Yesterday, on the territory of the Victory Museum (Moscow), with the support of the Russian Military Historical Society, the festival "Day of the Frontline Dog" was held. The feast was dedicated to the exploits of service dogs during the Great Patriotic War.

On the open area of the museum, the audience saw the revived pages of history of the Great Patriotic War. Cynologists from the club "X Legion" and their pets reenacted: the feat of the legendary shepherd dog Dina, who managed to survive, having carried out the destruction of the enemy echelon; the detention of diversionist at the border, the rescue of the wounded and the service of scout dogs.

“Monument "Frontline dog" - one of the first installed by the Russian Military Historical Society. On the fronts of the Great Patriotic War there were more than 60 thousand dogs. They delivered medicines, ammunition and combat reports. They were communicators, saboteurs and scouts. Many thousands of our wounded fighters were carried from under fire by dogs-orderlies, thereby saving their lives. Few people know: when the owners handed the dogs to the front, in case the dog died - a notification of the dog’s death was sent to the owner. There was a mobilization of the military men, but there was also the mobilization of dogs. This is a unique phenomenon. It is not for nothing that the frontline dogs passed Victory March 24, 1945 along the Red Square. Our four-legged warriors are still serving today. The glorious traditions of the canine service continue!” said Mikhail Myagkov, scientific director of the Russian Military Historical Society.

Subdivision of Rosgvardia with service dogs from the cynological training center of the division named after F.E. Dzerzhinsky showed the skills of special training - the detention of violators and the search for explosives. Demonstration performances were also presented by the cynologists of DOSAAF (Russian: ДОСААФ, full name is Volunteer Society for Cooperation with the Army, Aviation, and Navy).

Recall that in 2013, at the request of veterans of the Great Patriotic War, the Russian Military Historical Society (RMHS) installed a monument to the "Frontline Dog" on the territory of the Victory Museum. Sculptor is Andrey Korobtsov. The opening ceremony was attended by the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Chairman of the RMHS Vladimir Medinsky. The solemn ceremony was scheduled to coincide with the 104th anniversary of creation of the first cynological units in Russia (June 21, 1909).

Photos by: Press service of the Victory Museum

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August 19 as the "Day of the frontline dog" was chosen not by chance. It was on this day in 1943 that the army shepherd-saboteur Dean committed a feat. It became the first dog in history to survive after the explosion (before all four-legged demolition were killed). Dina jumped on the rails before the approaching fascist military echelon, dropped the pack with a blaster, put it into action, jumped off the embankment and raced off into the forest. The sheepdog was already next to the miners when the explosion was heard.

In a brief frontline report, it was given: “On August 19, 1943, a train with the enemy's live force was blown up at the station-to-station block Polotsk-Drissa. There were destroyed 10 carriages, disabled a large section of the railway. There is no loss on our part.”

Reference about the activities of The Russian Military Historical Society