Wojtek: The Bear That Went to War

DOOR SLAMS

HEARTBEAT

The cave, high up on the windswept mountainside,

was warm and silent.

He grew slowly in his world of darkness,

conscious only of the closeness of his mother, who nursed and fed him.

And so the days slipped by in happy hours...

until the hunters came.

GUNSHOTS

HEARTBEAT

In the spring of 1942, after Germany had attacked Russia,

and Russia had become an ally of the Western world,

large numbers of Polish prisoners of war in Russian camps were released

to join the Polish army of General Anders in the Middle East.

It was at this time that the men of this contingent,

like many other Polish soldiers who landed in Persia,

were on their way to Palestine and Egypt,

where they were to be re-grouped in accordance

with British army organisation.

'We were already in Persia.'

I had been undernourished for such a long time that...

..I was weak.

'We were spending the night in Alborz mountains.

'And there was a group of Persian boys.

'One of them was holding this small bear.'

He lost his mother.

The mother was shot by a hunter.

It was the 8th of April exactly when I made his acquaintance.

SHE LAUGHS

And it was already warm.

'As he was still very small...

'..he needed the warmth of another human being,

'and he clung to me.

'He was very, very affectionate then'

and, of course, I was so enchanted by the little bear,

cos I was young myself, you know?

'And I liked him very much.

'I stroked his fur and held him tightly.

'Remembering that he had no mother

'and he must have missed the mother very much.'

In a sense, he must have sensed the fact that I liked him,

that I held him near to me, it must have...

..done something to him. He was like a human being.

He already had his own character.

And at night, he used to walk over our heads!

So, you see, my friends, my colleagues, didn't like it very much

and then they told me that I must get rid of him,

and I said, "I'm not going to get rid of him.

"You must think up a way out."

So in the end...

it was decided to give him as a present to a Polish general.

He made arrangements for the bear

to be put where there were officers in a Polish regiment

and it was arranged for the bear to be transferred there.

So that's how he joined the regiment there,

and started his army career.

I first met Wojtek in the Gedera Camp in Palestine

in November 1942.

Then it was Second Transport Company.

Afterwards, it was renamed as 22nd Transport Company.

And so I met Wojtek, you know?

I was extremely astonished, because I said,

"Oh, a bear is sitting near the tent of our commander."

"Oh, it is Wojtek."

"Wojtek?! Oh!" So, a second Wojtek in the company.

I was at first astonished, but afterwards I was so accustomed

that we'd been given the same name that it was no problem

but only, you know, if friends from other units

were coming to visit me, to see me, and are asking,

"Is Wojtek here?"

"But which one? Big one or little one?"

HE LAUGHS

And therefore I was afterwards called Little Wojtek.

Not only were they drawn to the helpless creature

by his irresistible appearance,

but, more importantly, because he was an orphan

and homeless, and because in a sense they themselves were orphans, too.

I first met Wojtek the bear in Palestine in 1943.

The company which had got this Wojtek was next to us.

He was about a year old, but was quite big, really quite big.

And I have a photograph. The commandant lady said,

"Girls, we'll make a photograph with this bear."

And she said, "Irena, you must sit there."

I said, "No, not next to him." I was sitting in the second row.

We were so busy because we had to supply not only Polish units,

but there were also other units.

Therefore we had little time to play with him.

We were first in Palestine.

Afterwards, all the Polish Second Corp got moved to Iraq,

because the Germans were already in the Caucasus mountains,

and so very close to the petrol fields in Iraq, in Persia.

'Iraq is a very hot country, a place where it's really like hell.

'From ten o'clock in the morning to five o'clock,

'we'd be lying under tents - naked, nearly -

'and just putting water on myself.

'And he was sitting all this hot time

'in his hole in the soil, in the earth.'

It must have been difficult for him, his own experience.

He was out of his country.

And in a sense, even being an animal,

he must have felt it,

because Iraq was a foreign country to him.

Even an animal must have felt the loss.

I'm a firm believer in it.

Perhaps after all, he could remember his mother

and the cool mountains of his native land

when he sat at the edge of the camp,

looking over the monotonous desert wastes

to the distant horizon, slowly whimpering to himself.

He was like an immigrant, really.

He was homeless.

We'd been homeless too.

He never came back to the place where he was born.

We never came back to the place where we were born.

It's difficult to explain,

because today, this looks like it's not really true.

'Sometimes I think, "Why am I alive?"

'At this exhibition about Wojtek,

'I was looking at these pictures

'because there's a part of my life in these pictures, really.

'The young generation, there's many things they don't believe.

'They don't believe, really, that it's true.

'For example, I've got my grandson.

'He's only eight but I've been talking about it,

'and took him to this exhibition about Wojtek

'and he said, "It's not true!

'"How can he drive? How can he do that? He's an animal."

'It's difficult to explain for children.'

-That elbow, that elbow.

-Yeah.

-Look at the bottom!

-I know!

-I love that picture.

-And the solidity.

This is my favourite picture.

'The story can't just be aired independently, just floating free.

'Because of telling the Wojtek story,

'people have to learn how it happened, why.'

We were deported in 1940, 13th April, to Siberia.

That was 1940, in February. I was ten.

We heard the noise...

..banging on the...on the door,

and suddenly, very unceremoniously,

six armed men entered our house.

They came, about 20 people,

soldiers, came to my home, and said,

"Take everything you want in your hands,

"put your coat on, because you are going somewhere."

It was very, very cold - it was 30 degrees below zero.

Of course, they put us all... packed us on the sledges

and took us to the nearest railway station,

which was already packed with similar families.

We were frightened...

HORN BLARES

..and terrified.

After a few hours, they packed us to the cattle trains.

30 to 50 people on the wooden planks,

with a hole in the middle as a toilet.

DOOR SLAMS

If they hadn't deported us, if we hadn't been freed

with the army forming in Russia then continuing to form in Iran,

the bear wouldn't have been found.

The bear went the same route as the Poles did.

I first met Wojtek in Iraq...

..in Kirkuk...

..early in 1943.

To be there in the Middle East, the situation was so unique,

so unexpected.

But I must say there was a particular sense of longing,

no, nostalgia.

We could go almost every other shop

you could speak Polish.

You could speak Polish and talk about the old country.

Wojtek displayed all the enthusiasm of a tourist,

taking a great interest in his surroundings, wherever he went.

I think that er...his nature

was rather exceptional -

he liked to be with people...

with soldiers, to play with them.

Sometimes you think he's smiling to you, or something.

He was really a very sweet animal, especially very helpful too

because Wojtek was looking after while he was in this company.

Every night, two soldiers in the company or something

have 24 hours, you are on duty.

Then Wojtek would go out until he was tired, had very little sleep

and again go out with these men who were on duty - he was very helpful.

He was a great sort of bodyguard,

because they could leave him in a truck and nobody would ever think

of stealing anything from it, with a socking great bear sitting in the front!

You know, it was very strange for me

if I say so, because now he was so popular but for us, we were

so accustomed to his presence,

that...it was quite something normal for us.

But you've got to remember in that camp, there were mascots everywhere.

It was just dogs, ferrets, you name it,

everybody wanted to have something to love.

It was the 13th February 1944,

and with other units of the Polish Second Corps,

the 22nd Transport Company were due to embark on the MS Batory for Italy.

During the two years in the Middle East,

this had been the point of all their training, and now they were relieved

and excited that the time for action had arrived.

They all knew the standing orders for embarkation...

they forbade the taking of animals to Italy.

But how could they leave Wojtek behind?

It would break his heart, and their hearts too.

I was interviewing all the Polish soldiers in that regiment.

We looked at the roster and there was only one person - Corporal Wojtek -

who had not appeared,

and so when I heard who Corporal Wojtek was,

and how stubborn he was in not coming forward,

I wanted to find out why.

This silly lieutenant who was helping me

said, "Don't you think, sir, it would be a good idea

"if we got the man himself to come up

"and then we'd find out all about him?"

So I said, "Yes, well, why not? Is that all right, Colonel?"

And the colonel said, "Yes, of course,

"we'll send two people down to collect him,"

and I said, "Two people?"

Two officers went down to collect him -

I thought that was very funny

and against all the rules of warfare.

But anyway, down they went.

I looked at the lieutenant and his face went as white as white.

I looked at...

his helper, the sergeant, and the sergeant was...

So I thought, "Oh, God,"

and I looked over my shoulder

and there was Wojtek,

standing there...

marvellous, truly marvellous.

The Port Authority wouldn't let him on.

They had to phone the High Command in Cairo to ask permission

to let Wojtek on and they got permission

so he had the High Command of Cairo's permission to board the Batory.

General Anders, he was the man who gave him the title Corporal.

I didn't realise he had got a rank.

I didn't realise they had got to that stage.

This was the added incentive

that people would recognise him

as a genuine entity of the Second Polish Army.

He had got his number, he had got his book,

his money to get cigarettes,

because he liked eating cigarettes.

He was a soldier, a real soldier.

And so it was that a little later, a small detachment of men

marched smartly up to the boarding point, led by a huge brown bear.

Wojtek had officially joined the army.

For us to reach a Polish ship,

sailing under the Polish flag, we were crying.

And our national anthem, you know, playing in honour of us.

So it was something.

We were already three or four years after leaving our houses,

you know, our families...

So it was something extremely moving.

MUSIC: POLISH NATIONAL ANTHEM

The winter campaign, from January to March 1944,

had become locked in stalemate.

Three bloody battles in which

the British, American, Indian, French and New Zealand troops

had fought for the heights above Cassino town,

had failed to dislodge the enemy.

Now, in April, preparations were underway for a fourth assault

and into the lines to join the Americans, French and British

had come the Second Polish Corps.

People say to me, have done over the years,

"Were you not frightened when you go into battle?"

The first time, of course,

you're not frightened, you're apprehensive.

The second time, you're frightened, because you know what to expect.

I always remember we were just behind the mountain

facing Cassino town.

We suddenly heard the sound of aircraft,

and there must have been about

300 or 400 American airplanes

came zooming over the top of us

towards Cassino town.

And of course we didn't know it, but a few days later

we would actually be in Cassino town, in the front line.

We didn't know exactly what had happened to the Poles

when we were fighting.

They were to attack the Germans on their weakest point,

which was at the rear of the monastery,

and of course the Poles suffered terrible casualties there.

If you're 2,000ft up, it's not easy to start scrambling over the rocks

to try and take a position.

For the Poles it was something special,

different, though, that they were fighting for their homeland,

and also for a Poland in the future years.

Well, our duty was to bring munitions,

food and petrol

to two heavy artillery regiments,

and Wojtek was hiding under barrels

but really, he was sometimes helping,

because we were loading, you know, but the boxes...

when he has seen that we are so very tired,

already bringing these heavy boxes to the...

to the lorry, you know,

so he was trying to help us,

and really I remembered he could take a log by himself.

We took it by three or four, you know,

and he took it alone and put it on the lorry.

So if he sees that the soldiers are tired, he thinks...

.."So I will help them. I will help them."

You know, he has such a nature that he liked to help,

you know, in every possible manner.

I first met Wojtek, the Polish bear,

in April 1943, near to Acquafondata in Italy...

a magnificent animal.

So as we came out of the line to be relieved by other divisions,

we went into Cassino town, which was a mass of ruins

and as always, when you come out of the front line, you try

and get a delousing and a shower, and a change of underclothes.

Some of us, of course, hadn't had a change of clothing for over a month.

After we had the shower and had the delousing,

our next job would have been to go scrounging.

We walked down into the areas

where the Italian civilians had departed,

the idea being that there might have been a farm or a house

where there were chickens and eggs.

If we'd got that, of course, it would have supplemented our rations.

We were walking through the country lane, and all at once we heard

the sound of a battery opening fire.

We moved towards it to see what was happening

and there in the clearing in the woods

was three 25-pounders.

We could see by the dress of one, who was an officer, that they were Polish.

We sat there for a minute or two, and suddenly,

out of the nearby wood, came this bear,

about six foot tall or more, carrying something,

and as he came nearer we saw that it was kind of a bit bedraggled,

had plenty of hair on it and its feet were massive... really big.

You know, you realise when a bear stands up, how tall it really is.

I shouted, "Look out!" Vinnie shouted, "Look out!"

And it carried... Walked probably about 10 yards in front of us

and suddenly stooped, put the shell it was carrying... it was a shell...

at the trail legs of the gun.

As it walked slowly back, it went on to its four legs

and kind of shuffled along.

It was massive! It must have weighed a ton.

Lasocki has written that he once

going to the...er...regiment

we were supplying, but it was absolutely impossible, no no.

We were, er...loading, you know,

but the boxes, not individual,

because it was much more fast than to put individual shells.

So it is true, but not individual shells

because it would be too dangerous.

The huge creature, over six feet tall,

moved easily amongst the men,

and the men were so unconcerned, it might have been one of them.

But that wasn't all.

The bear was actually helping to unload the supplies.

Imagination can be a strong thing.

We were wanting to take him back home to Poland,

and were exposing him to the most vitriolic shell fire

and gun fire that the generals were giving us at Monte Cassino.

That was nonsense. No, he was there,

but he certainly wasn't in full view.

He came out a second time a few minutes later with another shell

and we could see this time that it was kind of panting,

because the weather wasn't too great.

It stopped, looked near the right side of the gun

and started to climb a tree.

He was looking where the shells were going, you know.

They just ignored it like it was part of the team,

which obviously it was.

They just didn't seem to want to acknowledge it, it was just there

to do a job, like it was part of the party to get involved in shelling.

He had to do what they did.

They smoke, he smoked, they drank, they nodded, he nodded.

He was a soldier.

He must have done as they were very fond of their banners, regiments.

They're iconic. Why change it?

All the vehicles were stamped with it. Everything was done with it.

They were very proud of him.

He was almost human. But he wasn't.

He was a brave, brave man.

As a bear.

Because of my category of health, I was too...

-Too ill to be killed.

-Too ill. Not healthy enough

to be killed by a German soldier in an attack on a stronghold.

That was the paradox.

The healthy ones were killed and the less healthy ones survived.

My own battalion had lost over 60%.

I think that was general throughout.

Which was pretty rough.

It wasn't a pleasant job. It was all or nothing, succeed at all costs.

Of course, we had seen these terrible losses which we had.

But anyway, it was for us very important because as you know,

our enemies, especially the Soviets,

Stalin said the Polish don't want to fight.

And here we have shown that the Polish are fighting for freedom.

The Poles were amongst our best troops.

They were so angry about the way they'd been treated by the Germans and Russians.

It was kill or be killed, literally, all the time.

When it was all over, we saw them coming down the mountain

with their dead and wounded and it was a sad sight. It was a sad sight.

It's given me something that people who are not in the forces

or been in actual combat will never have.

It's a comradeship.

Even if you don't know someone but he was in a battle you were in,

he's your brother immediately.

Family.

In 1947 I returned to Poland.

Of course, I was a little afraid

since my whole family was prosecuted and was imprisoned.

Thanks to God, my father returned home,

my sister and brother also returned home.

I was the only one outside of Poland.

During the war I think not only Polish soldiers but every soldier

who was separated from their families and home countries,

if he has contact with a nice friendly person,

even if it's an animal, it's important for the moral state of the soldier.

But only Wojtek became so famous with the British Army

because we were fighting with him all the time.

From baby's age, educated always amongst the same soldiers.

This is something extraordinary.

An animal who is so friendly.

He's not dangerous.

Usually bears are dangerous. They are wild animals.

But Wojtek was...

Of course, it was an exceptional animal

and worth remembering now.

This is a symbolic date, 18th of May,

because the Polish flag was put on the ruins of the monastery.

Cassino had been won, and the Allies were advancing on Rome.

And though the war seemed far away, the occasional distant gunfire

was a grim reminder that there were battles yet to come.

But for that moment, the men of the 22nd Transport Company could relax.

That summer on the Adriatic coast was a high spot of Wojtek's life.

During this Italian campaign,

I remember because Wojtek was just on this workshop lorry,

and he was staying with...

erm...

his hands...

front hands on the cabin, on the driver.

Once we were going,

I was just in the first or second lorry after this workshop,

and he had seen that to the Adriatic coast is 50 metres,

because we were going along the coast.

He jumped out and went to the beach where there were many Italian girls.

You can imagine all the crying

and us saying, "Girls! Don't be afraid!

"This is a good bear!

"Don't be afraid, he won't do anything bad."

And he went...swimming a little,

returned...and was going again!

He rolled about with the soldiers and played with them.

He took on four at a time with his claws all bunched up.

He enjoyed giving them a buffeting

and they went soaring head over heels.

He never hurt any of them, never.

He was inviting the soldiers to fight with him but was very polite.

When he won, he was very fond.

But never do something wrong to the beaten enemy.

In the autumn, the Allies began to evacuate their troops from Italy.

On the 26th of September the company embarked,

and this time there was no difficulty in taking Wojtek aboard.

His name was officially written on the passenger list

and he was given his own ration card, which each man received,

and which included his allowance of sweets and tobacco.

We've always had two problems with the Wojtek story,

especially trying to find people here in Scotland.

That was, one - to get the Poles to talk about their past,

because they'd settled in Scotland and as far as they were concerned

Poland was another time, another place.

The very thing they were fighting for which was freedom...

freedom of speech, freedom to move, freedom to trade...

had all been lost in the Second World War.

And you're going into a regime that is worse than being bombed and shot.

It was a time which they wanted to forget

and they were living in Scotland, they were Scots, and they wanted

to be part of the new regime, as it were. This is a new life.

You didn't speak Polish.

"You're Scots, you're British. Be what you are but you're not Polish."

The interesting thing is, lots of people didn't understand or know

that Wojtek had a Scottish element to his final years.

At Winfield Camp at its height there would be between 2,500 to 3,000 people.

Men, civilians, people coming in and out on a daily basis.

You had a small town plonked in the middle of a field,

but remember, all these men had to be fed and looked after

and their life had to be discussed at length.

You can feel him here already!

He was always curious.

Here's some of the original marks here. And there are some on there.

You can see on there. Some of them are ripped as they go up.

You'll see marks on all of the trees, the various damage he's done over the years.

You can see how they have widened as they've got older.

But he did incredible damage.

The claws he had would have mauled a man in seconds,

would have killed them.

This strange collar appeared on the tree not that long ago,

with "Wojtek" written on it,

so we believe people have been actually leaving things.

Strange.

DOOR SLAMS LOUDLY

CHILD'S VOICE: Wojtek?

Are you really a soldier, Wojtek?

Wojtek, my daddy says you can speak Polish.

Is it true you're going back to Poland?

I first met Wojtek the bear in October 1946.

We got a message that there were soldiers coming from Glasgow,

the bus arriving from Italy - with the bear with them - to Winfield.

So we were curious,

because looking at other soldiers in the Nissan huts,

you got fed up looking at each other.

Living in a camp away from a town, a village or whatever,

you saw the same people day after day, so it was a change to see

an animal like Wojtek the bear. He was so friendly and used to people.

He liked a cigarette, he liked sweeties. He liked a bottle of beer.

He saw them drinking, smoking and whatever,

and he was accustomed to it. It was part of his life.

He thought, "If it's good for them, it's good for me."

He would sit on his backside with a bottle of beer

between the front paws and would just drink it like a normal human being.

He would dunk it and nod his head after he'd had it to say thank you.

The time he was here, he saw quite a bit of the countryside,

walking wise, or there were a lot of people who used to come

from far and wide to see the bear at Winfield.

They used to come and take photographs of Wojtek the bear.

We were accustomed to it, but people that came from the towns or villages to see him,

or if we took him in the lorry to Duns or Berwick,

it's not often they saw anything like that.

The majority of the Polish soldiers couldn't speak very much English

and the local people couldn't speak Polish.

So there was a gap. Just like the bear.

You could say something to him and he nodded his head but he couldn't answer.

It was the same with the British people that we met or they met us,

the correspondence was the same.

I was named "OK" because it didn't matter what anybody said,

I didn't want to be wrong, so I always said "OK",

and that has stuck to this day. I'm still "OK".

The morale wasn't too good because at that particular time,

we were still struggling to get in touch with people in Poland.

There were a lot of restrictions, everything was censored.

Anything we sent to Poland or any correspondence from them.

There were bits cut out and we had to guess what was on it.

The morale, overall, we were accustomed to it and we'd make do.

We had to.

At the time he was at Winfield, he was happy.

He was around the camp, taken out in the lorry to towns and villages...

He was happy. But, unfortunately, it didn't last.

This is Union Bridge, it's a very famous bridge,

it's literally two minutes from the camp.

What he would have done,

what he did do with the men, is come down here, and would swim in here,

and he loved it.

The big problem for us then - for the men, anyway - was where would Wojtek go?

What would happen to Wojtek?

He was a hope on legs, as they called him,

so they had a sad last day here before decisions were made.

The options were very limited.

He could either be repatriated with the men to Poland,

which was really a no-no,

or - the worst decision - to have him put down.

They had made a definite... There was a definite agreement

that if he was put down, they would do it themselves...

to be shot.

That was when I was told, "But we have one problem,

"we have no accommodation for this bear for the winter.

"Can you help us?"

I said, "Have you tried Edinburgh Zoo?"

The first thing that struck me.

He said, "We don't like zoos because they tend to keep animals."

I said, "You could make a proviso that, if Poland became free,

"he would go back,

"you must sign that."

That is what they did.

I took it, held it up to the colonel and said,

"There you are, give that to General Anders, that's his passport."

I first met Wojtek in Edinburgh Zoo, in 1961, when I was eight years old.

I was actually with a Polish friend.

We came out of the bus, clambered into the zoo,

struggling through the crowds because he was very, very popular.

She had obviously known about Wojtek...

because she spoke to him in Polish and he responded.

He waved at us...

Just at us, not at anybody else, it was just us!

It was totally magical, and love at first sight.

It was one of these real moments.

I said to her, "Ask him if he knows my grandpa."

She said, "Yes, he told me he did!"

We were only eight!

I talked to Don Gillespie afterwards and I said to him,

"We're willing to pay, you know, for his keep." "Not necessary,"

he said, "Look at the thousands that are coming in here just to see the bear!"

So, that was it.

I spoke to him in Polish. I said, "Would you like a cigarette?"

and he nodded his head,

but to get a cigarette to him

from that distance, there was a gutter in front

and most of the cigarettes fell into there, he would try with his paw to get them

out of there, and I practically threw a packet of cigarettes away

before he got one. And he swallowed it

and nodded his head to say thank you.

His behaviour was impeccable and I remember Lieutenant Fritz taking a violin and playing a mazurka

and the bear started to dance.

He had obviously done it before.

He appreciated the fact that he was hearing something

and he could tell Polish because his little ears were going

back and forward, back and forward, very quick

and that's the only way you can tell a bear...when he's taking it all in.

Fritz spoke to him in Polish.

It's the most...moving thing I've ever seen.

He lost his freedom, as we understood the freedom he was used to.

He was well looked after, I will not accuse anyone of neglect

or anything, but he was not a free man, or free bear,

as he was prior to that, but there was no alternative.

Wojtek! Wojtek!

Wojtek, papieros.

Cigarette!

HE CONTINUES IN POLISH

Hey, do you remember?

Papieros! Wojtek!

Polish army...

Throughout the years of war, they had dreamed of returning to Poland

and parading through the streets of the capital

while the crowds roared out their welcome.

But now, Warsaw was in ruins and Russian troops were still in Poland.

They could not go back,

and as Wojtek had settled down in his new world,

so must they, too, in theirs.

In Gdansk, Danzig,

the General had asked to bring him to Poland.

But the Communist authorities wouldn't, he was a symbol of free Poland.

It was prestigious, a little,

to bring him to show that Poland was nearly free,

but my colleagues didn't allow it.

It would have been very nice from Persia to Poland,

not from Persia to Scotland.

But it is the history.

We can say that there is some similarity

between the Poles who remained in the United Kingdom

and we were dispersed all through the world.

This CV of Wojtek can be an example

of the fate of Polish exiles.

Churchill told Anders,

"Now the war is over, we don't need you.

"You have done what you have done, but we don't need you."

It was, for us, something very painful.

Not only could Wojtek not return to Poland,

many soldiers too.

So, he is also a symbol of this provisional liberty we had -

provisional.

Only in '89 we became really free.

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