The Furry Artillery Assistant

 

Wojtek the Soldier Bear – The Furry Artillery Assistant

Yup. A bear. A real, actual bear who served in the Polish Army during WWII, carried ammunition in battle, and drank beer with the boys.

Let me explain.

🇵🇱 A Bear Joins the Army

In 1942, a group of Polish soldiers traveling through Iran came across a young Syrian brown bear cub. A local boy had found him after hunters killed his mother. The soldiers, homesick and heartbroken from years of war and exile, adopted him.

They named him Wojtek (pronounced “Voy-tek”) — which means “Happy Warrior” in Polish.

They fed him condensed milk from a bottle, gave him fruit, honey, and, eventually… beer and cigarettes. (He ate the cigarettes, didn’t smoke them. Classic Wojtek.)

🪖 Officially Enlisted

When the Polish II Corps moved to Italy, they ran into a bureaucratic problem: animals weren’t allowed on British transport ships.

So the soldiers did the only logical thing: they enlisted Wojtek as a private in the Polish Army. He was given a rank, a service number, and a salary in rations. Boom — soldier bear, officially.

💥 The Battle of Monte Cassino

During the brutal Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944, Wojtek made his legend.

Under heavy fire, soldiers noticed Wojtek carrying heavy artillery shells — sometimes two at a time, walking upright on his hind legs, completely unfazed by the explosions.

He helped move dozens of crates of live ammo from trucks to artillery positions, never dropping a single one.

After the battle, his unit changed their emblem to a bear carrying a shell — in his honor.

🏡 After the War

When the war ended, Wojtek was demobilized and moved to the Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland. His old soldier buddies would visit him, tossing him cigarettes and beer through the fence. He lived to be 21 and became a local legend.

There are now statues of Wojtek in Poland, Scotland, and even London — remembering the bear who fought Nazis, carried ammo, and just wanted a cold brew with his squad.