German cadet spotting the fall of the shells aimed at the Polish navy depot at Westerplatte, from the German Navy’s training ship SMS Schleswig-Holstein.
(Click to see German newsreel clip, via You Tube.)
At the end of August 1939, a German Navy training ship, the WW I battleship SMS Schleswig-Holstein, sailed to Gdansk, under the pretext of a courtesy visit, and anchored in the channel near Westerplatte. On, 1 September 1939 at 4.45 a.m. she began to fire 280mm and 170mm shells at the small Polish naval depot there. The Second World War had begun.
More:
- Wikipedia – Battle of Westerplatte
- Wikipedia – World War II casualties
- Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs – The Poles on the Front Lines
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Tags: Danzig, Gdansk, Westerplatte, World War 2, WW II
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