September 1, 1939
Defense of Westerplatte
The Defense of Westerplatte was a heroic seven-day battle of 182 Polish soldiers against overwhelming German forces, which began on September 1, 1939, at 4:45 AM with an attack from the battleship Schleswig-Holstein. Despite the planned 12-hour defense, Polish soldiers under the command of Major Henryk Sucharski defended the peninsula for seven days, becoming a symbol of Polish resistance and marking the beginning of World War II.
