In 1943 Polish soldiers stationed in Iran came across a young Syrian brown bear cub that had been found wandering alone after hunters had killed its mother.
They adopted him. They named him Wojtek.
Over the next two years Wojtek became one of the most remarkable animals in the history of any military.
How Wojtek Became a Soldier
The bear grew up with the soldiers of the Polish II Corps. He traveled with them, ate with them, and learned to mimic their behaviors. He enjoyed cigarettes, which soldiers gave him and which he learned to eat rather than smoke. He drank beer. He learned to carry heavy objects after watching the soldiers work.
When the Polish II Corps was assigned to the Allied campaign in Italy a bureaucratic problem arose. Military regulations did not permit animals on troop transport ships. The soldiers solved this in the most logical way they could think of. They officially enlisted Wojtek as a private in the Polish Army, giving him a name, a rank, and a service number.
Private Wojtek shipped to Italy with his unit.
What He Did at Monte Cassino
In May of 1944 the Allied forces launched their assault on the heavily fortified German position at Monte Cassino in central Italy. It was one of the most costly and difficult battles of the entire Italian campaign.
The Polish II Corps fought at Monte Cassino. And Wojtek worked.
Having watched soldiers carry ammunition and supply crates he understood what was expected of him. At Monte Cassino he carried artillery shells and supply crates to where they were needed. He worked alongside the soldiers he had lived with for years.
After Monte Cassino he was promoted to corporal.
What Happened After the War
When the war ended Wojtek went with the Polish soldiers to Scotland where the II Corps was demobilized. He spent the rest of his life at the Edinburgh Zoo where Polish veterans visited him regularly until his death in 1963.
A statue of Wojtek stands in Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens. There is another in the Imperial War Museum's American Air Museum. There are others in Poland and in Canada where many Polish veterans settled after the war.
He was a real bear. He held a real military rank. He carried real ammunition in a real battle. And he is one of the most genuinely lovable figures in the history of any conflict.
In a war defined by enormous suffering and industrial scale destruction, Wojtek the ammunition-carrying corporal bear is one of the stories that reminds you that history is also made of small, strange, and sometimes wonderful things.
Robert Lee Beers III is a writer and digital preservation advocate based in North Charleston South Carolina.
