12/2/1963 - In Edinburgh, Scotland, one of the unsung heroes' of WWII story ends with the death of Polish Corporal Wojtek (pronounced VOY-tek) ... an officially retired member of the Polish Army residing at the city's zoo that just so happens to be a 22-year-old Ursus arctos syriacus brown bear (a sub-species of the Northern American Grizzly Bear). This is the corporal's story.
Corporal Wojtek & Friend
Captured by Russian soldiers near the city of Lublin at the end of September in the fighting that turns Poland into two pieces of meat to be devoured by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union at the beginning of WWII, members of the Nowogrodzka Cavalry Brigade of Lt. General Wladyslaw Albert Anders are sent to the U.S.S.R. as prisoners of war. Futures uncertain, the fortunes of the Polish soldiers improve immensely in the spring of 1941 when Hitler launches Operation Barbarossa on his former ally, and like Napoleon Bonaparte before him, invades Russia. Enemy to friend in a seeming heartbeat, with Great Britain mediating, the Polish government-in-exile and the Soviet Union sign the Sikorski-Mayski agreement on July 30, 1941, an arrangement in which Polish citizens and soldiers are released from the camps they have been held in to form an army that will fight the Germans. Planned to be a part of the Soviet Army, but report to the Polish government, 25,000 soldiers and officers are recruited from the POW camps (one is Menachem Begin, the future anti-British Irgun leader, prime minister of Israel, and Nobel Peace Prize winner) in the spring of 1942. Escaping the advances of the advancing Third Reich soldiers, a portion of the Poles are sent to Iran to begin a westward movement to join British forces fighting in the Mediterranean. Across the Caspian Sea to the port of Pahlavi, the soldiers are then sent through Iran by railroad, cross Iraq, move through British Palestine (now Israel) before making their way into Italy to participate in the battles the Allies are fighting to punch through the German defensive positions of Luftwaffe Field Marshal Albert "Smiling Albert" Kesselring on the Gustav Line.
Polish POWs In Soviet Camp
Smiling Albert
On April 8, 1942 a group of soldiers and Polish civilian refugees are making their way across Iran when they pause their journey at the Hamadan railroad station. There they become captivated by a young boy and the baby bear he is taking care of after finding the orphan ursine in the Alborz Mountains in the northern part of the country (local hunters had killed its mother). Showing the effects of not having a mother to show him how to live as a bear, considering themselves orphans too after losing their country to Germany and the Soviet Union, far from their families, the soldiers, in the form of Lt. Anatol Tarnowiecki decide to purchase the cub as a mascot for their group (egged on by 18-year-old Irena Inka Bokiewicz, the great-niece of legendary Polish President and General Boleslaw Wieniawa-Dlugoszowski who volunteers to get her relative involved if the soldiers run into problems with their superiors over the animal. Bought from the young Iranian for a handful of Persian coins, a portion of chocolate, a Swiss Army knife, and a tin of beef, the bear becomes an unofficial member of the 22nd Artillery Supply Company of the Polish II Corps. For the next three months, the cub spends its time at a Polish refugee camp where he comes under the care of Lance Corporal Peter Prendys. Named Wojtek by the Polish soldier as a derivative of the word "Wojciech," meaning Happy or Smiling Warrior, the name will eventually fit the bear like a glove.
The Cub
Staying Cool
Yummy
Later, And Bigger With Prendys
Initially having problems swallowing, the soldiers come up with a way of feeding their new friend his daily allotment of condensed milk that has them jury-rigging an empty glass vodka bottle with a rag nipple. Growing by leaps and bounds from the milk, Wojtek eventually grows to a muscled mass of brown fur standing a little over six feet tall and weighing somewhere between 200 to 300 pounds that enjoys fruit (he will love chasing down and eating the oranges the soldiers throw when they practice pitching grenades), marmalade, honey and honeyed milk, syrup, coffee in the morning, and as a special reward when the men have deemed he has done something exceptionally good, his favorite drink, whatever beer is available (though he never gets drunk, his body and the heat of the Middle East absorbing the alcohol with ease). Amusing his comrades to no end, the bear also develops the habit of taking one puff off offered cigarettes, before then swallowing whole the lit tobacco. Kept hidden at first, but eventually found by officers of the 22nd, instead of having their pet taken away, Wojtek is granted mascot privileges and soon becomes a celebrity within the command. Extremely intelligent, the bear is taught the military etiquette of saluting, engages in mock wrestling matches with the soldiers (in which Wojtek never loses, but also, never hurts anyone ... eventually, at over 400 pounds, the bear will wrestle six soldiers at the same time), figures out how to turn on the tent showers, is taught a game in which rookie soldiers are brought into the unit by Wojtek holding them up by their ankles while he harmlessly growls in their faces before dropping the men on their heads, marches with the soldiers on his hind legs, learns how to kick a soccer ball, and realizing it often is given treats for the behavior, mimics many of the actions the humans around him display. And during cold nights, the bear becomes a warm and quiet wooly pillow for a handful of the unit's braver souls (beyond the Polish soldiers, Wojtek's favorite companion in camp is a soldier's pet Dalmatian dog, with the two animals playing a version of tag for hours on end).
Begging For A Treat
Yummy Beer!
You're Going To Lose!
Wrestling Match
As the unit makes its way from Iran, to Iraq, then through Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, before crossing the Meditterean and landing in Italy, the bear also picks up its share of demerits for turning on, but not turning off the showers, playfully covering itself in the bras and panties of a nursing unit that hung out their lingerie to dry on a clothesline too near Wojtek, preparing to celebrate Christmas of 1942, the unit discovers that the bear has already feasted on all the food the soldiers have set aside for their celebration (on another occasion, the bear is found to have devoured 300 apples in one sitting), he often has to be stopped from turning another Polish mascot into monkey meat, and once while riding in an ammo truck along the coast, catching a glimpse of the water, he jumps out of the vehicle to frolic in the cooling waters of the Meditterean, much to the horror of bathers sunning themselves on the beach. But the missteps are all forgiven due to the joy the men take in having their affectionate animal friend around, and when the bear catches a spy that has slipped into the camp to steal and set off a crate of ammunition, hiding in the shower tent (he is captured when his terrorized screams at being confronted by a growling bear standing on its hind legs in preparation of doing its rookie hazing act brings Polish soldiers on the run to the tent ... as a reward for his detective work, Wojtek is given TWO bottles of beer and a day of unlimited shower time). Bear to Polish soldier, Wojtek takes the final step to becoming a member of the unit when he is stopped from coming aboard a troop transport ship bound for Italy. Stopped by an officious British officer set on following orders that deny ship transport to mascot animals, members of the 22nd jump into action and Wojtek becomes Private Wojtek, a member in good standing of the Polish Army with a rank, serial number, and a pay book in which in lieu of currency, the bear receives double daily rations of whatever the cooks are providing to the troops). Accompanied by his soldier friends, a surprised British officer yells, "But this is not a man," but allows Wojtek to board when the bear's papers are presented and the soldiers begin yelling, "Private Wojtek inspires the fighting spirit in Polish soldiers!" And so Wojtek is allowed to cross the Meditterean with his friends in 1944, in time to participate in one of the grimmest battles of WWII.
More Beer Please!
Helping Around Camp
Friend Or Foe?
Friend!
In September of 1943, convinced by Winston Churchill that the Third Reich must be kept off balance while the Allies build up to cross Channel invasion of France in the spring of 1944, shortly after ousting the Germans from the island of Sicily, the Allies land on both sides of Italy and begin working their way north with the goal of freeing Rome. Predictions of Rome falling by October way wrong, due to difficult terrain (mountains, swamps, and rivers), wet weather, and skillful German defenses, the offensive drive of the American Fifth Army commanded by Lt. General Mark W. Clark soon bogs down at the German's Gustav Line in front of the Monte Cassino massif (a 1710 foot high rocky mass topped by a Benedictine monastery built in 530 and a small village) in central Italy. Thinking the structure is being used as an observation position to call down artillery fire on the heads of the advancing Allied soldiers, the monastery is bombed into oblivion by Boeing B17 and North American B24 bombers that drop 1,400 tons of ordinance on the position. No more worries anymore about taking over the famous Christian abbey, the Germans move into the rubble and harden the position's defensive capabilities to the point where three different Allied assaults on the line fail to take the structure (in all, fighting at and around Monte Cassino will cost the Allies 55,000 casualties, the Germans 20,000 soldiers, and there will be 2,000 civilians killed during the battle). On May 16, 1944, the Allies are ready to try again as Clark launches twenty-division attack over a twenty mile front to clear Axis troops from the area. Among the divisions attacking is the Polish II Corps that the 22nd Artillery Supply Company and their mascot, Wojtek, are a part of.
Before
Clark
After
Fighting For Cassino
Off To Italy
Four Shell Ammo Crate
Carrying Crates At Cassino
Wojtek
The Polish Flag Atop Monte Cassino
New Insignia
Battle won and Wojtek now a celebrity based on newspaper articles about the triumph featuring the bears exploits, the 22nd finishes up the war fighting at the Battle of Ancona as part of Operation Olive (an offensive to breach the next line of German defenses in Italy, the Gothic Line), and in March of 1945, at the Battle of Bologna. War over and having had many bad experiences while under the "protection' of the Soviet Union and Joseph Stalin in 1940, many of the Polish soldiers refuse to return to Poland and its Communist overloads (that desperately want to show off Wojtek as the latest hero of the people's revolution). The last years of Wojtek's life begin in November of 1945, when the 22nd and its mascot, are sent to Berwickshire, Scotland to be demobilized. Stationed at Winfield Airfield on Sunwick Farm near the village of Hutton, Wojtek almost immediately becomes a favorite personage among the residents of the area, members of the press, and the Polish-Scottish Association (which make the bear an honorary member) as he attends community dances, local concerts, and children's parties while romping about the farm (his claw marks from climbing in the trees on the property can still be seen). The unit completely demobilized by 1947 and sent off to live their post-war lives, arrangements are made for Wojtek to become a member of the Edinburgh Zoo, where he quickly becomes a favorite exhibit of visitors, especially former soldiers of the bear's unit who often climb up a fence and jump into his compound to play with their friend one more time (for the rest of his life, Wojtek will snap to attention, standing on his hind legs and salute whenever he hears someone speaking at the zoo in Polish). Pampered despite his confinement within the zoo (he gets out from time to time to appear on the BBC television show for children, "Blue Peter"), wearing down finally from problems with his esophagus (with many feeling his throat issues come from his penchant for eating lit cigarettes after taking a puff off them), weighing over 1,100 pounds, the much loved ursine dies on December 2, 1963 at the age of 22.
Riding Around Europe
Playing With A Friend
Saying Hello
In Retirement At The Zoo - 1949
A celebrity and national hero to the Polish, though gone, the bear is never forgotten by the Polish or Scottish peoples. Tributes galore, the imperial War Museum in London, England includes a plaque dedicated to the corporal, the Sikorski Museum of London is gifted by a sculpture of Wojtek by Scottish artist David Harding, a wooden sculpture of the bear graces the greenery of Weelsby Wood park in the British town of Grimsby, on the 70th anniversary of the Allied victory at Monte Cassino, a sculpture of the bear is unveiled in Krakow, Poland's Jordan Park, the Polish city of Zagan donates a statue of Wojtek to its twin city of Duns, Scotland (near the farm where Wojtek began his Scottish sojourn), and unveiled by a former 22nd member, 86-year-old Wojciech Narebski (a teenager of seventeen when he first encounters the bear), paid for by donations from both Poland and Scotland, Edinburgh's West Princes Street Gardens gets a bronze statue of Wojtek by artist Alan Beattie Herriot in 2015 that stands on a platform made from Polish granite (Narebski will state at the unveiling, "Wojtek could not return to Poland, but he is staying on Polish soil."), along with five foot long relief map of Wojtek WWII journey across Europe. And there are also the BBC documentary about Wojtek called Wojtek - The Bear That Went To War (narrated by actor Brian Blessed) and an animated film of the bear's life, "A Bear Named Wojtek," is made by Oscar nominated director Iain Harvey. Above and beyond the movies and memorials there are numerous Wojtek t-shirts that can be bought on the Internet (along with Wojtek socks from Redbubble, coffee cups, travel mugs, pandemic masks, a chef's apron, baseball caps, pins, pillows, refrigerator magnets, and a keepsake box), and in print, there are Wojtek: War Hero Bear by Jenny Robertson, Wojtek The Bear - Polish War Hero by Aileen Orr, Once A Hero: The Story Of Private Wojtek, WWII Soldier Bear by James A. Cutchin, Wojtek - The Bear That Went To War by Alan Pollock, Wojtek: The Bear That Went To War by Bob Moulder & Moy McCrory, and PrivateWojtek - Soldier Bear by Krystyna Mikula-Deegan. And in tribute to the bear, a Glasgow band names itself Wojtek The Bear in 2016.
Sikorski
Weelsby Woods
Duns
Zagan
Edinburgh
Well done, Corporal ... thank you for your service and rest in peace.
Corporal Wojtek
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