Westerplatte Free
- Genres: Drama, War
- Rating IMDb: 71
- Year: 1967
- Duration: 1:36
Summaries
Dramatization of the first battle of World War II. The first target of German troops in the invasion of Poland is a small garrison at Westerplatte. Outnumbered and out-gunned, the Poles mount a fierce defense against an overwhelming enemy.
Westerplatte is a small peninsula at the entry to the Gdansk Harbour. Before World War II, it functioned as a Polish ammunition depot in the Free City of Danzig/Gdansk. Its crew consisted of one infantry company and a group of civilians, 182 people in total. It was the only Polish guard-post at the mouth of the Vistula River, with as little as five sentries, one field cannon, two anti-armour guns and four mortars. It was the first obstacle to Hitler's predatory march across Europe. The first shots of World War II were fired here. This film tells the story of Westerplatte's courageous defenders.
At dawn of September 1st 1939, the "Schleswig-Hostein" battleship approached the Westerplatte peninsula within several hundred metres and opened fire at 4.45, marking the beginning of World War II. The German ship continued shooting for 6 minutes, after which the infantry moved in to the first attack. For about 200 Polish soldiers and their commander, Major Henryk Sucharski, it was the first out of the long seven days of their heroic struggle.
