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Dog cocked leg to extinguish bomb


Still Waters

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Story of brave dog that extinguished Nazi incendiary bomb during Blitz by urinating on it is uncovered after bravery medal awarded to the animal is discovered.

Juliana, a Great Dane, leapt into action after the device fell through the roof of her owner's house in 1941.

It is thought that she put out the flames by standing over the bomb, lifting her leg and emptying her bladder.

http://www.telegraph...-Nazi-bomb.html

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Great Danes are like that. That's why I have one. But are they sure "Juliana" shouldn't have been a "Julian?"

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I have a few problems with this report, quite apart from Juliana's gender.

It seems the author has no conception of the ferocity of a 4lb iron thermite (the Luftwaffe preferred 'filling') incendiary bomb which peaks at around 2500DegC! I find it difficult to imagine even a Great Dane being able to straddle that! Napalm would have been even more unfortunate for the poor dog, as water (urine in this case) cannot extinguish it, only spread it.

There was a delayed-action high-explosive version (designed to kill firefighters and rescue workers) But I can't see how dog pee would have prevented its eventual detonation.

Nice story though.

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I get the feeling what may actually have happend is that the bomb was a dud, and since the dog reacted to it so quickly - and the bomb subsequently did not go off, the owners thought the dog

defused it...

The Ministry of Defense - seeing a golden opportunity (pardon the pun) to lift morale a bit, went along with it (since it seems they would have known better) and awarded the dog a medal...

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IIRC, the Brits kept buckets of sand on hand because water (and dog pee, presumably) was useless against incendiaries. But a nice story.

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Seeing as the dog was a 'she' it's obvious the "cocked leg" part is incorrect. Anyway, here's an update:

A medal awarded to a dog in World War II for extinguishing a bomb by urinating on it has been sold at auction for £1,100.

The 1941 Blue Cross medal was found in a property clearance in Bristol along with a painting of Great Dane Juliana.

A plaque on it describes how the dog put out an incendiary bomb dropped by the Luftwaffe on her owner's home.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...ristol-23985116

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