The Incredible Story Of Wojtek The Bear

Wojtek playing around with his fellow soldiers.

Wojtek was a Syrian brown bear who fought with the Polish army during World War II. What makes him so special is that he wasn't just a pet. Rather, he was taken in by soldiers, given a rank, and even helped on the front lines. Wojtek was honored for what he did after the war, and his life was transformed. This article talks about how Wojtek ended up with the Polish soldiers, what he was doing during the war, and how people repaid him afterwards.

Wojtek's story starts in 1942 in Iran when Polish soldiers of the 22nd Artillery Supply Company of the Polish II Corps were marching through the area after they had been released from Soviet prison camps. They had been stranded in these camps since the Soviet Union had invaded Poland in 1939, alongside Nazi Germany’s attack. The Allies and Stalin cut a deal so that these soldiers could be set free, and they went to fight against Germany in the Middle East. Near the city of Hamadan, they came across a young boy that was carrying a bear cub in a sack. The mother of the cub had probably been shot by hunters, thus leaving the cub all alone. The soldiers traded some of their food, resources, and equipment for the cub. They named him Wojtek (a nickname for Wojciech), a Polish name meaning "joyful warrior." They fed him condensed milk in an empty vodka bottle at first because he could not digest solid foods at this stage. A soldier by the name of Peter Prendys later took on the job of looking after him, and Wojtek quickly got used to being around people.

As Wojtek grew, he stayed close to the soldiers. They gave him honey, fruit, and marmalade to eat, and he started trusting them completely. The bear didn’t act wild like you’d expect. Instead, he copied what the soldiers did. He liked to ride in trucks with them, first in the front seat when he was small, then in the back as he grew bigger. Wojtek liked cold showers too, and he even learned to turn the water on by himself! However, this sometimes caused problems when there was less water available. As a result, the soldiers had to stop him from showering by himself because he used too much. One day, though, that habit came in handy. Wojtek wandered into the shower area and saw an Arab man sneaking around the camp. The man was trying to find weapons for a possible raid, but Wojtek scared him so badly that he surrendered to the Poles. As a reward, the soldiers gave Wojtek unlimited showers and added two bottles of beer as a bonus. Beer turned out to be something he enjoyed greatly, and he'd have it with the soldiers when they shared.

In 1944, the 22nd Artillery Supply Company had to move to Italy to support the Allies in combat at Monte Cassino. There was one little problem though. Army regulations forbade pets aboard ships and on the battlefield. The soldiers did not wish to abandon Wojtek, so they improvised. They enlisted Wojtek as a regular soldier, and he was assigned the rank of private, a serial number, and even a paybook. The trick succeeded, and he traveled aboard the ship with them. In Italy, in the Battle of Monte Cassino, Wojtek did not just go along for the ride. The battle was fierce, with the Allies trying to break through German lines. Soldiers gave out orders to Wojtek to haul artillery shells and crates of ammunition from trucks to the troops. The crates were about 100 pounds—so heavy that four men would usually handle them. Yet, Wojtek never fumbled one. He had seen the soldiers carrying them and started doing the same. Because of that support, the company promoted him to corporal, and they, in commemoration of what Wojtek had achieved, also changed their official emblem to show a bear clutching an artillery shell.

Not everybody is certain how much help Wojtek really provided in combat. Some say he lugged around empty boxes or transported shells instead of live rounds. Others, like one British soldier who observed him, backed the story of him delivering supplies. Whatever it was, Wojtek improved the morale of the troops. Having a bear around made the war lighter for them. He'd wrestle with them, salute along with them, and even smoke cigarettes and drink beer they gave him—though he didn't get drunk on the beer, much as he liked it. His presence was broadcasted everywhere. Newspapers wrote about him, and he became a symbol for the Polish soldiers. Monte Cassino ended in an Allied triumph in May of 1944, and Wojtek's contribution was still remembered by everyone.

When the war ended in 1945, the Polish soldiers had another challenge ahead of them. There were numerous soldiers who could not go back to Poland because the Soviet Union advanced there too, and they did not like the new government. The 22nd Company went to Scotland instead, and Wojtek went along with them. They spent time at a Berwickshire camp. He was among them, still living as one of the unit. Children in the surrounding area would ride on his back, and he'd attend dances with the soldiers. But the unit started to break apart as the days passed, and the soldiers had to figure out what to do with Wojtek. They could not keep him for his entire life, and he could not fend for himself in the wild. So, in 1947, they made a hard choice, and they sent him to Edinburgh Zoo. It was not easy for them to let him go, but they thought it was the best way of keeping him safe.

Wojtek did not fade away at the zoo. The soldiers visited him whenever they could. They'd offer him beer and cigarettes, and sometimes they'd wrestle with him like in the past. The zookeepers learned some Polish words to talk to him, and they wore Polish uniform jackets to make him feel at ease. He'd been with the army for years, so the transition was tough initially, but later, he settled in. People in Scotland heard about him, and he drew visitors. Wojtek stayed at the zoo until he died on December 2, 1963. He was 21 years old, weighed nearly 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds), and stood at over 5 feet 11 inches tall.