Caesar, the Anzac dog

Caesar, the Anzac dog

Caesar, A Company, 4 Battalion, New Zealand Rifle Brigade

Caesar the bulldog, wearing his official collar, led the grand parade down Auckland's Queen St before the Rifle Brigade left New Zealand for the war. He was a trained Red Cross dog and helped rescue wounded troops during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Dogs were especially useful for helping stretcher-bearers find wounded soldiers in no-man's-land at night.

Caesar was killed in action. His collar is now held at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Patricia Stroud wrote a book about his life, Caesar the Anzac dog, which was illustrated by Bruce Potter.

On 27 February 2019 at the National Army Museum, Waiouru a Blue Cross Medal was awarded to 'Ceaser'. He is New Zealand’s first recipient of the Blue Cross Medal, an award for bravery.  His name was misspelt originally, and so it remains: Ceaser, not Caesar.

Caesar's collar

A detail of Caesar's collar (note the incorrect spelling of his name) from the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Community contributions

3 comments have been posted about Caesar, the Anzac dog

What do you know?

Rory Kimber

Posted: 02 Aug 2017

I just found out my grandfather George Kimber fought in this 4th batallion. By coincidence I brought the dog and story at Tepapa last year for my daughter Georgia (3yrs) whom we named after George. It has been her favourite toy since and even travelled to New York with her.
My father John was born when George was 55 and just got all his details from Auckland Musuem. I am 54 so couple of skipped generations to Georgia. Anyway all quite coincidental.

Anonymous

Posted: 09 Feb 2015

I am presently involve in the history of world war 1 for our up coming ANZAC here in Pannawonica WA as a Maori and a New Zealand citizen my project is about the New Zealand Army and the involement of our Maori during world war 1 there has been so much info that it is really hard to know where to start my son gave me a book to look at MAU MOKO The World of Maori Tattoo which contained a picture of Caesar the war dog of NEW ZEALAND after reading a small insert I decided i would start my research and project from here [email protected]