Member-only story
Wojtek, The Brown Bear Who Was A Soldier In Poland’s WWII Army
A trained wild animal became one of the most well known soldiers of all time
European nations clawed, scratched and fought desperately to thwart the powerful advances of Nazi Germany during World War II. This included Poland, which suffered unimaginable losses but scraped every resource together that they could in order to keep fighting. One of the more unique measures they took was Wojtek, a Syrian brown bear who was adopted and trained by soldiers, eventually being enlisted in the army himself, reaching the rank of corporal.
World War II was a horrible and bloody affair, with an estimated 70–85 million casualties worldwide. That represents approximately 3% of the world’s population at the time. Poland, which was invaded by Germany, is believed to have lost more than five million people to being killed in action and citizens being murdered in concentration camps. Such a number would equate to roughly 17% of the country’s population at the time.
The most unusual soldier in the Polish army arrived in a roundabout way. It’s believed that Wojtek (also spelled and pronounced Voytek- roughly translated to “joyous warrior”) was born around 1942. He was discovered by a young Iranian boy by the side of the road after his mother had likely been…
