The Polish Second Army Corps, veterans of the Soviet Gulag and arriving from Iran, arrives in Palestine. Here, nearly 3,000 of the 4,000 Polish Jews desert to join the Israeli militias. Among them is Menachem Begin, the future Israeli Prime Minister from 1977 to 1983. The Second Army Corps, however, continues its journey through Egypt and then Italy. Together with the bear Wojtek, purchased in Iran, they fight in the Battle of Monte Cassino, capture the port of Ancona, and finally Bologna. Ultimately, they refuse to return to Sovietized Poland, and almost all end up in Great Britain, with some in the United States, Italy, and so on.
