![]() ![]() Some dogs pulled heavy machine guns on trolleys, others used their keen sense of smell and hearing for sentry and scout work. The Germans used some 30,000 dogs on the Western Front, and the Entente kept around 20,000. (The Germany army would remain majority horse-drawn through World War II.)īetween 19, gas hospitalized 2,200 horses and killed 211, mostly because logistical uses limiting their exposure to the more dangerous areas at the front. The railways that carried the millions of tons of food and ammunition to the rear were frequently several miles away, so horses, mules and donkeys bridged the gap even after engineers set up light railway and automobile supply lines. Pack animals carried supplies and weapons on the front and rear lines. Animals were important companions and workers to the soldiers at the front, and like their human compatriots they needed protection from the perils of chemical warfare. Everyone knows the enormous human cost of the conflict, but it is easy to forget the fates of the million of animals that supported the war on all sides. More than eight million horses, mules and donkeys and a million dogs died in World War I. The seemingly unnecessary loss of countless lives during those final days of World War I, a metaphorical no man’s land created by the stroke of a pen, defies any rational comprehension, no matter what your age may be.What’s more, thanks to their natural abilities, slugs would actually survive the attacks unscathed - which is more than could be said for every other animal on the Western Front. Most grownups will have a difficult time, however, explaining the film’s accurate depiction of continued fighting by all warring sides right up until Armistice Day, the date the warring nations designated as when the hostilities would officially end. ![]() (Only one fatality is documented in the movie, and it’s subtly communicated without the view of a corpse.) On the flip side, the movie may engender a healthy dialogue with young audience members about this slice of early 20th century history. While the movie is neither explicitly violent or bloody, its wartime milieu may trigger anxiety in those sensitive youngsters easily frightened (or, at least puzzled) by men donning gas masks as a poisonous mist drifts toward them, or mud-covered torsos of injured combatants lying immobile on the ground following the explosion of a grenade. No doubt, most kids will be charmed by this perky pup who could raise a front paw to salute on cue, a trick the real-life Stubby allegedly used to win over many of his comrades-in-arms, including a young George Patton. They don’t make ‘em like Stubby anymore, that’s for sure. ![]() There’s enough bark and bite here to rekindle baby-boomer memories of Lassie and Rin Tin Tin, two furry matinee idols whose courageous exploits were undoubtedly inspired by this stray mutt who ended up on the front pages of newspapers around the world. Stubby: An American Hero takes a few liberties in its biographical account of this four-legged officer (why would you expect otherwise?), at heart it’s just a doggone, old-fashioned movie. The official mascot of an infantry regiment on the Western Front, the Army promoted the unimaginatively named Stubby to the honorary rank of sergeant for his widely reported acts of bravery, which ranged from warning his squadron of deadly mustard gas attacks to sniffing out the bodies of wounded doughboys lying in the trenches dug in the French countryside. ![]() Refreshingly unsentimental and straightforward, this computer-animated film recalls the forgotten heroism of the purportedly most decorated dog in United States history, a brindle-colored Boston terrier mix who saved the lives of numerous American soldiers during the War to End All Wars a century ago. ![]()
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