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Westerplatte is the small peninsula in Gdansk. After the Versailles Treaty, Germany and Poland had similar rights to the Free City of Gdansk.
In the beginning of the Polish independence Germans were trying to prevent Poles from using the Danzig harbour. Finally they succeeded and Poland was forced to built her own sea harbour - Gdynia which gave sea access to Poland. Though position of Poland in Free City of Gdansk was rather lacking, Poles could have some offices (like famous Polish Post) and could mantain 88 men company in the transit depot which was placed on the Westerplatte peninsula. After several German provocations in Gdansk, the garrison was strengthend and finally it was consisting of: 6 officers and 176 soldiers under command of mjr Henryk Sucharski. The transit depot Westerplatte had only strengthend barracks and watch buildings, but there were no typical bunkers. The soldiers were equipped with: one 75 mm gun, 2 excellent 37 mm anti-tank guns, four 81 mm mortars and 41 machine guns. The order for the garrison was to deffend for 12 hours until the reinforcements arrive.
Scheme of the transit point Westerplatte
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