When Dogs Routed A Tank Division

When Dogs Routed a Tank Division

Some of the most colossal blunders have taken place in military history. Many have been devastatingly tragic. Others have been downright silly, like the one that happened in Russia during World War II.

The Soviet Union was reeling under the withering assault of the German blitzkrieg. Within weeks, the Nazi advance had killed four million Russian soldiers. It seemed that Moscow would soon fall. At the cutting edge of Hitler’s war machine were the panzer divisions. These sleek tanks raced forward like chariots of fire, leaving a wake of devastation and death. The clumsy and antiquated Russian tanks were no match for the German juggernaut.

These were frantic days in the Kremlin war room. Joseph Stalin demanded quick answers. When the generals and commissars didn’t have any, they were sacked or shot. Panic and despair set in. No one knew how to stop the dreaded panzers, until a hotshot young commissar came up with an ingenious idea: dog bombs. His plan was to train dogs to run up under the advancing German tanks with bombs strapped to their backs. The commissar convinced his skeptical superiors that his plan was foolproof.

Hundreds of dogs went through a quick but intensive training program. The day came to put Operation Dog Bomb into action. Russian and German tanks were massing across from each other when a small convoy of Russian trucks pulled up on the field between the two armies. Canines jumped out of the trucks, bombs strapped to their backs. Russian trainers pointed them toward the panzers and blew their whistles.

The Germans looked on in astonishment as packs of dogs came running at them. Suddenly, the dogs stopped and looked both ways in confusion. Then, they turned tail and ran back toward the Soviet battle group and up under their tanks. Russian tanks were blowing up right and left. The Russian battle line collapsed in chaos as drivers tried desperately to get away from the pursuing dog bombs.

Surely this was one of the most bizarre battles in the annals of military warfare. Never before or since has a pack of dogs routed a division of tanks! How did this fiasco happen? It seems that the boys in the Kremlin made a slight miscalculation in their preparation. They trained their dogs using Russian tanks. The commissar who conceived the idea of dog bombs disappeared from sight after this fiasco.

So many battles have been lost because of bad planning and preparation. The best dog bombs in the world won’t work if the dogs are trained on the wrong tanks. Wars are won and lost in the training that takes place before battles begin. The small battles that you face every day are the basic training for bigger wars ahead. Learn your lessons well today so that you will be prepared for what comes tomorrow. Take time to train your children and prepare your family for inevitable battles ahead. You might want to remember this key to success:

The will to prepare is more important than the will to succeed.

Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.

1 Timothy 4:8