Pomerania 1939 — Where the War Began

At Westerplatte, walk the former Military Transit Depot as a defensive system rather than simply heading for the monument. The hidden guardhouses, barracks and field positions explain how a small Polish garrison resisted repeated assaults and bombardment for seven days in September 1939.

The Polish Post Office shifts the scale from an isolated military depot to a civilian building inside the Free City of Gdańsk. Postal workers defended the building on 1 September. The museum connects the fighting itself with the later fate of the defenders, making this an essential urban counterpart to Westerplatte.

Drive the long peninsula to Hel to understand that the defence of the Polish coast did not end with Westerplatte. The surviving batteries, shelters and museum collections turn the narrow strip of land into a readable military landscape. The geography itself explains why the peninsula could remain a separate defensive pocket.

The third day changes the subject deliberately. Stutthof was established in September 1939 and became a place of imprisonment, forced labour and mass death. Visit it as a memorial and historical site, not as another attraction on the road. Placing it after the military locations shows how quickly the invasion became a system of occupation and persecution.