Posted on May 16, 2017
World War 2 History: 1939 Battle of Westerplatte-- Poland's Alamo
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This was Poland's Alamo. Pope John Paul the second in 1987 dedicated Gdansk Shipyard and Resurgence of Solidarity labor movement after being broken by the Polish Military Government for over 3 years and referring to the battle of Westerplatte showing the soul of Poland fighting on Against All Odds referring to Communism of 1987 like their struggle against the Nazis in September, 1939. This was mentioned in the documentary Liberating a continent about the life of Pope John Paul II and how he and Solidarity brought down Europe's Eastern Bloc. I never knew about this battle. There'll be no polish jokes made about this battle they were told to hold for 11 hours and they held for seven days.
World War 2 History: 1939 Battle of Westerplatte-- Poland's Alamo
Posted from owlcation.com
Warsaw
Naval/Maritime History
Germany
Survival
Religion
Edited >1 y ago
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First time I ever heard of this battle, and I do a lot of reading. Thank you for the interesting tidbit.
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Dave, had Pope John Paul II not mentioned it at is Mass, I never would have known how about the Polish Alamo
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Thanks for sharing the background on the September 1939 Battle of Westerplatte LTC (Join to see). After The Germans invaded Poland based on a deception campaign they quickly rolled up much of the Polish Army. Blitkrieg worked well on open terrain but not within port cities such as Polish garrison on Westerplatte.
The established defenses which included interlocking machine guns stunned the German invaders who had seen previous Polish formations crumble.
"Of the 209 Polish defenders, 15 to 20 were killed and 53 wounded. The Germans lost 200 to 300 killed or wounded. For a week the Poles had tied up 3,400 German soldiers, sailors, marines and police needed elsewhere. They had prevented access to the Danzig port and the battleship Schleswig-Holstein was unable to provide fire support for other assaults along the coast. In the dark, early days of the war and the hell that Poland would soon become under the Nazis, the defenders of Westerplatte provided desperately needed inspiration for their fellow countrymen."
The Polish defenders fought heroically which bought the port of Danzig some time and also helped the British Navy as its made its way up to the Baltic Sea. This was a race against time and the German assault on Norway which occurred in 1940 (9 April to 10 June 1940).
The established defenses which included interlocking machine guns stunned the German invaders who had seen previous Polish formations crumble.
"Of the 209 Polish defenders, 15 to 20 were killed and 53 wounded. The Germans lost 200 to 300 killed or wounded. For a week the Poles had tied up 3,400 German soldiers, sailors, marines and police needed elsewhere. They had prevented access to the Danzig port and the battleship Schleswig-Holstein was unable to provide fire support for other assaults along the coast. In the dark, early days of the war and the hell that Poland would soon become under the Nazis, the defenders of Westerplatte provided desperately needed inspiration for their fellow countrymen."
The Polish defenders fought heroically which bought the port of Danzig some time and also helped the British Navy as its made its way up to the Baltic Sea. This was a race against time and the German assault on Norway which occurred in 1940 (9 April to 10 June 1940).
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