After the events set forth in my Kurt the Doberman blog, the Marines declared Guam secure after three weeks of fighting in 1944. But some 8,000 Japanese soldiers remained, hidden in the jungle. The war dogs were asked to find them. “That’s the worst fighting you can get into,” said a former Marine. “You can’t see the enemy. You can’t hear them. You can’t smell them. But the dogs can.” So at the front of nearly every mission to hunt down the Japanese hiding on the island was a war dog and its handler. Dogs led more than 500 patrols on Guam and due to their skills prevented many costly ambushes. One of those missions was detailed in Dobermans in Action in the Pacific, Part 2, where a Marine was bitten by an over stressed Dobie. Read these past Doberman stories and all my previous blogs at simplysoldaz.com/blog. Next: MASH.
