They Lost Their Country. They Refused to Lose Their Bear

May 1944, Monte Cassino. The men of a Polish supply company said that one of the soldiers hauling shells to the guns was a bear. His name was Wojtek. He was an orphaned cub, found on a road in Iran by Polish soldiers just let out of Soviet prison camps. He grew up as one of them, was enlisted as a private so he could sail with them to war, and followed them into an exile they never chose. This is the true story of the soldiers who were never supposed to survive, and the bear who became their family. 0:00 The Bear at Monte Cassino 1:15 Out of the Camps 3:07 Big Wojtek, Little Wojtek 4:50 The Bear and Monkey 6:37 No Way Home Sources: the veterans' own words as published by BBC News (Augustyn Karolewski, 2008; Wojciech Narębski, 2011) and AFP (Wojciech Narębski and Krystyna Ivell, 2019, with the 22nd Company's 1944 journal); Hoover Institution, "Wojtek, the Bear of Monte Cassino" (2012, on Lt Stanisław Kroczak's memoir); Imperial War Museums records; Historic Environment Scotland (2018); Der Spiegel (2012); Wikipedia articles on Wojtek, Anders' Army, the 2nd Polish Corps, the Battle of Monte Cassino and the Polish cemeteries at Monte Cassino and Bandar-e Anzali. The shells at Monte Cassino are told as his comrades' testimony; an officer's memoir says those stories are not true. Full fact ledger with a source for every line available on request. Photos: Imperial War Museums (Wojtek, IWM HU 16545 and MH 1246; Polish refugees and orphans in Persia, E 19024 and E 21187; the monastery at Cassino, NA 15141), National Digital Archives of Poland (NAC: the Polish Army in the USSR and Iran, 21-158, 21-170-2, 21-170-3; Monte Cassino 1944–45, 24-439-1, 24-452-15, 24-578-1), Melchior Wańkowicz, "Bitwa o Monte Cassino" (1945–47), Centralne Archiwum Wojskowe (Anders, NKVD photograph, 1940), Library of Congress (Nick Parrino, US Office of War Information, Teheran 1943), US National Archives (Yalta, US Army Signal Corps, 1945): public domain. "Anzali cementery3 Barry Kent": Karol Tofil, CC BY 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..., cropped. "Track to road at Sunwick Farm": Peter Wood, CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..., cropped. "Wojtek memorial statue, West Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh, Scotland, 28th May 2022": DsMaxwell, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..., cropped. "Niedziwedz Wojtek pomnik park jordana krakow": Skabiczewski, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..., cropped. Film: US National Archives, US Army Signal Corps film (reels 111-ADC-813, 111-ADC-2624, 111-ADC-4511, 111-ADC-5539): public domain. Stock video (Pexels License): Simone Cappellari, Nicky Pe, Engin Akyurt, Mateusz Max Maksiak, Alberto Escalona. Stock video from Mixkit (Mixkit Stock Video Free License). Maps drawn by us on Natural Earth data (public domain). No AI images: every photo and film clip is real archive or free-licence footage. No film of Wojtek himself is free to use: the modern bear clips are illustrative and labelled STOCK FOOTAGE on screen, and they never stand for him. Music: Claude Debussy, "Clair de lune", performed by Laurens Goedhart (piano). Licensed under CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... (excerpt, edited). Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Other music: public domain or CC0 recordings released by Musopen (musopen.org), including the Musopen Symphony Orchestra and the Skidmore College Orchestra. Sound effects: CC0 (Freesound).