wounded horses. Most of the veterinary treatment was given by the units themselves or in the immediate neighborhood of the front, but the Red Army had also a service of lorries specially constructed to take three horses at a time, so that the more severely wounded could be transported to hospitals in the near area.
Although the Russian veterinary services were very large and admirably equipped for the times, the prolonged and terrible battles of late 1941 to mid 1942, had made great inroads on their overall strength. Veterinary supplies were by no means inexhaustible and, indeed, in some departments they were running short. When this was realized, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (R.S.P.C.A.) resolved to do what it could, and through its War Animals Allied Fund, supplied the Russian army with considerable quantities of supplies and equipment. Most of the veterinary supplies sent consisted of drugs and dressing, but the consignments also included veterinary surgeon’s wallets, veterinary officer’s field chest, completed with instruments and drugs; syringes, X-ray outfits, anesthetics, breathing tubes for horses, etc. The wallets and field chests were particularly welcomed, since they were used by the mobile veterinary workers on the actual battlefield; but the R.S.P.C.A. hoped to raise sufficient funds to permit the establishment of permanent veterinary hospitals in the interior, where the more seriously wounded animals would be given attention and rest.
This article was written and provided by:
Raul Colon
PO Box 29754
Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico 00929
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