The Grizzly Tale of Wojtek, The Ammo Bearing Bear That Became A Corporal
by SOFREP 16 hours ago
You could expect to see dogs in the middle of warzones, helping soldiers carry out their missions. In fact, around 20,000 dogs were deployed during World War II, as reported by National Archives. You could also expect horses, or maybe pigeons, but you wouldn’t expect to see a bear helping troops. However, during WWII, a 440-pound bear named Wojtek helped the Polish Army by carrying crates of ammunition for his buddies. And yes, he even became a corporal.
How Wojtek Was Found
Wojtek’s journey started in the spring of 1942. This was when the Polish armed forces and thousands of Polish civilians were on their way to a refugee camp. The camp was set up for the Polish exiles in the Middle East after being released from Russian camps. In the train station in Hamadan in Iran, the refugees came across a small boy with a small Syrian brown bear cub whose mother had been shot by hunters. Irena Bokiewicz, one of the civilians and great-niece of famous Polish General Bolesław Wieniawa-Długoszowski, was prompted to buy the cub. She took care of the poor cub for the next three months.
Raising a bear proved to be more difficult than they imagined(they don’t stay small and cute forever) as it began to eat them out of house and home, so they donated him to the Polish 22nd Artillery Supply Company.
https://sofrep.com/news/the-grizzly-tale-of-wojtek-the-ammo-bearing-bear-that-became-a-corporal/
