A closer look
Desperation breeds innovation, but sometimes it just breeds horrifying mistakes. During WWII, the Soviet Union trained 'anti-tank dogs' by starving them and placing food under stationary tanks, teaching them that armored vehicles meant dinner. In battle, they strapped explosives to the dogs with a lever trigger designed to detonate when they crawled under German panzers. Unfortunately, the Soviets trained the dogs using their own diesel-powered tanks, whereas the Germans used gasoline. Terrified by the noise of battle, the dogs completely ignored the German tanks and immediately ran back to seek shelter under the familiar-smelling Soviet tanks, blowing up their own side.
