Corporal Wojtek: the Polish Bear and Hero of WWII
Of course, it wasn’t just dogs and horses that played a role in World War II. One of the most distinguished soldiers of the conflict was actually a bear named Wojtek. Wojtek was purchased as a cub by a Polish soldier who had him officially enlisted in the Polish army at the rank of private. Wojtek served throughout the Italian Campaign with his unit, and during the Battle of Monte Casino, he famously helped carry artillery shells to the guns without dropping a single crate. In recognition of his efforts, Wojtek was promoted to Corporal before retiring to a zoo at war’s end.
In addition to bears, pigeons played a significant role in the war. The British army employed hundreds of thousands of birds in a traditional role as messengers, relaying important messages over significant distances. But attempts were also made to weaponize the pigeon. During the war, famous behavior scientist B.F. Skinner led a project fittingly named “Project Pigeon.” The idea behind the project was to find a way to train pigeons to guide bombs into targets. To do this, the pigeons were taught to peck at an image on a screen in front of them.
Whenever the target drifted out of the center of the screen, the pigeons would peck at it, guiding it back into line. After placing the birds into a glider bomb, this behavior would let them steer bombs into their targets, effectively creating pigeon-guided missiles. For his part, Skinner was very confident that he could have a working weapon ready within a few years. But the military didn’t share his enthusiasm for the project, and it was canceled to make way for other weapons. It was however briefly revived after the war before radar guidance systems began to make the whole concept obsolete.
However, the strangest attempt by far to turn animals into weapons during the war has to be the “Bat Bomb,” which was in development under the codename “Project X-Ray.” The idea was to create a canister with thousands of nesting bats that could be dropped from the air. Once the bats dispersed, they would nest under the roofs of Japanese buildings. Each bat would have a time-activated incendiary bomb on its leg that would detonate at a certain time, spreading fires across the entire city. Luckily for the bats, the Atomic Bomb project was nearing completion and made the Bat Bomb unnecessary.
Of course, while most of the animal-based weapons like the Bat Bomb proved to be busted, animals still played a huge part in the war. And in many ways, the conflict was a transition point for the way people use animals in war. Older roles like pulling equipment were proven to be obsolete, while newer, more innovative uses like detecting mines were born. Many of the roles for animals first invented during the war are still in use today. And as war continues to change, no doubt the roles of animals will change as well. But they will almost certainly still be there.
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