At 04:45 on 1 September 1939, the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on a small Polish garrison stationed on the Westerplatte peninsula – the first shots of the Second World War in Europe. The defenders were expected to hold out for a matter of hours against a force that badly outgunned them. They held for seven days.
The battle and its legacy
Westerplatte had been a sanctioned Polish military transit depot since the 1920s, agreed under the League of Nations while Gdańsk itself operated as the semi-autonomous Free City of Danzig. When the battleship's guns opened fire that morning, Polish state radio began repeating the phrase "Westerplatte broni się jeszcze" – "Westerplatte fights on" – turning the garrison's resistance into a symbol that outlasted the battle itself, even as German forces advanced elsewhere across the country. The defenders surrendered on 7 September, badly outnumbered and out of supplies, but the week they held bought a defiant opening chapter to a war that would go on for six more years.
What's there today
A large Monument of the Coast Defenders, unveiled in 1966, dominates the site, alongside the ruins of the garrison's barracks and guardhouses left largely as the battle left them. Guardhouse No. 1 – where the first defenders were stationed – has been restored and now houses a museum, its entrance flanked by two shells fired from the Schleswig-Holstein itself.
Getting there
Westerplatte sits within Gdańsk's city limits, on a peninsula at the mouth of the harbour channel, and can be reached a few different ways. A guided boat cruise is the scenic option, with commentary on the way there and back – worth checking whether your specific booking includes time ashore to walk the monument grounds, since some versions are a round trip past the site rather than a full landed visit. Tram and bus routes also run out to Westerplatte directly, giving you as much time on-site as you want without being tied to a boat schedule.
Timing
Allow an hour or two for the monument, ruins and shoreline, longer if you want the museum in full. Most visitors combine it with the Motława waterfront on the same day, either before or after, since both are reachable from the same stretch of river.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
On the morning of 1 September 1939, the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on the small Polish garrison stationed here – the first shots of the Second World War in Europe. The defenders were expected to hold out for a matter of hours; they resisted for seven days.
Image: Crusier via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)