Bonzo's War (46 page)

p. 324
‘I consider we should …' (TNA ADM 1/20854).

p. 324
‘For Valour' (TNA WO 32/14999).

p. 324
‘blown up …' (TNA WO 32/14999).

p. 325
‘taking random bites …' (TNA WO 32/14999).

p. 325
‘native thieves …' (TNA WO 32/14999).

p. 325
‘Now that hostilities …'
RAVC Journal
, November 1946 (
pp. 20–21
).

p. 325
‘failed to recognise him' ibid. (
p. 11
).

p. 326
‘Michael, on hearing …' (
http://www.animalaid.org.uk/images/pdf/michael.pdf
).

p. 328
‘Khan was the one …' Rosamond Young, ‘Friends in Arms' in
Chicken Soup for the Dog and Cat Lover's Soul
(ed. John T. Canfield), Health Communications Inc., FL 1999 (
p. 18
).

p. 328
‘While the Archbishop held …' (
http://www.purr-n-fur.org.uk/famous/faith.html
).

p. 329
‘reason was largely political …' (TNA MAF 79/10).

p. 329
‘fine, fat fox …'
Horse & Hound
, 15 December 1944 (
p. 7
).

p. 329
‘The Earl of Harrington …'
Baily's Hunting Directory 1939–1949
(
p. 36
).

p. 330
‘most pro-Nazi …' Clabby, op. cit (
p. 157
).
See also
TNA FO 937/103.

p. 331
‘the animals, few and far …'
The Times
, 8 January 1946 (p. 2).

p. 331
‘acorns collected …' (TNA FO 943/856).

p. 333
‘little is known …' ‘Bravest Cat Dead',
The Times
, 1 October 1948 (p. 2).

p. 333
‘Hitler', ‘Timoshenko' …'
The Times
, 9 May 1955 (
p. 12
).

p. 333
‘chose not to emphasise …' Hilda Kean (eds. Emilie Dardenne and Sophie Mesplede),
The People's War on the British Home Front: The Challenge of the Human-Animal Relationship in a Nation of Animal Lovers
, Manchester University Press, 2013.

The National Archives

Getty Images

Fear of a devastating mass attack on Britain's cities at the outbreak of war drove Government policy on Air Raid Protection. Would pets go barking mad at the first wail of a siren? All sorts of ‘gas-proof' containers were touted
(above)
while in early 1939 Mr. Harold Bywater
(left
, with friend), chief municipal vet of West Ham in East London, devised a pilot protection scheme for the dockland borough's many thousands of domestic pets and working animals.

State Library of Victoria

The National Archives

Christy Campbell

Wandsworth Heritage Service

Sussex University Mass Observation Archive

Christy Campbell

Imperial War Museum

The announcement of the existence of NARPAC (the National Air Raid Precautions Animals Committee) on the eve of war did little to reassure pet owners who had been officially advised in Home Office ARP Handbook No. 12
(opposite, top)
that to have their animals destroyed was the ‘kindest thing to do.'

The rendering company, Harrison, Barber & Co. of Sugar House Lane, West Ham
(opposite, left
, its yard today part of a huge post-Olympic regeneration site), was overwhelmed by the massacre of more than 750,000 pets. The Bob Martin pet health company
(opposite, right)
and the National Canine Defence League (
above left)
advised very differently – while NARPAC's registration scheme offered some semi-official comfort that pets could survive. Here, in an early 1941 image, wartime housewife Mrs. Olive Day
(above right)
shows off her delightful black cat, ‘Little One,' with NARPAC collar.

German pets found protection in the Reich Animal Defence League
(above)
while cats found a champion in Prof. Friedrich Schwangart's 1937 book
On the Rights of Cats
against charges of being ‘poachers.' They were ‘hygienic helpers' in the war on mice, said the Professor.

Pedigrees and mongrels alike were caught in the great killing panic of 1939 but, to begin with, posh pets had a better chance of survival. The Royal corgis were evacuated to Windsor where they had a cottage in the Great Park.

Fashionable stores promoted luminous blackout jerkins for dogs
(right)
, while an opportunist breeder exhorted owners ‘to carry a white Pekingese' to avoid accidents on the darkened streets.