War Dogs of the World War — Text and Context

A Refuge and a Training School

The booklet’s core subject is the Blue Cross Society of France, founded by Countess Yourkevitch. Anderson describes her as a former “social leader” who “relinquished all social functions” to care for homeless animals. In 1914, she began gathering dogs of “all breeds and descriptions” into her Neuilly refuge and organizing a training school. Dogs were prepared for three roles: Red Cross work, trench work, and messenger duties carrying “important documents and light burdens.” The author emphasizes that thorough training was essential before the work became “one of routine and practice.” This focus on a single organization and its founder gives the booklet a narrow, almost biographical lens, rather than a broad operational history of war dogs across all nations.

The Alaskan Huskie in the French Alps

Anderson devotes a section to the Alaskan Eskimo dog, or “Huskie,” drawing on two months he spent in Alaska in the summer of 1918. He notes that in winter, sled dogs become indispensable for transport, and that the Allies sent hundreds from Alaska and Labrador to supply mountain troops. The most vivid passage is a quotation from Ernest Harold Baynes in the National Geographic Magazine, recounting how Lieutenant Rene Haas used dogs to save a stormbound outpost in the French Alps. The dogs covered a perilous pass under artillery fire and through a blizzard, delivering ammunition on the fifth day. Anderson concludes that the Huskie “takes his place of honor,” even speculating on its lineage from the timber wolf. This section relies heavily on a secondary source, and the author’s own observations are limited to general impressions of the dogs’ summer behavior.

Personal Search and Missing Companions

In a more personal vein, Anderson recounts his efforts after the armistice to locate his own dog, Wolf, in France. He spent “many days and dollars” but found that locating a missing dog was even harder than finding missing men. He vows to continue the search on his return to France, promising Wolf a comfortable retirement and “a decent burial.” This anecdote reveals the author’s emotional investment and frames the booklet as a tribute to individual dogs as much as a record of their military service. The catalog subject “Dogs — War use — History — 20th century” is thus fulfilled through a mix of organizational history, quoted heroics, and personal narrative, rather than a detached scholarly account.

Readers should approach this booklet as a period piece shaped by its author’s firsthand encounters and sentimental leanings. Anderson does not attempt a comprehensive study; instead, he offers a focused portrait of the Blue Cross Society, a dramatic rescue story borrowed from a magazine, and his own quest for a lost pet. The catalog subjects are addressed, but the evidence suggests a work more concerned with celebrating canine loyalty than with systematic analysis of military dog programs.

There’s something touching about how that little 1919 booklet lingers on the Blue Cross’s quiet work—dogs saving individual lives rather than winning campaigns. It makes me think of another book, With Lawrence in Arabia — Story, Setting & Ideas, where the grand war recedes into personal grit too. Both feel like footprints left in passing, not monuments.