The Right To 'Bear' Arms: The Famous Polish Corporal Wojtek

Corporal Wojtek (second from right) and his colleagues. Source: Pouazity3 / Public Domain.

Following the Soviet Invasion of Poland, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939, the Red Army took over 31,000 Polish people as prisoners of war. The NKVD (Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел) sent hundreds of thousands of people to Siberia and the more remote parts of eastern Russia to be imprisoned in gulags or killed en-masse.

The Russians, allies of the British, realized the invasion was not good for international relations and released around 100,000 Polish POWs. These men were to be evacuated through the Middle East and join the British military.

Who Was Corporal Wojtek?

Corporal Wojtek (pronounced VOY-tek) was a member of the Polish II Corps, 22nd Artillery Supply Company. Corporal Wojtek had been known for boosting the morale of his brothers in arms and was a hero during the Battle of Monte Cassino in Italy in 1944.

Corporal Wojtek might not be a name you have heard before, and he sounds like a regular soldier, but there was nothing ordinary about this soldier. Corporal Wojek was a bear. An actual Syrian brown bear who was an enlisted soldier in the Polish army.