MAN'S BEST FRIEND

On 28 February 1988, a serious landmine accident occurred outside the village of Blat in southern Lebanon. Landmines had been used extensively during the ongoing Lebanese Civil War, and despite periods of relative calm in certain areas, the threat posed by old minefields remained ever-present. Some had been identified, but many had been forgotten or had never been marked. Sweden had reinforced the United Nations mission, UNIFIL, with mine detection dogs.

On this particular day, reports come in of Katyusha rocket impacts, and a Norwegian patrol is dispatched to investigate the possible impact site. As the patrol begins searching the area, the unthinkable happens: one of the Norwegian UN soldiers steps on a landmine and is seriously injured.

What began as a search operation now takes a completely different turn and becomes a rescue operation. The soldiers at the scene begin trying to help their wounded comrade, but as they attempt to carry him out on a stretcher, one of the stretcher-bearers also steps on a landmine. The Norwegian patrol now finds itself in an extremely serious and difficult situation.

As the soldiers at the scene begin the rescue operation following the injury of the first soldier, the Swedish field hospital in Lebanon is placed on maximum alert, and additional resources are dispatched to the accident site.

Among the reinforcements are Swedish UN soldier and dog handler Anders Johansson with his dog Loffe, and his colleague Engelskär with his dog Tarras. Both dogs and their handlers are specially trained in mine clearance. An intensive and dangerous operation begins to clear a safe route through the minefield and evacuate the wounded soldiers.

After an hour, the injured Norwegian soldiers can be evacuated. Another hour later, enough of the minefield has been cleared for all the remaining soldiers to leave the area unharmed.

Anders Johansson had served periodically in the Swedish Armed Forces over the previous seven years, with military working dogs having been a recurring part of his service ever since his compulsory military service in the Swedish Air Force in 1981. In total, Johansson completed three UN missions in Lebanon — L07, L12 and 94L. During his first two missions, he served with the guard dog Wass and with Immer, another guard dog that had been in service since the UN mission in Sinai.

During mission 94L, when the landmine accident occurred, Johansson served with Loffe, a dog that had been trained in mine clearance in Sweden. Following the rescue operation, the two Swedish soldiers and their dogs received recognition from, among others, the Norwegian contingent commander and Sweden's then Minister of Defence, Roine Carlsson.

The Swedish field hospital established in Naqoura, Lebanon, represents Sweden's longest deployment of a field hospital to date. The UNIFIL mission as a whole began in 1978, when Swedish infantry soldiers were transferred from the UN mission in Sinai. As the operation in Lebanon expanded, additional troops were dispatched from Sweden.

During the early stages of UNIFIL, Norway was responsible for the field hospital and the air ambulance helicopters. After two doctors and two pilots were shot down and killed, Norway withdrew from these responsibilities, and Sweden took over the operation of the field hospital. Italy assumed responsibility for the air ambulance helicopters.

Between 1980 and 1991, Sweden was responsible for establishing, staffing and operating the field hospital at Camp Silvia in Naqoura, southern Lebanon. Throughout the mission, Sweden also maintained a logistics battalion for an extended period. As late as the early 2000s, Sweden continued to contribute to operations involving mine clearance and maritime surveillance. During their deployment, the Swedish mine detection dogs Loffe and Tarras, together with their handlers Johansson and Engelskär, served under the command of the Norwegian engineer company.