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Pets were never far from war at the top. Hitler’s entourage was dogs-only. He was said to regard his mistress Eva Braun’s Scotties ‘Stasi’ and ‘Negus’ as ‘ludicrous,’ although he seems fond enough of them in this Alpine encounter at the ‘Eagle’s Nest’. According to reports, Negus was killed in April 1945 by a grenade and Stasi was last seen alive by neighbours of the Brauns in Munich, ‘wandering the streets like many other post-war strays.’
Winston Churchill in contrast was surrounded by cats throughout. Opposite (top), the wartime Prime Minister makes a pet of ‘Blackie’ aboard HMS Prince of Wales in mid 1941. Poor Blackie would survive the sinking of the battleship by Japanese bombers and get to shore only to be lost in the Malayan jungle. No such fate awaited ‘Mary’ the goat kept by Deputy Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, in his suburban north London garden along with chickens and rabbits – one of an army of wartime urban smallholders (right).
Imperial War Museum
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The National Archives
The Times archive
With no meat ration for hungry dogs, many families responded to the call to offer their pets to the military, with tearful farewells at railway stations as they were sent off for assessment and training. Would they ever come home?
Alsatians (German Shepherds) were favoured by the RAF for airfield guard duties (opposite top) while the Army used various breeds for mine hunting. ‘Dogs with black eyes are surly and erratic, dogs with light eyes are generally wilful,’ it was noted. ‘Hazel-eyed dogs’ were ideal. Here (opposite middle) a Royal Engineer mine-dog section goes into action in Normandy soon after D-Day. Casualties were high and death in action was formally notified to grieving families by the War Office (opposite bottom).
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Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum
Blue Cross
Time Life
Christy Campbell
Christy Campbell
There were many happy end-of-war reunions when soldiers, evacuees (and war-dogs) came home. Kennel maids prepare healthy-looking dogs at Charlton for their masters’ return (above), while this Bristol girl is reunited with her tabby (left). More than seventy years later, ‘service’ animals are splendidly commemorated by the Animals in War memorial in Park Lane, but pets are forgotten. A substantial donation secured the inclusion of the PDSA’s Dickin Medal in the monument while at the charity’s pet cemetery in Ilford, east London, close to which three quarters of million ordinary pets were interred in a field, the memorial is humbler.
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