- Welcome to Ruining History.
This week, we're talking about Corporal Wojtek,
a Polish war hero.
- What was his first name?
- You shouldn't be asking questions like this
so early in the episode.
- Isn't that what the intro's for,
so we can get context?
- Yeah, but this is a mystery.
You get to mystery.
(rousing patriotic music)
Have any of you heard of him at all?
- I couldn't even place the era
that he would exist in.
- His name sounds very modern.
It sounds like a startup.
Wojtek, protect your loans.
(laughing)
- [Shane] Early 1944,
the port of Naples.
In the thralls of the second world war,
British courier Archibald Brown was processing
a newly arrived ship of Polish soldiers.
They had arrived at the port from Egypt,
and were set to join Allied British Forces in combat
against the Germans and Italians.
As Archibald Brown processed the soldiers
of Poland's 22nd artillery supply company,
he accounted for every last name on the roster,
save for one, Corporal Wojtek.
Brown called for him by name,
and received no answer.
One soldier stated,
"Well, he only understands Polish and Persian."
- Oh, he's a spy.
- Think he's a spy?
- Yeah, why would you know Polish and Persian,
in 1940s Poland?
I don't know.
It seems suspicious.
I'm just gonna say --
- Even if you don't know a language,
if you hear your name,
you're gonna turn around.
- As a guy with a silent J,
I've heard a lot of versions of my name,
when people have tried to call roster.
- So you think maybe they were mispronouncing it?
- Yeah. - [Sara] Yeah.
- [Andrew] Totally.
- But you would still have those in your head, though.
- Is an Italian guy calling the roster?
- Uh, it's a British courier.
- Oh, British.
- No way they could pronounce his name.
- Copral Voj-tah.
(laughing)
- [Shane] It would seem that the soldiers knew more
than they were letting on,
but it's unlikely that Archibald Brown
could conceive the true nature of Corporal Wojtek.
Corporal Wojtek, raised in the mountains,
with a penchant for arm wrestling, booze,
and cigarettes.
Corporal Wojtek, who was known to pick new recruits up
by their feet.
Corporal Wojtek, the very sight of whom
had been known to send enemies fleeing.
- I don't think the image of a single soldier
could actually scare people into surrendering.
I don't buy it.
(whimsical music)
- What the fuck?
- Now this is getting really suspicious.
- [Shane] It was then that Brown was shown
Corporal Wojtek.
He was six feet tall,
and he weighed 485 pounds,
and he was in a cage,
on account of the fact that he was an actual bear.
He's a bear!
This is a story about a bear.
- A bear!
You're a trickster!
(laughing)
You tricksed us!
- He's just a big bear.
- An actual bear?
- He was a brown bear.
- As you know, bears are the deadliest animal on earth,
and if you give a bear a gun,
that's double, if not triple trouble.
- And so he doesn't have a first name,
because he is a bear.
- Because he's a bear.
That's why I was so angry
that you guys were asking that question
right from the start.
Exactly how a military unit enlists a bear
probably needs some explaining.
So let's backtrack to April of 1942,
when the 22nd artillery supply company of the Polish army
were making their way through the Iranian mountains,
on a lengthy trek from the Soviet Union to the Middle East,
where they were meant to ally with British forces.
These soldiers were previously prisoners of war,
and had only recently been released from Siberian gulags
when the Allied powers
had successfully brokered their freedom.
So these guys were escaping Russia
to go join the fight with the Allies.
They were in prison,
and going through the Siberian mountains.
Some mountains.
- Iranian.
- Iranian mountains.
What's that?
- They went down, instead of --
- Is your knowledge of geography that vast,
that you actually are picturing the terrain
in your brain right now?
- Yes.
- [Shane] Taking a break
from their presumably grueling journey,
Lance Corporal Peter Prendys and his soldiers
had stopped at a roadside,
when they were approached by a young boy
carrying a sack.
The child appeared to be starving,
and the soldiers offered him some meat.
Once the boy was fed,
he became more at ease with the soldiers,
who had noticed that the sack around the boy's neck
seemed to be moving.
According to author Aileen Orr,
who founded the Wojtek Memorial Trust, quote,
"To the men's immense surprise,
"when they cautiously loosened the bag's ties,
"the small black snout of a bear cub pushed out.
"He was a scrawny, unkempt little thing,
"obviously not properly fed."
- Like Paddington.
- Stop shoehorning Paddington,
look, I love that funny little Paddington bear.
- This story's irresponsible, by the way.
- Why is that?
- Because it's painting bears in a positive light,
and they're dangerous animals.
- How small could that bear have been?
- Must've been just a little guy.
- Yeah.
- [Shane] It would be revealed to the men
that the boy had found the cub abandoned in a cave,
after its mother had presumably been killed by hunters.
Likely knowing the boy would part with the boy for a price,
but having little to no money to their name,
the men gathered what they could.
According to Aileen Orr, a chocolate bar,
a Swiss army knife, and a tin of corned beef,
among other goods,
and they made an offer.
The boy accepted,
and the men of the 22nd artillery now had a pet bear.
They named him Wojtek,
Polish for smiling warrior.
- So you just leave the boy in the woods?
- The boy is fine.
He's got a village.
- How do you know that?
Did you interview him?
- No, I didn't interview the boy.
- He was probably a swindler.
He probably had a whole barn full of bears.
- Of starving, a barn full of starving bears.
- What is this slander on this poor boy here?
What is going on?
(laughing)
- Waiting for the next regiment to march through,
and get another chocolate,
he's probably got a fridge full of chocolate bars.
- They love these starving bears.
- You're blinded by your love for this weird bear.
- It's the old bear trick.
- By Orr's telling, Lance Corporal Peter Prendys
and his men didn't do a great job
of hiding their new compatriot from senior officers.
In one account, after being scooped
by birds circling overhead, aw,
Wojtek ran directly into a sergeant
during morning inspection,
and though the men might have been understandably concerned,
the officer was allegedly won over by the cub
in a heartbeat, because of course.
Isn't that cute?
- Yeah.
- That's not bad.
- Spooked by birds.
What a dream.
- He's gonna be a real dream
when he starts ripping out people's spines
from their back.
- [Shane] And when Major Chelminski,
an even higher ranking officer discovered Wojtek,
Orr states that, quote,
"he was very taken with the little chap
"and for several weeks even let him sleep overnight
"in his tent in a portable wash basin.
"Major Chelminski realized the bear cub
"was an extremely valuable asset.
"More than just a military mascot,
"around Wojtek,
"the men's morale was sky-high."
- Adorable.
- This is working, though,
the little sleeping in a little wash basin.
- Oh, an adorable sight.
- It's great. - Very good.
- You ever see a cat sleep in a sink?
- No.
- Oh, yes.
- Is it good?
- It's very good.
- Like a little cinnamon roll.
- I am not coming over to your apartment anymore
if you get a bear.
(laughing)
That's a good loss for you to take there.
- Let's get a bear.
- And then it'll eat you in your sleep.
- [Shane] The soldiers raised Wojtek as best they could,
nursing the cub with milk in an old vodka bottle.
Lance Corporal Peter Prendys, in particular,
seems to have taken on the biggest role
in caring for Wojtek.
It was Peter's bed that the young cub would sneak into
late at night for comfort,
and Prendys would allegedly even button his army coat
around the little bear to protect them both
from the cold.
This is too adorable.
- Are there artist's interpretations of this?
- There's photos of him.
- [Sara] Oh there are? - You have photos?
- Wait, let's get 'em,
I need to get my peepers on this bear
Where?
- Here's a photo of the bear you can look at.
- Oh.
(laughing)
- Oh. - Oh God.
What is that react?
I have no idea what that reaction is.
- That was just, it's overwhelmingly cute.
- It's the cutest bear I've ever seen in my life.
- Look at him just sitting flat on the ground.
- I do love the way it sits.
- [Shane] As he grew, the bear became accustomed
to the routine life of a soldier.
It was said that he would rise most mornings,
leave the lance corporal's tent,
and amble around a bit before heading to the cookhouse,
where he'd scrounge up some cereal, milk,
marmalade, whatever was available.
- Are you kidding me? - Marmalade, yes!
- No, he didn't eat marmalade.
- There it is!
- He did.
Maybe there's some truth to the Paddington legend.
- I love that fucking bear.
- [Shane] His day might be spent running around,
chasing after oranges
the soldiers used for grenade practice.
He was even known to box and wrestle with the soldiers.
According to Orr, quote,
"groups of soldiers would try to rush him
"and knock him over.
"Roaring with delight,
"Wojtek would take on all-comers,
"batting them around like skittles."
- Now I'm seeing some first signs of trouble.
- Now you're getting concerned?
- I'm just saying there's no play fighting with a bear,
because a bear likely doesn't know its own strength.
It's not gonna be like,
let me cool my punch here,
because I don't want to knock this guy's head off.
- I think animals do that. - I think they do.
- You think so?
- Yeah, because they play with each other.
- What about that video of that person
who raised a lion,
and then they --
- Oh, he comes back to the wild with them.
- And then the lion gives a big hug?
- Yeah.
Every time I watch that video,
there is a sick part of me
that just wants the lion to just chomp that guy's head off,
and everyone's like, ah, shit!
Camera goes down to the grass.
- What were we thinking?
Of course!
(laughing)
As you might expect,
having a bear around wasn't all fun and games.
Wojtek got into his fair share of trouble.
He was known to enjoy cigarettes, for instance,
lit cigarettes, specifically, for eating, not smoking.
The bear loved to eat lit cigarettes.
In fact, it was said he could tell the difference
between a lit and unlit cigarette,
reportedly spitting out the unlit ones.
- He's got a refined palette.
- He's got a refined gentleman's palette.
- Like flaming hot Cheetos for a bear.
- [Shane] In one instance,
after joining his Polish comrades
for their Christmas Eve celebrations,
and possibly indulging in too much wine,
the bear snuck into the storehouse late at night,
and feasted upon anything he could find,
leaving the men to clean up his mess in the morning.
What a naughty bear.
He also learned not only how to break into the showers,
but also how to turn them on,
which occasionally resulted in water shortages,
but despite being a nuisance,
this would actually work to the unit's advantage.
In June of 1943, Wojtek once again broke into the showers,
and happened upon an Arab spy,
who had been hiding out in their camp
on a reconnaissance mission for an impending raid.
The spy was fittingly terrified,
and quickly surrendered the identities of his party,
effectively stopping the raid.
As a reward for his valiant efforts,
Wojtek was given sweetmeats, and beer,
and allowed to take an extended shower.
I think we undervalue the reward appeal
of a nice, long, hot shower.
- [Andrew] Yeah.
- I was actually about to say,
I think he deserves a little bit more than that.
- Maybe a conjugal visit from a lady bear?
- Jesus. - Jesus Christ.
- Good Lord.
- Well, what if sweetmeats was the name of his --
- A female bear?
That's kind of what I was thinking too.
- You done good, Wojtek.
- Here's sweetmeats.
I'll light your cigarette for you.
- [Shane] Wojtek's love of aquatics
wasn't limited to bath time, either.
One account states that when the company
was driving along Italy's coast,
Wojtek, spotting the sea,
leapt out of the vehicle,
and started bounding toward the beach,
where some Italian girls happened to be bathing.
They presumably thought they were about to die,
but a soldier from the company yelled to them, quote,
"Girls, don't be afraid.
"This bear is good."
(laughing)
- This story keeps getting better and better.
Driving down the Amalfi Coast --
- Bear's got sunglasses on.
- [Andrew] Scarf blowing in the wind on the bear.
- [Sara] He's got a button up shirt,
but it's open halfway.
- I'll tell you one thing.
If I'm on the beach,
and a car full of soldiers yells,
"Don't worry, he's a good bear,"
I'd be like, hey, buddy, fuck you!
I'd piss myself immediately,
and then once I've got over that,
I'd start running away,
and it's hard to run in sand,
so I'd probably fall,
and then I'd probably end up just crying and praying.
- Oh.
That sounds right.
- Wait a second.
Oh, God, is this just their shtick?
Like when a guy takes a pretty dog
to the dog park, and goes, I'm sorry --
- A pretty dog.
(laughing)
- I couldn't get a hold of him.
- A pretty dog?
- By the way, my name's Larry.
- Have you seen my pretty dog?
- My name's Larry.
- You know when guys use little puppies
as a shtick to pick up women?
- Yeah.
Maybe that's what they're doing here.
- I think it's an unintended benefit, for sure.
- They're probably not saying,
look at my pretty bar.
- Look at my pretty, pretty bear.
Surprisingly, Wojtek wasn't the only bear
fraternizing with the Polish army.
I know, crazy times.
There was actually an infantry battalion
that had allegedly received a bear
as a gift from the shah of Iran.
His name was Michael,
and he was not like Wojtek.
Michael was known for his vicious temperament,
and it was on full display when he met Wojtek
in September of 1943 while the unit was stationed in Iraq.
Orr writes of the encounter, quote,
"As he approached Wojtek,
"Michael went into a berserker rage.
Within seconds, the animals were enveloping each other
"in deadly bear hugs,
"slashing out with terrifying claws,
"and each trying to rip out the other's throat
"with his fangs."
When the dust settled,
Wojtek remained victorious,
nearly snapping Michael's neck.
Holy shit.
- Deadly bear hugs does sound pretty cute, though.
- Yeah.
It sounds cute, but it's not.
- Until it's crushing your exoskeleton.
- Exoskeleton?
- I was about to say --
- Do you think bears have exoskeletons?
- No, I was about to say,
I just realized we don't have exoskeletons.
I meant just skeleton.
I'm surprised he won that fight,
because you would think a bear
that's spending his time finding oranges,
taking showers, drinking beer,
being a cute little bear,
he would get his ass kicked.
- But also, he's, they're feeding him sweetmeats, beer,
oranges, this bear's big.
This bear's getting big.
- No, this is just a fat bear.
- Bear is thick.
- [Shane] Michael's unit attempted to hand the bear off
to the 22nd, but considering the bad blood
between the two bears,
Wojtek's friends thought it best
to find a home for Michael at the Tel Aviv Zoo.
The owner of the zoo responded in kind
by giving him a small monkey as a gift.
(laughing)
- The 1940s is like Pokemon.
- They, yeah, they had so many animals,
and they didn't really know what to do with them yet.
- You just trade 'em,
you battle 'em,
you do cute stuff with 'em.
- I mean, who wouldn't be stoked to get a monkey?
- Yeah.
- I just imagine the monkey going around,
like playing with the guns.
Like, put that down!
(laughing)
Despite being a 500 pound pet,
Wojtek did earn an actual military title.
En route from Naples to Egypt,
port officials allegedly denied the bear passage,
allowing only soldiers to board the ship.
His company, thinking fast,
issued him a service number, rank, and pay book,
and Private Wojtek was cleared for travel,
and in addition to providing all around moral support
to the beleaguered soldiers,
Wojtek did, in fact, assist them in combat.
Annie, are you expecting this bear to kill people?
It seemed like you were waiting for it.
- I feel like it's a wild animal.
It can turn on you.
It's just animal nature, right?
- [Ryan] That's what I'm thinking.
- Yeah.
This bear's too good.
It must be a human.
(laughing)
- It must be.
It must be a human in a costume.
- That would be the best long con,
if it was actually a spy inside of a bear suit.
- Holy shit!
- [Shane] Oh wow.
- The ultimate Trojan horse.
- And he wasn't really eating the lit cigarettes,
he was just like, inside.
- He was just putting them in his bear costume.
- Oh my God.
You're a goddamn genius.
- I know.
(laughing)
- [Shane] When the 22nd found themselves involved
in the Battle of Monte Cassino,
Wojtek was right there with them.
With the Allies under fire,
and requiring supplies and artillery,
the bear went right to work.
According Orr, quote,
"Although Wojtek had never been trained
"to handle the unloading of 100-pound boxes
"of 25 pounder shells, the fuses and other supplies,
"he simply observed what the men were doing,
"and joined in.
"Standing upright, he held out his front paws,
"into which men loaded the heavy boxes of shells.
"Effortlessly, he carried the munitions
"to their storage areas beside the artillery positions,
"and returned to the lorries,
"to collect more."
One of the bear's caretakers backs up this story,
claiming that Wojtek often did carry munitions,
but that, quote, "usually he was a lazy thing,
"and looked for the empty boxes to carry.
"At Cassino, he carried the full ones."
- Oh Wojtek.
- Even when he's being heroic,
we still get a fun fact about being a little rascal.
- I love him.
- I mean, that's gonna take the edge off the battle
a little bit.
- [Shane] Yeah.
- Sure, you're rushing to shoot things,
and blow stuff up.
Cute bear comes over with an empty box,
you're just, come on, Wojtek.
- Get outta here.
The Allies would come out victorious
in the hard fought battle,
and it was estimated that Wojtek's company
supplied approximately 17,300 tons of ammunition,
1200 tons of fuel, and 1100 tons of food
for Polish and British troops, according to Orr.
In the aftermath of the battle,
the company adopted a new emblem,
Wojtek carrying a shell.
(folk accordion music)
After his time in battle,
Wojtek's service was rewarded with a peaceful retirement.
For a short while,
he resided on a farm in a Scottish village,
where he was known to attend community dances,
and was a guest at local children's parties.
- I love him!
- Wow. - Holy shit.
- Wow.
- That is so quaint.
I wonder if they just let him loose around the children.
- I don't know.
Probably.
He seemed chill around people.
- Is there anybody there at the dance
that didn't know him,
and was just like, looking over.
I'm gonna go get some punch,
and they look and fucking bear standing right there.
Holy shit!
- [Shane] In 1947, Wojtek was given in a home
in the Edinburgh Zoo,
where we was often visited by his fellow soldiers.
One soldier recalls visiting his comrade, quote,
"As soon as I mentioned his name,
"he would sit on his backside,
"and shake his head, wanting a cigarette."
Many years later, in 1963,
at the ripe old age of 22,
Wojtek passed away,
partially due to issues with his esophagus.
He did, after all, have a habit of swallowing cigarettes.
Aw, that bear sure did love his cigarettes.
- What a shock.
- I guess if you swallow lit cigarettes,
the fact that you live to close to your expectancy
is, you know, not bad.
He went out doing what he loved.
- Yeah, you could say that, yeah.
- Swallowing lit cigarettes.
Wojtek seems to have earned himself a special place
in the heart of the Polish people.
In November of 2011, his memory was celebrated
with a parade, and if this country's love
of this boozing, smoking war bear seems at all comical,
consider this quote from Dr. Tomasz Trafas.
"The most significant fact in the whole story
"of Wojtek the bear was that he was adopted by people
"who were also orphans in some way.
"They lost their families, their homes, and their country,
"and there was no chance of returning to it.
"They didn't have anything or anyone to return to.
"The bear and the soldiers bonded
"because he had been abandoned,"
and that sentiment is echoed by one of Wojtek's comrades.
Quote, "In times of great suffering,
"not just our terrible experiences in the USSR,
"but also fear of the horrors
"of what was happening to our families back in Poland.
"Where did they live?
"Would we see them again?
"Wojtek the bear provided us with joy,
"comfort, and boosted our morale.
"Why?
"I don't know.
"But he was real.
"He really helped us."
- I'm gonna cry.
- I know.
It's making me sad.
- It's very touching.
- He was real. - He is Paddington.
He's Paddington.
- I almost choked up when I was reading that.
- I did, I was getting choked up too.
It reminded me I have a heart.
- We can pass it around, give it little hugs.
Give him a little hug, Ryan.
- Nah, 'cause then tears will fall out.
(laughing)
- [Shane] What do you think of this bear overall?
Final thoughts?
- Oh, I love him.
- I feel like a lot of times,
we take animals for granted,
so I like that we showed that something
that is traditionally thought of as violent,
can be really sweet and nice,
and you know, it just depends on the environment
that it's in?
So obviously I don't think we should take bears
out of the wild and put them in our homes.
- Okay.
(laughing)
- Possibly one of the greatest animals
to ever have lived.
- And Ryan, the man who hates bears
more than anyone else I know.
- Here's the thing.
I think this bear is perhaps the sweetest,
most amazing animal to have ever lived.
That being said,
I would like to issue a disclaimer.
If you go into the woods,
and you go, hey, Wojtek,
you try to give a bear a big old bear hug,
you're gonna die.
That's just,
that's the facts right there.
Bears, as a general rule of thumb,
very dangerous, furry tanks, killing machines.
This guy, he's an exception to the rule.
His DNA was written different than most bears.
Him and Paddington.
- How's the cigarette staying so readily in there?
- I cut a hole in his mouth.
(laughing)
- Jesus.
- [Shane] And that is the story of Wojtek the bear.
I don't know about you guys,
but I got genuinely emotional there at the end,
which I did not expect,
considering most weeks,
this show is just ooh, Ben Franklin,
really likes to crank it in a cave.
That's been Ruining History.
Thank you for learning with us.
(upbeat music)