10 Weirdest WWII Stories You Probably Haven't Heard

The Polish have a secret weapon, and the German army is terrified of it. Poland's weapon is something no other army has: Corporal Wojtek. Corporal Wojtek is no ordinary soldier, he's a cigarette smoking, beer drinking, artillery shell carrying war bear!

Yes, that's right. A war bear.

Wojtek was born in Iran in 1942 and was bought by Polish army soldiers as a company mascot. As Wojtek got older he would mimic the men around him by drinking beer (which he loved), smoking cigarettes (and eating them!), and wrestling. He would walk alongside the men on his hind legs and was even taught to salute. Wojtek was as much a part of the unit as anyone else, and on occasion he would sleep with the men if they were cold.

Unbelievably, he was enlisted into the army as a private in 1943 to get around a loophole preventing him from travelling to Italy with the unit. Where he truly made his mark was in the Battle of Monte Cassino, where his unit was shelling enemy positions. Wojtek had been watching the men ferrying the shells to the guns and thought, "I can do that". He picked up a crate of shells, that would normally take four men to carry, and moved it to the gun positions, and then kept on during the entire battle.

Following the battle, Wojtek was promoted to Corporal for his exploits, surely the only bear to win a promotion in the Second World War! After the war, he was discharged from the army and was given to Edinburgh Zoo, where he spent the rest of his days until he died in 1963. Wojtek left a legacy that is still remembered in Poland.