“In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines
Lived twelve little girls in two straight lines
In two straight lines they broke their bread
And brushed their teeth and went to bed.
They left the house at half past nine
In two straight lines in rain or shine-
The smallest one was Madeline.”

“Madeline” is the feisty young character in the six stories written and illustrated by Austrian, Ludwig Bemelmans (five as picture books and one in a magazine). Several generations of kids have followed her adventures around the world with enthusiasm (to the tune of 14 million copies sold world-wide), and while “Genevieve,” the dog who features in some of the books is a loveable mutt, Ludwig Bemelmans did write about a Dachshund named “Wally.”  In the story written for the New Yorker magazine in 1939, Wally “single-pawed” brought to a halt a line of tanks in Czecho-Slovakian border who swerved to avoid the little dog:

“The driver of tank No. l…swerved to avoid her, and put on the brakes, or whatever it is you do to stop a tank. The tanks behind him piled on top of one another, and the first tank left the highway and rolled three times as it went down into the river bed. The water was shallow, and the tank landed right side up with nobody hurt. Tanks numbers 2. 3, 4, and 5 were apparently somewhat damaged. From the tower of tank No. 6 jumped a young lieutenant. The men climbed out of the other tanks and stood in ring about Wally.  The lieutenant picked her up, patted her head, spoke soft words to her, and held her to his cheek.”

A remarkable story given that it was set in Nazi occupied Austria.

Image: A preliminary sketch by Ludwig Bemelmans for “Madeline and the Bad Hat”