The Battle of Westerplatte was the first battle of the German invasion of Poland, marking the start of World War II in Europe. It occurred on the Westerplatte peninsula in the harbour of the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland). A small forested island separated from Gdansk by the harbour channel, Westerplatte was established as a Polish military outpost during the interwar period.
In the mid-1920s, the Second Polish Republic established the Polish Military Transit Depot (Wojskowa Składnica Tranzytowa, WST) on the Westerplatte peninsula in the Free City of Danzig. Beginning on 1 September 1939, the German Wehrmacht and Danzig Police assaulted the WST. Despite initial assessment on both sides that the Polish garrison might hold out for several hours before being reinforced or overwhelmed, the Poles held out for seven days and repelled thirteen assaults that included dive-bomber attacks and naval shelling.
The defence of the Westerplatte was an inspiration for the Polish Army and people in the face of German advances elsewhere and is still regarded as a symbol of resistance in modern Poland. The Polish government in Gdańsk is planning to open a dedicated public museum on the site in 2026.
Background
Westerplatte is a peninsula in the Bay of Gdańsk, which in 1939 was known as the Bay of Danzig. Following the re-establishment of Polish independence after World War I, much of the surrounding region became part of Poland. The city of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland), historically an important port city, became an independent city-state, the Free City of Danzig. The Free City was nominally supervised by the League of Nations but Danzig became increasingly allied with Germany, reflecting its predominantly ethnic German population.
In 1921, in the wake of the Polish-Soviet War, the League of Nations granted Poland the right to install a garrisoned ammunition depot near Danzig. Despite objections from the Free City, this right was confirmed in 1925, and an area of 60 hectares (0.60 km2; 150 acres) was selected on the Westerplatte peninsula. Westerplatte was separated from the New Port of Danzig mainly by the harbour channel; on land, the Polish-held part of Westerplatte was separated from Danzig's territory by a brick wall topped with barbed wire. A dedicated rail line, passing through the Free City, connected the depot with nearby Polish territory. The depot, referred to in League documents as the Depot for Polish Munitions in Transit in the Port of Danzig (WST) (Polish: Wojskowa Składnica Tranzytowa), was completed in November 1925, officially transferred to Poland on the last day of that year, and became operational shortly after in January 1926, with 22 active storage warehouses. The Polish garrison's complement was set at 2 officers, 20 NCOs, privates to a total strength of 88 all ranks, and Poland was prohibited construction of further military installations or fortifications on the site.
By early 1933, German politicians and media figures complained about the need for border adjustments. In addition, the Polish and French governments discussed the need for a preventive war against Germany. On 6 March, in what became known as the "Westerplatte incident" or "crisis", the Polish government landed a marine battalion on Westerplatte, briefly reinforcing the WST garrison to about 200 men, demonstrating Polish resolve to defend the depot; the Polish manoeuvre was also intended to put pressure on the Danzig government, which was trying to renounce a prior agreement on shared Danzig-Polish control over the harbour police and to acquire full control of the police and the harbour. According to one source, on 14 March 1933, the League had authorized Poland to reinforce its garrison. However, according to another, the additional Polish troops were withdrawn on 16 March, following protests from the League, Danzig, and Germany but only in exchange for Danzig's withdrawal of its objections to the harbour-police agreement.
Later, the Poles constructed clandestine fortifications on Westerplatte. These were relatively minor: there were no bunkers or tunnels, only several small guardhouses, partially hidden in the peninsula's forest and several more buildings in the middle of the peninsula, including barracks. Most buildings were constructed with reinforced concrete and were supported by a network of field fortifications, including trenches, barricades and barbed wire.
Prelude
In March 1939, a German ultimatum to Lithuania led to Germany's annexation of the nearby Lithuanian coastal Klaipėda Region; subsequently, the Westerplatte garrison was placed on alert. Fearing a possible Nazi coup d'état in Danzig, the Poles decided secretly to reinforce their garrison and resorted to a subterfuge, civilians in Polish Army uniform would leave the base, and new Polish soldiers would enter it.
By late August 1939, the Poles had reinforced their 88-man garrison, though its strength is still debated; older sources speak of 182 men but more recent research suggests something in the range of 210 to 240, including six officers: Major Henryk Sucharski, his second-in-command Captain Franciszek Dąbrowski, Captain Mieczysław Słaby, Lieutenant Leon Pająk, Lieutenant Stefan Ludwik Grodecki, and Second Lieutenant Zdzisław Kręgielski. Estimates include some 20 mobilized civilians and about 10 regular troops who happened to be on site when fighting began. In addition to light arms consisting of pistols, grenades, and about 160 rifles, weaponry included a 75 mm field gun wz. 1902/26, two Bofors 37 mm anti-tank guns, four 81 mm mortars, and about 40 machine guns, including 18 heavy machine guns. Field fortifications were extended: more trenches were dug, wooden barricades were built, barbed wire was strung into wire obstacles, and reinforced concrete shelters were built into the basements of the barracks. Foliage was thinned to reduce cover on expected avenues of attack.
The Polish defence, which anticipated principally a German land-based assault, rested on three lines of defence. The outer line included entrenched outposts (codenamed Prom, Przystań, Łazienki and Wał) which were to hold long enough for the garrison to mobilize. The second line of defence centred on five guardhouses (numbered I to V) in the center of the depot. The final defence comprised the headquarters and barracks at the depot's centre (sometimes referred to as Guardhouse VI). The Poles also had several supporting positions (Elektrownia, Deika, Fort, Tor kolejowy and Kej). The plan called for the garrison to hold out for 12 hours, after which the siege was expected to be lifted by reinforcements arriving from the mainland.
On 25 August 1939, the German pre-dreadnought battleship Schleswig-Holstein, under the pretext of making a courtesy call, sailed into Danzig harbour, anchoring 150 metres (160 yd) from Westerplatte. On board was a Marinestosstruppkompanie (marine shock-troop company) of 225 marines under Lieutenant Wilhelm Henningsen. On land the Germans had the SS Heimwehr Danzig force of 1,500 men under Police General Friedrich-Georg Eberhardt. In overall command was Captain Gustav Kleikamp, aboard Schleswig-Holstein. Initially, the marines were ordered to attack on the morning of 26 August 1939, on that day Kleikamp moved the battleship farther upstream, and as a result, Sucharski put his garrison on heightened alert. Shortly before the German disembarkation, the orders were rescinded as Adolf Hitler had postponed hostilities on learning of the Polish-British Common Defence Pact, signed the day before, on 25 August 1939, and that Italy was hesitant about its obligations under the Pact of Steel.
Neither Eberhardt nor Kleikamp had specific information on the Polish defences. The Germans assumed that preliminary bombardment would soften up the fortifications enough for the marines to capture Westerplatte. Kleikamp had been assured by the Danzig Police that "Westerplatte would be taken in 10 minutes." Eberhardt himself was more cautious, estimating that "a few hours" would be needed to overcome the Polish garrison, which the Germans estimated at no more than 100 men. The battle was fought at the semi - fortified supply depot on the Westerplatte peninsula at the mouth of the Vistula river north of Danzig (Gdansk).
Battle
On the early morning of 1 September 1939, Schleswig-Holstein fired a broadside at the Polish garrison. That salvo's time has been variously stated as 04:43 04:45, 04:47, or 04:48. Polish historian Jarosław Tuliszka explains that 04:45 was the planned time, 04:47 was the time the order was given by Kleikamp and 04:48 was the time the guns actually fired. Shortly after, on Westerplatte, Sucharski radioed the nearby Polish military base on the Hel Peninsula, "SOS: I'm under fire." Other sources indicate the shot was fired at 04:00 rather than at or around 04:45. The battleship's initial bombardment was not very successful, failing to inflict a single casualty among the defenders, as due to the battleship's proximity to its target its heavier shells did not have time to arm and did not explode upon impact.
Eight minutes later Henningsen's marines from the Schleswig-Holstein, who had disembarked two hours earlier on the eastern side of the peninsula, advanced, expecting an easy victory over the Poles. However, after crossing the artillery-breached brick wall at the border, advancing about 200 metres (220 yd), and engaging the Polish Prom outpost, the Germans ran into an ambush. 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 Pająk, opened intense fire on the advancing Germans, firing 28 rounds and knocking out several machine-gun nests atop warehouses across the harbour canal. Meanwhile, the German infantry was also shelled by the Polish mortars, and even the battleship itself was targeted by the Polish 37 mm guns. Around that time, the Poles also repulsed an attempt by a small maritime unit of the Danzig Police to land on the western side of the depot. In that initial engagement, Poles sustained two casualties, and a Polish soldier, Staff Sergeant Wojciech Najsarek, was killed by machine-gun fire. Najsarek has been described as the first Polish combat casualty of the battle and perhaps of the war.
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. A longer bombardment from the battleship, lasting from 07:40 to 08:55, preceded a second attack and succeeded at knocking out the Polish field gun. The Germans assaulted again from 08:35 to 12:30 but encountered mines, felled trees, barbed wire and intense fire. By noon, when the Germans retreated, Henningsen had been gravely wounded. Eberhardt requested air support, but it was delayed due to bad weather over Westerplatte. On that first day's combat, the Polish side had sustained four killed and several wounded. The German marines had lost sixteen killed and a hundred and twenty wounded.
The German commanders concluded that a ground attack was not feasible until the Polish defences had been softened up. Re-examining aerial photographs, where they had previously underestimated the Polish defences, they now overestimated them, concluding the Poles had constructed extensive underground and armoured fortifications (six haystacks were declared to be armoured bunker domes). In the following days, the Germans bombarded the Westerplatte peninsula with naval and heavy field artillery, including a 105 mm howitzer battery and 210 mm howitzers. On 2 September, from 18:05 to 18:25, a two-wave air raid by 60 Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers dropped 26.5 tonnes (58,000 lb) of bombs, eliminating the Polish mortars, destroying Guardhouse V with a 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) bomb and killing at least eight Polish soldiers. The air raid shrouded all of Westerplatte in clouds of smoke and destroyed the Poles' only radio and much of their food supply. According to some German sources, after the air raid the Poles briefly displayed a white flag; but not all historians are convinced of this, and the German observers may have been mistaken.
On 4 September, a German torpedo boat, T196, supported by an old minesweeper, the Von der Groben, made a surprise attack. The Poles' Wał outpost had been abandoned. Now only the Fort outpost prevented an attack from the north. 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, with at least one fatality and several injured men on the battleship.
On 5 September, Sucharski held a conference with his officers, during which he urged surrender: the post had only been supposed to hold out for twelve hours. His deputy, Dąbrowski, opposed surrender and the group decided to hold out a while longer.