Determined to not leave Wojtek behind, the soldiers decided to get around the problem by enlisting the 6-foot bear into their ranks as a private with his own pay-book and serial number.A fully-fledged member of the Polish 2nd Corp when he arrived at the Italian front, Wojtek’s most celebrated moment came during the 1944 siege of Monte Cassino, an ancient hilltop monastery in Italy that the Germans had turned into an impregnable fortress on the key approach to Rome.