Alaskan sled dogs in French services - documentary film

[Robert]

I just watched I nice documentary about a story that was previously unknown to me. In 1915, the French army bought 450 sled dogs which were transported from Alaska across Canada to the Vosges in an epic voyage. With them an expert was also brought who trained a unit of Chasseurs Alpins to use them. They proved extremely successful and were soon very popular among the soldiers. Dog-drawn sleds were mainly used for transporting ammunition and wounded soldiers, laying telefone cables etc. and could do so in heavy snow conditions that were unsuited for horses.

The dogs were awarded the Croix de Guerre and about half of them were lost at the front. After the war they stayed in the area as pets and there still are dogs living in the Vosges that are direct descendants of them.

There was a lot of original footage in the documentary which is a 2011 French production by Marc Jampolsky. The German title was "Schlittenhunde für die Front".

 

[Khukri]

I saw this fine documentary as well ! Great odyssey !
As the US were not yet involved in the war in 1915; US newspaper footage allerted German spys. These even undertook an attempt to poison the dogs.
Rgds,
Francis

 

[Khukri]

The link:
In French.
http://www.radio-canada.ca/emissions/une_heure_sur_terre/2011-2012/Reportage.asp?idDoc=206253" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Francis

 

[Pierre Grande Guerre]

I have seen this documentary too, and I think it is highly recommendable to everyone to watch it, at least as long as you get another chance to watch it. It is not about the Germans but it is of course mostly about the French, collecting these dogs in Alaska for their mountain warfare in the Vosges.

 

[Pierre Grande Guerre]

A French pen friend from La Bresse, south of Gérardmer, Vosges, France, Monsieur Hervé A., did send me some period photographs of the Alaska sled dogs in action with the French troops in the Vosges Mountains in 1918.
Although I realise that this is a "German army based" forum, these French period photos are so rare, and also fit to this topic, that I yet dare to take the liberty to share these photos here with you.

The first one: Chasseurs Alpins on a wagon of a "Décauville" 60 cm. railway, pulled by these Alaska dogs. This one has been taken on the line runningf to the summit of the Honeck Mountain, opposing the the Germans on the Schepfenriedkopf.

The second photo has been taken on the Lingekopf front or as the French call it the Collet (du Linge) , the small pass of the Lingekopf.