Battle of Westerplatte

• 1. Geopolitical Origins And Setup

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  In 1925, the League of Nations granted Poland the right to install a garrisoned ammunition depot near Danzig. An area on the Westerplatte peninsula was selected despite objections from the Free City. The Polish Military Transit Depot became operational in January 1926 with 88 all ranks stationed there. A brick wall topped with barbed wire separated the Polish-held part of Westerplatte from Danzig's territory. By early 1933, German politicians and media figures complained about the need for border adjustments. On the 6th of March 1933, the Polish government landed a marine battalion on Westerplatte to reinforce the garrison to about 200 men. This maneuver demonstrated Polish resolve to defend the depot while putting pressure on the Danzig government. The additional Polish troops were withdrawn on the 16th of March following protests from the League, Danzig, and Germany.

• 2. The Opening Salvo And Initial Assaults

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  On the early morning of the 1st of September 1939, the battleship Schleswig-Holstein fired a broadside at the Polish garrison. That salvo's time has been variously stated as 04:45 or 04:47 when the order was given by Captain Gustav Kleikamp. Shortly after, Major Henryk Sucharski radioed the nearby Polish military base on the Hel Peninsula saying SOS I'm under fire. Eight minutes later Henningsen's marines from the Schleswig-Holstein advanced expecting an easy victory over the Poles. They found themselves in a kill zone of Polish crossfire from concealed firing positions while barbed-wire entanglements impeded their movements. Around 05:15, the field gun commanded by Lieutenant Leon Pająk opened intense fire on the advancing Germans. Staff Sergeant Wojciech Najsarek was killed by machine-gun fire during that initial engagement. At 06:22, the German marines frantically radioed the battleship that they had sustained heavy losses and were withdrawing. Casualties were approximately fifty Germans and eight Poles mostly wounded.

• 3. Seven Days Of Asymmetric Warfare

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  The battle continued for seven days with daily progression including air raids and artillery exchanges. On the 2nd of September, from 18:05 to 18:25, a two-wave air raid by 60 Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers dropped bombs eliminating the Polish mortars. The air raid shrouded all of Westerplatte in clouds of smoke and destroyed the Poles' only radio and much of their food supply. On the 4th of September, a German torpedo boat T196 supported by an old minesweeper made a surprise attack. Though the Poles never landed a hit on the German naval units, T196 and Schleswig-Holstein suffered accidents due to crew error or equipment failure. At 03:00 on the 6th of September, during one of the attacks, the Germans sent a burning train toward the Polish positions but the ploy failed when the terrified driver decoupled prematurely. A second fire-train attack in the afternoon also failed. By noon on the 7th of September, the Germans opened intense fire which lasted till 07:00 destroying Guardhouse II and damaging Guardhouses I and IV.

• 4. Command Controversy And Leadership Debates

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  Controversy surrounds the Polish garrison's commanding officer Major Henryk Sucharski throughout history. Early historiography considered him to have been in command throughout the battle so early accounts portrayed him as a heroic figure. More recent accounts from the early 1990s presented evidence that Sucharski's officers had vowed not to disclose in their lifetimes that their commander had been shell-shocked for most of the battle. His second-in-command Captain Franciszek Dąbrowski effectively took command following Sucharski's breakdown on the second day of the siege. On the 5th of September, Sucharski held a conference with his officers during which he urged surrender because the post had only been supposed to hold out for twelve hours. Dąbrowski opposed surrender and the group decided to hold out a while longer. At a second conference with his officers on the 6th of September, Sucharski was again ready to surrender due to critically low supplies and gangrene among many wounded soldiers.

• 5. Symbolism And Wartime Propaganda

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  The defence of Westerplatte inspired the Polish Army and people even as German advances continued elsewhere. Beginning on the 1st of September 1939, Polish Radio repeatedly broadcast the phrase that made Westerplatte an important symbol: Westerplatte fights on. On the 16th of September Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński penned a poem voicing a subsequent myth that all of Westerplatte's defenders had died in the battle fighting to the last man. The battle became a symbol of resistance to the invasion described by some as a Polish Battle of Thermopylae. As early as 1943, a Polish People's Army unit was named for Westerplatte's soldiers. That same year, the Polish Underground State named a street after Westerplatte. During the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, an insurgent stronghold was named Westerplatte. For both sides, the battle had mostly political rather than tactical importance tying up substantial German forces for much longer than anyone had expected.

• 6. Post-War Commemoration And Political Instrumentalization

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  In 1946, a monument and a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier were established on the peninsula with the cemetery placed near the destroyed Guardhouse V. During the early postwar Stalinist era, Westerplatte was presented as a symbol of Poland's prewar anticommunist government and was marginalised in official history. Mieczysław Słaby the garrison surgeon at Westerplatte was arrested tortured and died in custody of the Ministry of Public Security in 1948. After the mid-1950s liberalization, Westerplatte was repurposed as a communist propaganda symbol. In 1956, the Polish Naval Academy was named for the Heroes of Westerplatte. In 1962, a Christian cross at the cemetery was replaced with a Soviet T-34 tank. In 1974, a small museum was opened in the renovated Guardhouse I. Following the fall of communism in Eastern and Central Europe, a change symbolic of Poland's political transformation was the 2007 transfer of the Soviet T-34 tank from the cemetery to a museum in another town. As of 2019, the museum was planned to be opened in 2026.