Free Republic

Like any soldier, he loved to relax with a cigarette and a bottle of beer when out of the firing line. But in the heat of battle, he became an inspiring figure - bravely passing ammunition along to supply the guns. All the men in the Second Polish Transport Company agreed that the recruit they called Voytek was the perfect comrade. As for Voytek, he was just happy to be part of the unit... ever ready to lend a helping paw. The 250lb brown bear, standing more than 6ft tall, was possibly the most remarkable combatant of the Second World...

Tribute to Voytek, the smoking, drinking fighting, soldier bear By ROBERT FAIRBAIRN HE ENJOYED a cigarette and a bottle of cold beer and could carry more mortar rounds than any other soldier. But Voytek wasn't one of the ordinary dogs of war – he was a battling bear. Adopted by the Polish army, the European brown bear "fought" at the bloody Battle of Monte Cassino before dying, not of a bullet wound, but of old age, in Edinburgh Zoo. Now a campaign has been started to build a monument to him. Voytek was adopted as a cub in the Middle...

After the Battle of Monte Cassino, one of the fiercest and bloodiest conflicts of the Second World War, many accounts emerged of the bravery and heroism of the soldiers. But perhaps the strangest story of all was of an Iranian brown bear who served alongside the allied soldiers in the worst heat of the battle. Despite the incessant bombardment and constant gunfire, the bear carried vital supplies of ammunition and food to his fellow-soldiers fighting on the mountainside. Many observers who witnessed his remarkable actions doubted the reality of what they were seeing. But the story was no legend. At...