At the outbreak of World War II, the British people killed approximately 750,000 pets in one week.

It was the lack of food, not bombs, that posed the biggest threat to wartime pets. 

There was no food ration for cats and dogs. 

In Memoriam notices started to appear in the press. 

“Happy memories of Iola, sweet faithful friend, given sleep September 4th 1939, to be saved suffering during the war. A short but happy life – 2 years, 12 weeks. Forgive us little pal,” 

said one in Tail-Wagger Magazine.


taken from fb/Trevor Solley

Increase in Pet Death Rates

The result of a direct hit by a German bomb on St. Thomas' Hospital in London. In the background - the Houses of Parliament and the Big Ben.

Hospital bombed

Yeoman Warden (Beefeater), Royal Fortress, Tower of London

 The Royal Fortress, Tower of London was used in WW1 and WW2 to hold high value PoW's and enemy spies and saboteurs. Several German spies were executed within its walls. 

 The last person to be executed at the Tower was German spy Josef Jakobs who was shot on 15 August 1941. The executions for espionage during the wars took place in a prefabricated miniature rifle range which stood in the outer ward and was demolished in 1969.
The Second World War also saw the last use of the Tower as a military fortification. In the event of a German invasion, the Tower, together with the Royal Mint and nearby reinforced warehouses, was to have formed one of three "keeps" or complexes of defended buildings which formed the last-ditch defences of the capital.

 The Tower of London retains its military links serving as the HQ's for the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and the location of their Regimental Museum (open daily). It also remains to this day a Royal Palace and Fortress, with the daily changes of the Queen's Guard and nightly Ceremony of the Keys.
FB/British and Commonwealth forces