The place where the first shots of WW2 were fired.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alan-Heaths-History-Page/173472422695696

http://www.ceepackaging.com
twitter : @ceepackaging
https://www.facebook.com/pages/CEE-Packaging/135108923181666

I am posting this seventy years to the day of the beginning of WW2.

This is the historic lighthouse in Gdańsk built in 1893 overlooking the Dead Vistula as it flows into the Baltic Sea. At around 04:40 in the morning, a machine gun in the lighthouse opened up on Polish positions on the Westerplatte across the Dead Vistula followed four minutes later by the cruiser Schleswig Holstein. Damage from Polish counter fire can still be seen in the lighthouse.

I would dispute these were the first shots. 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:

Education

Tags:

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

[dodik147]

co ty z bzdury ludziom opowiadasz wes sie w garsc chlopaku

[alanheath]

@dodik147 Co za głupol!! Mowisz ze bzdury ale nie wiesz gdzie!! Tylko lubisz obrazić ludzie!!

[DulciJubilo]

Thanks again! Interesting to learn about the place--also, interesting about the "Ohio" lighthouse (actually, Cleveland is on Lake Erie, which is one of the Great Lakes, sort of like a huge inland sea with shipping, etc) since my mom, as a 20-something science grad was stationed in Ohio (Dayton, not Cleveland) after '41, working on aviation radio electronics in the planes while they were being tested and checked in flight. My dad was from a Polish family. Thanks again.

[alanheath]

Thank you for sending me this wonderful story. I have got a lot more from Poland if you are interested.

[nasaltla]

LOL at the woman smoking

[alanheath]

Private joke. It is my girlfriend.

[BasicModelling]

Historical grounds.. if only for the 'wrong' reasons.. Thanks for sharing..

[DASI700]

wow M/F Scandinavia in Nowy Port Gdansk and on the other side of the ship Westerplate ther the first shot of ww2 was fired..

[longlat39]

Tonight on the US television channel C-Span, The ceremonies and speeches from September 1 in Gdansk were televised. It was very moving to me to see how after seven decades of brutality and opression, Poland and the other Central and Eastern European countries are emerging into this new era. May peace and prosperity finally be theirs!

[djbuck1]

For a moment I thought, "Wow that's pretty brazen getting in her face about smoking . . . we may see 'Alan gets assaulted.'"

[JohnnyNW]

Boze cos Polske! Have you heard: Putin (or Medwedew his puppet) claims that Poland started WW II ..... Jezus Maria! LOL ;-)

[Barciur]

Nom, jakbysmy sie poddali to i tak bysmy wszystko stracili.

Nie martw sie, historia lubi sie powtarzac, Polska BYŁA mocarstwem w przeszłości, kto wie, moze jeszcze bedzie okazja rządzić Lwowem ;)

[manudu20]

Wiem.Wcale tak nie myślę.Głupi komentarz.Tylko zawsze jak wracam ze Lwowa to mam jakiś żal w sobie.A co do honoru to nigdy nie zrozumiem czemu Anglicy mogli pomóc innym państwom a nam nie pomogli.-"Nikt nie będzie umierał za jakiś tam Gdańsk".