Smoky the Four-Pound Yorkie Might Be the World’s Tiniest War Hero

When you think of a military animal, a Yorkshire Terrier is probably one of the last things you’d imagine. In fact, most people would consider sending a pup usually seen poking out of a Birkin bag into a war zone as an act of animal cruelty. Most of the time, they’d probably be right. In World War II, however, there was one tiny terrier who proved herself as useful as the hulking beasts the military typically utilizes.

That dog was Smoky the Yorkie, a 4-pound, 7-inch-tall Yorkshire Terrier. 

Perhaps she was a little more bombproofed than most urban pooches to begin with, since she was found already inside a war zone. William Wynne, a dog lover stationed in New Guinea, was brought a stray dog that a fellow military man had found stuck in a foxhole. Wynne, of course, didn’t immediately start training Smoky to fight for the Allied Forces. He began with standard tricks like sit and stay, and Smoky was originally just a simple companion. She’d accompany Wynne everywhere, and when he was in a military hospital with Dengue fever, she became the darling of the staff and patients.

Smoky was called into action later on, when her diminutive size proved perfect for a sorely needed mission: running telephone lines through a 70-foot long underground pipe that was only 8 inches wide. Wynne agreed, with a promise that Smoky would be dug out if unable to complete her mission. It turned out the worry was misplaced, as Smoky performed perfectly under pressure, running the phone lines, strapped to her chest, through the dark pipe with Wynne’s encouragement. 

Smoky’s underground journey proved hugely important: Those phone lines enabled calls for air support, and that air support was what saved Smoky’s base from destruction, even as most encampments surrounding them were completely decimated. You could say, without exaggeration, that Smoky saved the lives of an entire military base. In return, she received the world’s most adorable statue.