Soldier Bear Wojtek

From all the incredible stories about the Second World War, there are also some of them which hard to believe. And of them, the story about the brown bear who became a polish soldier deserves special attention. Sounds unbelievable? It is. This bear history still creates a lot of interest for lots of people, who cannot believe that story is true. Because how is that possible – bear on the battlefield? But truly yes.

 The year 1941 was the start of the organization of the Polish East Army, Polish soldiers had to fight alongside the Red Army and the Soviets to rescue occupied lands by Germans. Because of the horrible living conditions – lack of food, clothes and medicines in 1942 part of Polish soldiers were evacuated to Iran. Soldiers were transported to Egypt as additional power for the British army on the African battlefield.

And during this migration to Egypt, an unusual thing happened with the No. 22 Artelerian squad. Polish soldiers met on street a young Iranic, who was in the company of… a small brown bear. The little animal was less than one year old and was in huge care need. Without help bear most probably would be dead or, in the best way, in a cage and famished. Young Persian sold the bear for canned goods, a bar of chocolate, and a handful of coins, which in those conditions was really in high price. Soldiers got into the little bear very fast and named him Wojtek (a popular Polish name); they were feeding and taking care of him. In the beginning, Wojtek had problems with eating food, so was decided to make an improvised pacifier attached to a …vodka bottle. Filled with milk of course.

Bear was growing together with Polish Squad No.22. In older years his weight was almost 200 kg!

(Credit: Photographer unknown/ via:https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-34748795)

Soldiers achieved to grow up a bear with kindness, he wasn’t aggressive and was adored by people around. There is a need to note that he caused some problems as well, he was stealing the food, drying linen and clothes, also just his appearance in front of people without knowledge of squad No. 22 realities caused huge fear and shock. Especially for the members of the Women’s Auxiliary Service. But it doesn’t matter, in a short time, everyone got used to him as a special family member and gave him a special place in their hearts.

(Credit: Photographer unknown/via:http://www.sww.w.szu.pl/index.php?id=ciek_11)

And Wojtek was a real member of the squad, by taking a part in its everyday living. He slept together with soldiers in near of them or in the tent, wrestled with them for fun, and also loved to drink a beer with everybody just from the bottle, in a way he was drinking the milk. Soldiers had some wins in wrestling when he was younger, but through the years there was no chance to conquer him of course. He never done any traumas to anybody and even was licking most loved ones to the face. Soldiers were trusting him and taking him as a half-soldier, colleague, friend, buddy. Bear was even written in the squad list with everyone.

Lately, he was given a Corporal rank. Wojtek was a little (for the start) part of life, with whom soldiers weren’t thinking about battlefields and all those horrible moments of the war, a lot of them were missing their families in every meaning, so he was a little miracle in this squad; fellow and comrade for each member. He helped to go through all this nightmare and always was there side by side.

(Credit: Photographer unknown/via:http://www.sww.w.szu.pl/index.php?id=ciek_11)

From Iran, Polish soldiers went to Palestine, from there to Egypt, and finally, to Italy, to fight on Gustav Line. The hottest spot was the battle on Monte Cassino, the result of which was a breakthrough to Rome.
Wojtek was helping his squad in a way he could – carrying ammunition boxes. He was familiar with all parts and signs of war. Was he frightened? Well, we will never know, but he was there side by side with his comrades.

(Credit: Photographer unknown/via:https://muzeum1939.pl/mis-wojtek-m2wswirtualnie/aktualnosci/3456.html)

Sad destiny of Wojtek

When battles were over, soldiers were transported to Scotland. Of course, Wojtek was with them. But his next transportations caused some issues, because of his size, so when war was over and the squad was disbanded, Wojtek got into an Edinburgh Zoo, which was a really dramatic moment for the bear.

He was stocked in one place, without the company of people, to which he was so used to. He also wasn’t able go to wild nature without any knowledge about other bears and he did not know how to live with them. In Zoo he was treated very well, but there was a big lack of freedom and society, so he lived very unhappy.

After years, his squad friends were visiting him, always coming into his cage with no fear. He never forgot any of them and each time was heartfully greeting and happy to see, even after time. Those scenes were shocking for other Zoo customers, who didn’t knew anything about Wojtek’s history, for sure. Bear survived in Zoo for nearly twenty years and died on 2nd December 1963. For a long time, the Polish were trying to bring Wojtek to them and give him another living conditions, but unfortunately, there were no results.

(Credit: Photographer unknown/HU 16546/IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM PHOTOGRAPH ARCHIVE COLLECTION)

After all, he definitely was a National War Hero.

That history inspired a lot of historians, writers, and readers. A lot of people with huge interest were discovering the story about the strange, unusual friendship between Polish soldiers and a powerful, kind, lovely bear.
Sometimes life can write very unbelievable scripts for us.

Sources Used During This Writing

• NiedĹşwiedĹş Wojtek – miś walczący w polskiej armii – ciekawostki II wojny światowej. (n.d.). Www.Sww.w.Szu.Pl. http://www.sww.w.szu.pl/index.php?id=ciek_11
• Miś Wojtek | #M2WSwirtualnie. (2020, April 30). Muzeum1939.Pl. //muzeum1939.pl/mis-wojtek-m2wswirtualnie/aktualnosci/3456.html
• BBC News. (2017, January 23). “Soldier bear” statue unveiled in Edinburgh’s Princes Street Gardens. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-34748795