How Wojtek The Bear Became A WWII Hero With The Polish Army
Throughout history, animals have been an essential part of humanity's wars. Warriors rode their steeds from ancient times right up to World War II, but that's not the only contribution that faithful animal companions have made in war.
Combat dogs are often recognized for their contributions in battle today, and that's not a new phenomenon, but what about the bears? Learn how one courageous bear played an important role in World War II with the Polish Army.
The world's most destructive war begins
According to The National World War II Museum, the German invasion of Poland began with the SMS Schleswig-Holstein battleship arriving at the port of Danzig on August 25, 1939. Its official reason for being there was to celebrate the anniversary of Germany's victory in the Battle of Tannenberg during World War I.
However, it would soon prove it was there for far less peaceful reasons. At 4:43 am on September 1, it fired on a military transit depot in Westerplatte, which officially marked the first shots of World War II. And it was working according to a plan that hadn't been made clear to the Polish before it was too late.
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Just two days before the SMS Schleswig-Holstein had arrived in Danzig, the German and Russian governments signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which described the non-aggression pact that held until Operation Barbarossa in 1941. Officially, this pact stated that the Soviet Union would not join forces with Britain or France if Germany attacked Poland.
However, The National World War II Museum noted that there was a secret clause in the pact that arranged for the Soviets to control eastern Poland alongside Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and what is now Moldova. In exchange, they wouldn't interfere with Germany's complete control over western Poland.
A massive European diaspora
According to Atlas Obscura, the resulting break-up of Central Europe led many within the affected regions to flee, but just as many in Poland were forcibly relocated. While the concentration camps Germany installed in Poland are now globally infamous, the Soviets opted to send Polish residents to their own camps in Siberia.
However, the Soviets would no longer consider these camps necessary after Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 and released their Polish prisoners. However, that still left them stranded in one of the most remote regions of an unfamiliar nation.
A new army bound for a new region
Although many who were freed from the gulags went their separate ways after that, enough remained on Soviet soil to join the fight against Germany when Commander Władysław Anders was allowed to form a Polish army there. However, they would soon find themselves moving elsewhere after they learned the Soviets couldn't spare the supplies to feed them.
So, the large army set out in March 1942 for the Middle East, where the British High Command had set up their own operations. They were specifically going to what was then Palestine, but their long, grueling march gave them multiple opportunities for some chance encounters.
A trade that made history
As Atlas Obscura explained, one of these encounters took place when a young shepherd's son in Syria approached Poland's 22nd Artillery Supply Company. He was hungry and figured he'd be more likely to secure some food if he offered something in return.
However, he seemed to approach this deal with an air of mystery as he gave the soldiers a burlap sack with unclear contents. Nonetheless, they took the bag and gave him a Swiss army knife, a chocolate bar, and some canned beef in exchange.
An adorable little surprise
When they opened the bag, the soldiers discovered that the shepherd boy had traded them a little bear cub. It may have been a huge surprise for them, but it didn't take them long to warm up to the little bear.
As author Aileen Orr told Time, they were quick to treat the bear as their collective baby. One anecdote had them gently nursing the cub with condensed milk from a bottle. It was the start of a big adventure for the bear.
What would happen in another life?
As Orr described in her book, Wojtek the Bear: Polish War Hero, bears like the one under the supply company's care weren't an uncommon sight throughout the Middle East. Indeed, dancing bears were a common attraction at festivals and popular for the whole family.
In all likelihood, the cub would have been trained as a dancing bear if he had stayed with the shepherd family. However, Atlas Obscura noted that this kind of training is a grueling ordeal for both the bear and the trainer.
A greater purpose
But even from the moment they named him, the Polish soldiers were convinced that the bear cub had a more glorious fate ahead of him. They gave him the name Wojtek, which was the short version of the Polish term "Wojciech."
Since this means "joyful warrior," the soldiers saw Wojtek as a morale booster in the wake of the hardships they had experienced in the years since the war had started. He would become the mascot of the 22nd Artillery Supply Company, and that was expressed in insignia like this.
Sad common ground
According to Atlas Obscura, a soldier named Peter Prendys was assigned as Wojtek's primary caretaker, and the new pair had more in common than the bear may have realized. Sadly, they both knew how it felt to be isolated and lost.
That's because Wojtek had apparently been orphaned by hunters shortly before the shepherd's boy traded him. Although Prendys hadn't quite experienced that tragedy, the fact that the invasion of Poland had separated his family left him with similar trauma.
Wojtek's training begins
After the 22nd Artillery Supply Company picked Wojtek up, they reached their destination. Specifically, it was the former Palestinian town of Gedera, which sits on the outskirts of the Negev desert. Once they could settle in, they had time to do more than look after the bear.
After they arrived, Prendys taught Wojtek how to wave and salute but also prepared him for the challenging work of being a soldier. At this early stage, this training would see them march together in the desert.
Wojtek lives up to his joyful name
Although Wojtek would distinguish himself during the company's many missions throughout the Middle East, the downtime that those in the military often experience afforded him some time to play. He often spent it climbing palm trees and racing a large Dalmatian that hung around their base camp.
And, of course, Wojtek was always hungry. When he wasn't begging for snacks during his downtime, he would sometimes get in trouble with Prendys for stealing food from the company's provision tent. After all, he was a growing bear!
Wojtek grows up
Although Wojtek had joined the 22nd Artillery as a cub, the bear grew quickly and that was made abundantly clear during the company's supply runs that took them to Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon. Essentially, he stood out until he couldn't.
During his infancy, Wojtek would usually go on these supply runs with his head curiously hanging out of the window of his big artillery truck. However, he would end up becoming too large to ride in the seats and had to be stowed in the truck bed.
Bonding with the men
As he grew, Wojtek became close to the soldiers in his company. So much so that — according to Atlas Obscura — he would seek out any fellow soldier on early patrol after waking up in the morning. If he couldn't find anyone, he would put his head in his hands and whimper.
After the day's work had been done, Wojtek would often wrestle with the soldiers and reportedly let them win. He also loved gathering around the campfire with them and would even sleep in their tents at times.
A few bad habits
Although the soldiers Wojtek would bond with loved him and cared for him well, the young bear would also pick up some unhealthy habits from them. He learned a solider's trade, but also a soldier's vices.
For instance, Wojtek developed a taste for tobacco that manifested with him drawing on lit cigarettes once before eating them. He was also fond of alchohol and was known to peer into finished bottles both to wonder where their contents had gone and when he could have more.
Wojtek's greatest relief
However, it seemed that nothing could get the bear more excited than the prospect of a cold shower. After all, he was in the middle of a hot desert, and he was dressed for the winter. In the early days, he would stand by a bathing tent like this one and beg soldiers to let him use it or dig a mud bath for him.
Yet, Wojtek didn't have to rely on the kindness of his corps for long. According to Atlas Obscura, he eventually learned to turn the shower on by himself and spent so much time using it that he was eventually banned from going in there unsupervised.
Wojtek's first good deed
Although Wojtek's shower-time adventures once became mischievous enough that he stole a clothesline loaded with women's underwear from a signals unit during a supply run in Iraq, they were also what motivated his first important act as a soldier. During one of his frequent trips to the shower, Wojtek was happy to see the door had been left open for him.
However, Atlas Obscura noted that this is where an enemy spy was planning to steal an ammunition stockpile nearby. Since a bear was the last thing he expected to see, he screamed and immediately surrendered, which meant Wojtek could have a couple of drinks and all the showers he wanted that day.
Wojtek officially joins the company
After their supply runs throughout the Middle East, the 22nd Artillery Supply Company was reassigned to Italy, where they would support Allied Forces during the Battle Of Monte Cassino. According to Atlas Obscura, this would turn out to be one of the largest battles of the war and result in about 60,000 casualties.
But before the company shipped out, Wojtek was allowed to enlist officially and was given a rank and serial number. According to the Smithsonian Magazine, Wojtek performed well enough in his eventual duties that he was promoted to corporal.
It was more than pure sentimentality
Although Wojtek was beloved by his fellow servicemen, that wasn't why he was given an official rank. According to Der Spiegel, his military rank served as a clever loophole to solve a logistical problem his unit encountered when they tried to bring him overseas.
When the 22nd Artillery waited in Alexandria, Egypt, they learned that the Port Authority wouldn't allow them to board a wild animal on any ship to Naples. Only soldiers were allowed to make that journey, so Wojtek was made a soldier.
A welcome sight
After the company shipped off for Italy on February 13th, 1944, the decision to make Wojtek an official soldier appeared to pay off. That's because he was credited for providing crucial moral support for his unit during the grueling work ahead.
As Wojciech Narebski (pictured) recalled, "Very often, it was necessary to drive day and night, our heavy lorries filled with munitions and other military materials." During that time, as Atlas Obscura reported, even the sight of Wojtek did a lot to lift their exhausted spirits.
The situation at hand
Although the Monte Cassino Abbey is the mountain region's defining feature, the 22nd Artillery found that the steep mountain passes around it would give them the most trouble. After all, the passes were winding and they had to drive massive trucks through while under enemy fire.
The company made multiple trips up to the cramped front lines and needed everyone to unload the trucks as quickly as possible so they could make it back to their stockpiles alive. And depending on how the story is told, this included Wojtek's hands.
A legend is born
Although Der Spiegel reported that British officers regarded Wojtek as a joke when he arrived in Naples, he had grown enough to be a force to be reckoned with. Specifically, he was about six feet tall and weighed 485 pounds.
His comrades figured this was big enough that they could teach him to carry mortar shells. And as a stunned British soldier would recall about the battle for a documentary on Wojtek, that's exactly what he was doing during those tense moments his fellow soldiers shared on the battlefield.
The story of legend
As mentioned, there are conflicted reports on how much Wojtek genuinely contributed to the war effort while he was in Monte Cassino. As the popular legend holds, Wojtek quickly learned that copying the behavior of his fellow soldiers could reliably earn him snacks and other positive attention from them.
So while report that these men taught him to carry artillery shells, more fanciful versions of the legend suggest that he simply saw them carrying ammunition around and decided to imitate them. Regardless of why he did it, however, Wojtek braved gunfire and a wide array of other loud noises during one of the bloodiest battles of World War II.
A conflicting version of the events
Although nobody disputes that Wojtek was genuinely in the fray carrying things alongside his fellow soldiers, there are conflicting reports about what exactly he was carrying. And the difference between those reports has muddied the question of how much he materially contributed to the battle.
According to Time, one of the soldiers who traveled with Wojtek was Henryk Zacharewicz. And looking back on Monte Cassino, Zacharewicz said the bear thought he was helping more than it actually was, as Wojtek had largely carried empty ammunition crates and spent shells.
Something doesn't add up
Although this conflicting report can illustrate how much certain tales can get bigger in the telling and supports the theory that Wojtek was just imitating what he saw, something about it doesn't quite add up. And that's because of how the soldiers responded to his actions.
According to Atlas Obscura, his fellow soldiers would coax him back into making his deliveries with food whenever he became tired or restless. If he really wasn't making genuine contributions to the situation on the front lines, it seems unlikely that they would bother doing this.
His legend grew quickly
Regardless of what really happened during those runs, the image of Wojtek calmly carrying artillery shells became famous enough to make him a heroic figure both in Poland and throughout the United Kingdom. And that fame didn't just start after the war ended, either.
According to Der Spiegel, the Polish high command granted the 22nd Artillery Supply Company permission to change its emblem to the one shown before. From then on, most rendered images of Wojtek featured him dutifully carrying a shell.
He never lost his fun-loving spirit
However, just because Wojtek showed incredible bravery at the Battle of Monte Cassino, that didn't mean the horrors of war had changed his personality. According to Atlas Obscura, he got into as much mischief in Italy as he had in the Middle East.
Throughout his time there, he was known to chase both horses and donkeys around. He also scared a lot of people by swimming along the Adriatic Coast, where a bear wasn't exactly a common sight. And, in a flash of what he may have been doing if he was never picked up, Wojtek apparently danced on a crane sitting at the side of one road.
After the war
Much like their former cellmates in the Siberian Gulags before Władysław Anders assumed his command, the Polish troops scattered throughout the world after the war ended. But while they could once again go wherever they desired, that wasn't as true of Wojtek.
After all, the bear was considered a national hero by the time the war ended. So, the question of where he would go after all was said and done was a legitimate matter of concern. And the answer wasn't as easy as it seemed.
Why couldn't he just go to Poland?
According to Der Spiegel, the question was eventually raised as to whether Wojtek should return to his native Iran, be welcomed as a hero in Poland, or find care elsewhere. And while the Soviet-controlled government of Poland set aside some space in a zoo for him, that's not where he ended up going.
While this might seem like a logical place for a non-human Polish hero to go, the men who once cared for Wojtek objected strongly to this idea. As far as they were concerned, it was clear what would happen if the bear made the nation his new home.
What he would have been getting into
In the wake of the Third Reich's fall in 1945, Poland was no longer split between the Germans and the Soviets but under complete Soviet control. And while its new government was fledgling, it was obvious to Wojtek's former comrades whose interests it served.
According to Time, they felt that if Wojtek were to enter the land he was most celebrated in, the government would turn him into a symbol of Communism. Since that wasn't the ideology the troops around him had been fighting for, they believed it would have been a perversion of what the Polish troops had sacrificed to allow that to happen.
He was far away from these discussions
By the time this question came up, Wojtek was lifting spirits in the post-war uncertainty his Polish comrades faced just as strongly as he had during the war itself. According to Der Spiegel, he and about 3,000 other soldiers ended up at a camp for displaced persons at Winfield Aerodrome in Scotland by 1946.
As Orr described the company he kept there in Wojtek The Bear: Polish War Hero, "They were stateless, homeless, and penniless; the only things they owned were a few meagre possessions in a bag—and a bear."
They loved him just as much over there
Given his legend and considering the novelty of having a friendly bear at the camp, Atlas Obscura noted that Wojtek became a celebrity of sorts who comforted his fellow refugees. And they were quick to show their appreciation.
Apparently, Wojtek was just as fond of bathing as he had been in the Middle East because their big gestures involved building a swimming pool for him. And despite the strict rationing at play in the camp, they made sure he enjoyed two bottles of his favorite drink per day.
Life of the party
Wojtek's friends at the camp also loved taking him to local dances, where he tended to hang around the baked goods and relax to the strains of violins. According to Atlas Obscura, he also proved very popular with the girls during these gatherings.
He also proved as materially helpful to his friends as he had been during the war. That's because some of them found work as farm laborers in Scotland, and they were able to get Wojtek to carry fence posts around for them.
The party couldn't last forever
But as time at the Scottish camp went on, the question of what to do with Wojtek intensified. Although he had provided great comfort to his friends, those friends were no longer as displaced as when they had arrived.
Some were permanently settling in Scotland, while others had found somewhere else to go. But since Wojtek had only really bonded with soldiers, there was no easy answer to his next step. Poland was out for previously stated reasons, and he was unlikely to survive in the Persian wilderness due to his upbringing.
Making do with his new home
With these factors taken into consideration, Atlas Obscura said that Prendys made a difficult decision. He did so with a heavy heart, but he arranged to have Wojtek sent to the Edinburgh Zoo. It seemed like the best available option for the bear.
However, that doesn't mean it was an easy adjustment. Wojtek understood that he was in captivity once he was lodged there, which led to a noticeable droop in his demeanor. After all, Wojtek did have a way of getting lonely in his youth.
The return of old friends
However, Wojtek's life beyond that point wasn't always so lonely. Considering the impressions he made on the people he knew and how far his legend had spread, he attracted many visitors. And many of them were familiar faces to him.
One of his former brothers-in-arms was Augustyn Karolewski (not pictured), who Der Spiegel reported as feeling pleasantly surprised when he discovered Wojtek still responded to Polish. In his words, "As soon as I mentioned his name, he would sit on his backside and shake his head wanting a cigarette."
A little indulgence
Although Wojtek clearly missed his friends, he didn't have to go without them for long. According to Atlas Obscura, others who had spent time in his camp would frequently visit him throughout his life. And they lifted his spirits just as much as he did theirs.
After all, they knew what they had to bring to get him excited. They would talk to him in Polish and throw him candy and lit cigarettes. On occasion, some would even enter his enclosure and wrestle him again.
A life well-lived
Wojtek would spend the rest of his life at the Edinburgh Zoo and passed away there in 1963 at the age of 22. Although that's considered fairly old for a bear, it seemed that his habits shortened his lifespan.
According to Time, that's because Wojtek's mortality was partially attributed to damage spotted in his esophagus. Considering how many cigarettes he ate over the course of his life, they're a strong candidate for the culprit of that damage. It's a plausible theory.
A happy part of some painful memories
While Wojtek's material contributions to the war effort may be disputed, his effect on morale was not only well-evidenced by the kinships he formed long after the war was over but so strong that it continued after his passing.
According to Atlas Obscura, his memory helped the soldiers he served with process what were otherwise the hardest years of their lives. Not only that, but his antics provided a less traumatic way for them to talk about the war with people who weren't there for its toughest moments.
He was beloved everywhere he went
Although Wojtek remains beloved in Poland, there are also some monuments honoring him in the United Kingdom, especially in Scotland. According to Der Spiegel, he's considered a symbol of solidarity between Poland and Scotland and one that the latter government has since taken seriously.
One notable example of this respect came in 2009 when the Scottish Parliament held a reception in his honor in March. However, a larger governmental commemoration of his heart and abilities would come two years later.
One of history's most beloved bears
Not only did Der Spiegel describe an aggressive campaign by the Wojtek Memorial Trust to get a large bronze statue of the famous bear built in Edinburgh's town center, but also a major memorial ceremony that took place in the city in 2011.
This celebration of Wojtek's life involved a procession of veterans and bagpipers parading through the Scottish capital's streets and was followed by a public eulogy. True to his upbringing and in honor of his closest friendships, that address was delivered in Polish.