Sentry Dogs 231 



In another part of this book, I describe the system of 

 dogs' service in the German Army during the war, and 

 draw attention to the fact, that the chief testing ground 

 which led to such a greatly increased interest in the whole 

 subject by the German higher command, was that of the 

 Herrero Campaign in South-West Africa, in which such 

 remarkable results were obtained, that the whole of the 

 trained dogs in Germany were placed on a war register, 

 ready for the stupendous conflict, which had been planned 

 for years. 



The country of the Herreros is covered, to a great 

 extent, with dense scrub, and the sentry dogs were of 

 the greatest service, in preventing the troops falling into 

 ambuscades. 



It will be noted, in the following testimony, related by a 

 German soldier, in that campaign, and which appeared in 

 a German magazine, that both he and his dog, had previous 

 training and experience with the police. It can, therefore, 

 be conceived, how enormously valuable were the police 

 dogs of Germany, which existed in large quantities, on the 

 outbreak of the Great War. They actually constituted 

 part of the German armament, and had been taken into 

 account seriously as such, in preparation for hostilities : 



" At the outbreak of the disturbances in South- West 

 Africa, I was serving as sergeant of police at Eisleben. I 

 was called up as a reservist, and posted to the ist Regi- 

 ment of Field Force. By order of the War Office, 1 took 

 two dogs, one of which I had for police duty, and another 

 the present of the German Sheepdog Society. After 

 landing at Swakopmund, I was sent with the dogs imme- 

 diately to the interior. 



" In spite of the long journey, want of exercise, change 



