Animated film to spotlight bear that served in WWII
During World War II, Wojciech Narebski and his fellow Polish servicemen had to lift crate after heavy metal crate of artillery. Fortunately for them, one of the soldiers had superhuman strength: Corporal Wojtek, a Syrian brown bear.
“When he saw that we were struggling, he’d want to help... He’d come over, grab a crate and carry it to the truck,” Narebski, now 93, told AFP of his days with Wojtek in the 22nd Artillery Supply Company.
This can be heavy work, even for a bear. When Wojtek got tired, he would simply stack one crate on top of the other, “which also helped us, because we didn’t have to lift the crate off the ground,” recounted the veteran who spent two and a half years with the friendly giant he considered a brother.
“Of course he got a reward. Honey, marmalade. That was his favourite.”
Wojtek the Bear also liked to drink beer and smoke (or rather eat) cigarettes, take showers, snuggle with his handler at night, and wrestle with his comrades.
When an opponent lost, Wojtek would lick their face in apology.
Old photos show the bulky beast -- who grew to be over 1.8 metres (six feet) tall and weighed about 220 kilogrammes (490 pounds) -- giving bear hugs, opening his toothy jaw wide for food, and enjoying a day at the beach with smiling soldiers.
The unbelievable true story of the orphaned cub, which was found by Polish troops in Persia and then travelled through Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Italy and Scotland as a morale-booster, is now being turned into an animated movie.
The British-polish ilmmakers hope to release the family-friendly “A Bear Named Wojtek” in 2020 on the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day.
But the ilm’s British producer, Iain Harvey, was skeptical when Scottish animator Iain Gardner irst approached him.
“To be honest I thought, ‘This man has had too many whiskys’,” Harvey said, before he realised that: “For once the magic is real.”
“When you actually ind a story that is almost like a fairytale but is real, and documented and true, it just opens up so many more emotions I think,” he told AFP.
“You know, that humanity can have magic and that things can happen that you wouldn’t normally think are rational,” he went on.