Heroic Shropshire collie Rob won wartime animal VC

Black and white collie Rob, who had his own specially designed parachute, distinguished himself so many times in combat he was awarded the animal Victoria Cross – and a lifetime's supply of biscuits.

Rob began life on a farm in Ellesmere with owners, Basil and Heather Bayne, but after the Second World War broke out in 1939 the courageous canine was signed up by the Army.

He soon found himself on the desert campaign in North Africa where he was up against a fox – legendary German Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, dubbed the Desert Fox. Rob, whose story is told by 33-year-old Telford author Pete Hawthorne in his new book The Animal Victoria Cross, was initially detailed to guard a warehouse.

"One day he was taken up in a plane and loved it so the Army then designed a small parachute for him with a timer cord so it would activate automatically. Rob loved it," said Mr Hawthorne.

"The SAS managed to take Rob with them on missions. The big advantage was that Rob could round up men in the dark when they parachuted behind enemy lines.

"Rob was then used to take messages between members of SAS teams, stand guard when the men laid low in the day and gave early warnings if danger approached.

"He was involved in sabotage missions in Italy and was taken back to England but had to enter quarantine.

Rob did survive the war and, unlike other dogs which served he had not become savage and did not have to be put down.

He returned to Ellesmere but had, however, picked up one habit which proved a handicap back on the farm.

Mr Hawthorne said: "The only problem was that he wasn't much good at rounding up cattle and pigs as he would try to lead them from the front, as he did with the men in the SAS.

"He would often look back and bark, unable to understand why the cattle and pigs would not follow him."

The War Office awarded Rob the Dickin Medal for Gallantry, more commonly known as the animal Victoria Cross.

The government gave him a lifetime supply of biscuits as a reward for his service.

The RSPCA also awarded Rob its prestigious Valour Award.

Rob died in 1952 and his gravestone is still in Ellesmere in the garden of his owner's daughter, Heather Bayne.

The Animal Victoria Cross is the highest award for animal bravery and, since its inception in 1943, it has been awarded to 31 carrier pigeons, 28 dogs, three horses and one cat.

Mr Hawthorne, who was born in Wolverhampton but moved to Swancote, near Bridgnorth, before settling in Telford, was educated at Bridgnorth Endowed School and later at Wolverhampton and Lampeter University.

His book, The Animal Victoria Cross, was published last week and is available from Amazon, W H Smith and other retailers, priced £16.99.

The Dickin Medal was instituted in 1943 in the UK by Maria Dickin to honour the work of animals in war.

It is a bronze medallion bearing the words 'For Gallantry' and 'We Also Serve' within a laurel wreath, and is carried on a ribbon of striped green, dark brown and pale blue.

It is awarded to animals that have displayed 'conspicuous gallantry or devotion to duty while serving or associated with any branch of the Armed Forces or Civil Defence Units'.

The award is commonly referred to as the animal Victoria Cross.