Canine Commandos: The Heroism, Devotion, and Sacrifice of Dogs in War

Nigel Cawthorne

Apr 2012 · Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

Moving accounts of morale-boosting, life-saving dogs in combat—from ancient armored war dogs to the highly-trained canines of today’s modern military.

On Stone Age battlefields through both world wars to present-day Afghanistan, dogs have been the loyal companions and trusted compatriots of soldiers worldwide. Now the exciting, heartwarming and heroic stories of history’s most famous combat dogs are compiled in this incredible collection.

• CAIRO, SEAL Team Six’s Belgian Malinois, who was choppered in with his top-secret unit on their heroic mission to take out Osama bin Laden.
• RAGS, a Highland terrier who dodged German shell-fire, shrapnel and poison gas to deliver crucial messages to the Western Front.
• GANDER, the Canadian Royal Rifles’ Newfoundland, who sacrificed his life by scooping up a grenade and carrying it in his mouth away from his unit.
• EBONY, the fearless German shepherd who alerted soldiers to an imminent ambush, saving 25 men from sudden death in Vietnam’s unyielding jungle.
• COOPER, the bomb-sniffing Labrador who relentlessly scoured Iraq for explosives until the fateful day when an IED killed him and his handler.

About the author

Nigel Cawthorne is the author of Serial Killers and Mass Murderers, as well as numerous other books. His writing has appeared in more than 150 newspapers and magazines, including the Financial Times, Sun, Flatbush Life, and The New York Tribune. He lives in London, UK.