Westerplatte

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It is usually accepted that the starting point for WW2 was when the German cruiser Schleswig Holstein opened fire on Polish positions at Westerplatte in Gdansk.
I would dispute this as I believe the attack on the town of Wielun commenced earlier. There is also the attack on the bridge at Tczew (Dirschau), bombing near Puck or even the attack on the Polish Post Office in Gdańsk (Danzig) which may have happened earlier.

After the Polish - Bolshevik war when supplies of weapons to Poland through Danzig had been disrupted by strikes, the League of Nations allowed Poland to keep a base on Westerplatte for weapons deliveries. By September 1939 there were182 soldiers on the peninsula. They were armed with one 75 mm field gun, two 37 mm Bofors antitank guns, four mortars and a number of medium machine guns. There were no fortifications, only several concrete guardhouses hidden in the forest.

The Polish garrison was separated from Free City of Danzig (Gdańsk) by the harbour channel, with only a narrow isthmus connecting the area to the mainland. In case of war, the defenders were supposed to withstand a sustained attack for 12 hours after which a relief from the main units of the Polish Army were to arrive.

On 1 September 1939, the Polish garrison's commanding officer was Major Henryk Sucharski.

The battle lasted until 7 September 1939 when surrender was forced due to lack of ammunition.

My channel on you tube : http://www.youtube.com/alanheath is one of the most prolific from Poland. I have produced a number of films, most in English but also in Polish, French, Italian, Spanish and the occasional hint of German and Hebrew. My big interest in life is travel and history but I have also placed films on other subjects

There are a number of films here on the packaging industry. This is because I am the publisher of Central and Eastern European Packaging -- http://www.ceepackaging.com - the international platform for the packaging industry in this region focusing on the latest innovations, trends, design, branding, legislation and environmental issues with in-depth profiles of major industry achievers. Most people may think packaging pretty boring but it possibly effects your life more than you really imagine!

In 1997 I founded Polish Business News http://www.pbn.com.pl .There are a number of business related films here and I intend to do many more on CRM (customer relations management).

My blog can be found via http://www.ceepackaging.com and http://www.pbn.com.pl and contains background information and more details of many of my films. This information is in English.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Gdansk
• Gdańsk
• Danzig
• Poland
• Polska
• Westerplatte
• Schleswig
• Holstein
• WW2
• world
• war
• two
• cruiser
• League
• Nations
• Soviet
• Nazi
• Wisloujscie
• Henryk
• Dąbrowski
• Wisła
• Vistula
• Weichsel

[hussar2343]

just because Germany attacked Polish territory and decided to make a nest there, that won't make it German. Just like Kaliningrad. It was called Krolewiec, but is now Russian. Poland will even take that back, it's only a matter of time...



[alanheath]

@hussar2343 Poland will not attack Russia over Kaliningrad. The fact that there is a word for it in the Polish language does not mean that the Russians have to expect an assault. Incidentally it was German before 1945.

[stevedn1]

The Free City of Danzig Alan - this was a fully German speaking city in 1939. It's as if the real German name of this city - Danzig - can never pass your lips. You must be some sort of sycophant. I have just told you the TRUTH. This is German territory.

[alanheath]

@stevedn1 The Free City of Danzig as such ceased to exist on 1 September 1939 when it was annexed into the Nazi Reich. I agree that Danzig is the original German name. Claiming that I do not use the word is not correct as I have a film where I use the word in the title even. The TRUTH is that this is now the Polish city of Gdańsk which is sometimes referred to in German translation as Danzig. However it is true that when speaking German I usually refer to it as Gdańsk (but not always)

[IanHunedoara8]

The defense of the Polish post office in Gdansk was well portrayed in the movie Tin Drum. Are there any other sources of information about that battle

[alanheath]

I did a little film on it which you can see here. Does that count?

[profumo7777]

Thank you for doing this movie!

[innit27]

I work next to a young German and she is openly racist about the Poles, which is very depressing to hear, especially after what the Poles suffered in the past.

The Westerplatte looked like a WW1 obliterated battleground after it surrendered. Its said the captured Polish radio operator was tortured and killed after he refused to reveal the radio codes to the Germans.

[MrThorn88]

@hussar2343 Also we didnt attack germany because we wasnt and we are not agressive,unable to feel apes as u are.Poland could smash germany many times.

[MrThorn88]

@hussar2343 yeaa look back history idiot.Gdańsk throughout history was for 730 years Polish and for 270 prussian.That is fact.Some brief info u will find in wikipedia,hard to check it out german retard??

[MrThorn88]

@alanheath Original name of the city is Gdańsk(997 A.D)

[19TSW06]

hitlerland!!

scheisse deutschland!!

[Riince]

@henrykk11: naprawdę trzeba mieć zryty beret, żeby porównywać II Wojnę Światową z Unią Europejską. To już nie jest nawet głupota historyczna (choć też), ale po prostu kliniczny debilizm głoszących takie poglądy.

[hussar2343]

This WAS the place, cause their ship docked peacefully, then started the war.

Gdansk will always be Polish! how can you have a German territory inside another country! (i know that's how it was for a while)

Look back in history.

And why is it that Poland never attacked Germany, despite ITS strenth throughout the ages.