HIS wartime exploits and long retirement at Edinburgh Zoo endeared him to thousands and lead to a monument in his honour being raised in the heart of the city.
But now it has emerged that Polish bear Wojtek, whose statue stands in Princes Street Gardens, was not the only animal of his kind to delight the capital's residents.
Fresh research has uncovered the forgotten tale of a military polar bear who also caused a sensation when she marched in step through Edinburgh alongside hundreds of Polish soldiers.
The bear, called Baska Murmanska, was said to have stood to attention at appropriate moments, and entertained onlookers by saluting with her paw.
And it appears that Wojtek was following in the pawsteps of his ursine comrade, with Baska's appearance in 1919 coming more than 20 years earlier than his own.
Wojtek was bought as a cub in Persia by Polish troops released from Prison, and later served as the mascot of the 22 Company, being given the rank of Private and travelling to the front lines in Italy.
At then end of the war he was brought to Scotland and lived out the rest of his life in the capital, enjoying frequent visits from ex-Polish soldiers.
Ba?ka was similarly adopted as the mascot of a Polish battalion, the Murma?czycy, who fought the Bolsheviks in Northern Russia following the Russian Revolution.
When the conflict came to an end, the soldiers were evacuated to Scotland and paraded through Edinburgh, unwittingly past the spot where the statue to Wojtek would one day stand.
Marching through Edinburgh to and from their accommodation at Dreghorn Barracks in their distinctive blue uniforms they "attracted a large amount of attention", according to contemporary newspaper reports.
Historian Sebastian Sosi?ski from the Polish town of Nowy Dwór, has studied the story of Ba?ka.
He said: "The Murma?czycy got their polar bear because of a woman.
"One of the Polish soldiers was competing with an Italian officer for a certain lady's favour. She liked animals very much. The Italian had a pet arctic fox with white-blue fur.
"But the Pole out-classed the officer by going to meet her with a polar bear he bought at the Arkhangelsk market."
According to Mr Sosi?ski, the soldiers "were crazy about their polar bear".
"She was made an official member of the army, and given the military rank of 'Daughter of the regiment'. She even got her own military rations like any other soldier," he said.
Diplomat Jan Meysztowicz, writing in an edition of Voice of Poland magazine published in August 1943, also recalled the scene.
He wrote: "A certain Sunday, in November 1919, the passers-by in Edinburgh were astounded at the unusual sight of a battalion of obviously foreign infantry parading in Princes Street. Their equipment revealed they were coming from the far north.
"But the greatest sensation was aroused by an enormous white polar bear, trained to keep pace with the ranks, and even standing to attention at appropriate moments, making the military salute with his paw."
Sadly, Baska's story did not end as happily as Wojtek's. She accompanied her unit to their barracks at the Modlin Fortress, 20 miles from the Polish capital, but she had only been there for a short time when tragedy struck.
During a hot spell, she escaped after being taken to a river to cool down, and was shot by peasants who did not know she was tame.
Aileen Orr who has written about Wojtek , and also campaigned for the statue to be built, said: "I had heard a very vague story of another bear coming to Scotland with the Poles very early on around about the early 1900s.
"But it seems quite remarkable that she also had been made a soldier and had walked passed the spot where Wojtek now stands. The story of Wojtek has been full of extraordinary and strange coincidences and this is yet another."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel