'A VALLIANT EFFORT AGAINST GERMAN ONSLAUGHT'
I borrowed from my son a plastic soldier from a cheap Chinese brand and used him to make a small diorama of the Polish defence of the Westerplatte, a small fortified strip of land across the harbour of Gdansk.
The battle at Westerplatte took place during the first week of the invasion of Poland and was only a minor incident, was it not for the vaillant defensive effort from a Polish batallion. The first casualties of WW II were at the defence of Westerplatte.
Some 200 odd Polish soldiers withstood for more than a week heavy attacks from the bombardment of the pocket battleship Schleswich-Holstein, the raids from Stuka divebombers and the assaults from some 2000 German troops, a combined force of a marine detachment of the battleship, local German Dantzig militia and some SS - support troops.
