Pick out your stop

Where is Westerplatte, and why were Polish soldiers there?

The quick version

Westerplatte is a peninsula in Gdańsk at the mouth of the Dead Vistula on the Gulf of Gdańsk, where the League of Nations let Poland keep an arms depot and a small garrison inside the Free City.

Good to know

  • About 2 km long and 200 to 500 m wide2
  • Garrison of up to 88 allowed6
  • About 10 km by bike from the centre3

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Westerplatte, the port and the city, pin by pin

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Map of Gdańsk from the Main Town out to Westerplatte, with the Polish Post Office square, Nowy Port and the Museum of the Second World War

  1. A peninsula 2 km long and 200 to 500 m wide between the Gulf of Gdańsk and the Dead Vistula.

    Google Maps

  2. Attacked at 4:45 AM on 1 September 1939, the same moment the shelling of Westerplatte began.

    Google Maps

  3. Heart of the Free City of Gdańsk, created on 15 November 1920 under the League of Nations.

    Google Maps

  4. The port district across the canal from the depot, where German reporters watched the fighting.

    Google Maps

  5. The parent museum; its Westerplatte branch is building a new museum on the peninsula.

    Google Maps

Base map © OpenStreetMap contributors

Where is Westerplatte? At the mouth of Gdańsk's port canal. How a spit of sand became a resort, then a Polish enclave in the Free City of Danzig, explains the war that began there.

Editorial team, westerplattecruise.click · Updated November 9, 2026 · 7 min reading time

In brief

  • LocationA peninsula between the Gulf of Gdańsk and a bend of the Dead Vistula.1
  • SizeAbout 2 km long and 200 to 500 m wide.1
  • From the centreAbout 10 km by bike, or buses 106, 138 and 606.2,3
  • Why Polish troopsA League of Nations decision gave Poland a depot there.4
  • Garrison allowedUp to 88 soldiers, changed every half year.5,6

Where is Westerplatte on the map

Where is Westerplatte? It is a peninsula in the city of Gdańsk, between the Gulf of Gdańsk and the Dead Vistula. It is small: about 2 km long and between 200 and 500 m wide, wedged between the bay and a bend of the river.1 Visitors arrive at its landward end, where the museum's Visitor Centre stands at the entrance to the peninsula.7

The Westerplatte peninsula sits on the east bank of the port canal, facing the Nowy Port district on the west bank. That narrow channel shaped its history: in 1939 the German battleship moored only 150 m away, and reporters watched the fighting from Nowy Port.8,9 Today ships to Hel and Sopot still pass the same water.10

Getting there from the old town is easy. The museum describes a bike route of about 10 km that takes no more than 40 minutes each way.2 Line 106 runs from the stop outside the WWII Museum; lines 138 and 606 run from Gdańsk Główny.3 The name itself is German, and official sources translate it in different ways: western island in the education ministry's glossary, western cape in the heritage board's description.11,12

Who decided what

The decisions that put Polish soldiers on the peninsula

DateBodyDecision
15 November 1920League of NationsFree City of Gdańsk constituted
22 June 1921League CouncilPoland given the land defence of the Free City
14 March 1924League of NationsWesterplatte granted for a transit depot
31 October 1925League Council60 ha leased, free and perpetual
1925League CouncilGuard of 88 soldiers allowed
February 1933Free City SenateHarbour police disbanded

From the City of Gdańsk, the National Heritage Board and the defence ministry's magazine.15,28,16,17,29,30

From sandbank and fort to seaside resort

Westerplatte appears in history in 1734, when a French expeditionary corps of 2,500 men landed there to surprise the Russians besieging Gdańsk.13 The City of Gdańsk records a double landing, both attempts to help King Stanisław Leszczyński during the War of the Polish Succession.19 Its strategic value was recognised in the 18th century, when the first fortifications were built.20

It was not yet joined to the land. In 1843 a causeway linked the island of Westerplatte to the mainland, the city's timeline records.14 In 1911 an artillery command post was finished on it, the shelter that the Polish garrison would later call the Fort.21 Under an 1871 fortress law, only wooden buildings could be put up there.22

Alongside the guns, a resort grew. The first bathing establishment was built in the first half of the 19th century, followed by summer villas.23 An L-shaped hotel for summer guests went up around 1890, and much later it became the soldiers' first barracks.24 In 1913 most of the peninsula, over 72 ha, was managed by the Prussian harbour authorities.25 After the First World War, with Gdańsk now a Free City, the peninsula was demilitarised and used for recreation.26

Land on the peninsula

Westerplatte measured in hectares

  • Prussian state, 191372 ha
  • Polish lease, 192560 ha
  • Planned museum26 ha

Hectares as the city, the defence ministry's magazine and the WWII Museum state them.25,17,27

The Free City and Westerplatte in Danzig

The Treaty of Versailles gave reborn Poland a short stretch of the Baltic coast, but no proper port; Poland was to use the port of the Free City of Gdańsk, and in practice the German side raised obstacle after obstacle.35 The League of Nations created the Free City as an autonomous city-state under its protection.36 Gdańsk stayed under German rule until the treaty took effect on 10 January 1920, and the Free City was finally constituted on 15 November 1920.37

Because Gdańsk was not granted to Poland, in 1920 the decision was taken to build a Polish port at Gdynia.38 On 22 June 1921 the League's Council made Poland responsible for defending the Free City on land.28 Polish use of the Gdańsk port, meanwhile, drew constant protests from the city's German population.39

That is the setting for Westerplatte in Danzig, as the city was called in German. Poland needed a safe place to unload arms and ammunition by sea, and the city did not want it. The answer was a small Polish military enclave on a former beach resort at the harbour mouth, inside a largely German city and within sight of its old town's towers.40

Plan your day

How to follow the Free City story

Pick what fits the time you have in Gdańsk.

  • If I want the big picture

    Start at the WWII Museum

    A guided museum tour covers the war in Gdańsk in 2 - 4 hours.

  • If I want to see the harbour mouth

    Take the galleon loop

    The cruise passes the port and Wisłoujście Fortress to Westerplatte.31

  • If I want the depot's daily life

    See the power plant exhibition

    It traces the site from the 17th century up to the early 1940s.32

  • If I want both sites attacked that morning

    Pair Westerplatte with the Polish Post

    The education ministry dates both attacks to 4:45 AM that morning.33

  • If I like to cycle

    Ride out on the bike route

    About 10 km, up to 40 minutes one way, with racks at the Visitor Centre.2

Tours with the context

Where to hear the Free City story told

Museum based

WWII Museum tour

The war in Gdańsk, with the museum

  • Length2 - 4 hours
  • MeetsPilecki monument
  • Guides8 languages
See the tour

Private

WWII Gdańsk by car

Westerplatte and the Polish Post

  • Length3.5 hours
  • PickupIncluded
  • GuideEnglish, Polish
See the tour

From the water

Galleon to the harbour mouth

Past the port and the fortress

  • Length80 minutes
  • GuideLive commentary
  • LandingNone
See the tour

Why Poland had a garrison on the peninsula

At Poland's request the League's representative in Gdańsk, Reginald Tower, agreed to set aside land for a military transit depot.81 On 14 March 1924 the League of Nations granted Westerplatte to Poland for that purpose.16 On 31 October 1925 the League's Council gave Poland 60 hectares on a free, perpetual lease, and the same year agreed to a guard of 88 soldiers.17,29

Ownership was never Polish. The land itself went to the Harbour and Waterways Board, while Poland received its use.82 Between the wars the Polish state owned no land on the peninsula at all, only buildings: the bathing establishment and a few villas.83 A popular story says the diplomat Mieczysław Jałowiecki bought Westerplatte for Poland; the city's historians say no such purchase ever happened.84

What did happen was a building deal. On 27 November 1919 Rudolf Lettau, owner of the bathing establishment, sold it to a Poznań bank, which later passed its rights to the Polish state.85 When the depot was planned, the resort buildings proved useful: the spa house became the NCO mess, one guest house the old barracks, and the other the administration, sick bay, dining room and library.67

Price your day

What a guided look at 1939 Gdańsk costs

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What a guided look at 1939 Gdańsk costs

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2 people
  1. WWII Museum tour2 - 4 hours · from €113 up

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  2. Galleon round trip80 minutes · per visitor from €21

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  3. Guided walk on site1.5 - 2.5 hours · per visitor from €43

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These from-prices come from GetYourGuide and are converted using the ECB reference rate; the exact price shows at checkout.

Before the war

From island to Polish depot

  1. 1734

    French troops land

    An expeditionary corps tries to relieve Gdańsk.13

  2. 1843

    Joined to the land

    A causeway links the island to the mainland.14

  3. 15 November 1920

    The Free City

    Created under the League of Nations.15

  4. 14 March 1924

    The League decides

    Westerplatte granted to Poland for a depot.16

  5. 31 October 1925

    The lease

    60 hectares, free and perpetual.17

  6. 18 January 1926

    First soldiers

    Landed on the peninsula from ORP Mewa.18

Building the Military Transit Depot

In 1925 the Munitions Basin was dug where the old fortifications had stood.29 ORP Mewa, a minesweeper, delivered the first Polish guard on 18 January 1926; they began their watches 2 days later.18 The heritage board records that, at first, only a railway siding, ammunition stores and the dock were built.28

Over the next years the Poles added a new harbour basin, 22 warehouses, a railway line and a power station, and ran a telephone line to the Polish Post Office in Gdańsk.86 Work on the power station started on 25 May 1926.50 By 1928 its equipment made the depot independent of the Free City's electricity supply.87

The depot's military value soon shrank, because transports for the army went to the new port at Gdynia. A historian of the Museum of the Second World War, quoted by the defence ministry's magazine, stresses that the troops still carried real prestige, a sign of Polish rights in Gdańsk.34 The museum's own exhibition describes their service as demanding, amid growing German hostility to any Polish presence in the Free City.32

Video

Why Danzig was made a Free City between Germany and Poland

Look Back History on YouTube · The video stays unloaded until you press play.

The army's presence on Westerplatte had a significant prestige dimension. It underlined Polish rights to Gdańsk and to a presence on this part of the coast.
Polska Zbrojna (Military Publishing Institute, Ministry of National Defence)34

Before you go

Seeing the Free City sites

Getting there3

  • Line 106 from the stop by the WWII Museum3
  • Buses 138 and 606 from the main station; 606 in summer3
  • Or cycle about 10 km from the centre2

On the peninsula3

  • Visitor Centre open 9:00-16:00 every day63
  • Exhibition free on Tuesdays80
  • Look for the old barracks foundations24

Rising tension before the war

In February 1933 the Free City's Senate disbanded the harbour police, and with Nazi militias threatening attacks, the head of the Polish Navy ordered the Westerplatte unit reinforced.30 A unit of 120 arrived aboard ORP Wilia and was withdrawn after a week.88 The episode showed how quickly the enclave could become a flashpoint.

Fortifications were forbidden under the League's rules, so the Poles built in secret, and at night.89,90 In 1933 and 1934 4 guardhouses with concrete shelters went up, most of them designed by Colonel Józef Siłakowski, and in 1936 a barracks partly prepared for defence.91 A brick wall closed the depot on the canal side and at the base of the peninsula, with barbed wire along the beach.53

The defence plan assumed a coup by the local Germans, with the army coming to help by land or sea within 6 to 12 hours.92 The 1939 relief shift came from Kielce, from the 2nd Legions Infantry Division, and extra men were smuggled over from Gdynia by tug.93 On 25 August the training battleship Schleswig-Holstein sailed into the port on a courtesy visit.94

What the Free City story means for a visit today

When the lands of the former Free City passed to Poland after the Second World War, their German place names were replaced with Polish ones. Westerplatte was the single exception: by then the name had become part of Polish consciousness, and it could not be taken off the map.12 It is a German word on a Polish map, and that tells you most of its story. At the war's end the Soviets took the peninsula without a fight.95

In the city you can trace the same story at other sites. In the education ministry's account the Polish Post Office came under fire at 4:45 AM, at the same time as the guns opened on the depot; its defenders are honoured by a monument unveiled on 1 September 1979.33,96 On 1 September 2026 the city also remembered the Polish teachers of the Free City murdered in the war, at Wałowa 21.97,98 The Museum of the Second World War, near the post office square, sets all of this in the wider war.71

On the peninsula, the new museum will cover about 26 hectares.27 Its exhibition in the old power station follows the site from the 17th century to the early 1940s, so it is a good single stop for the Free City years.32 The old barracks foundations, uncovered in 2017, mark where an L-shaped hotel for summer guests became the garrison's home.24

FAQ

Straight answers to common questions.

Where exactly is the peninsula?
In Gdańsk, at the harbour mouth.

A peninsula between the Gulf of Gdańsk and a bend of the Dead Vistula, across the canal from Nowy Port.1,9

What does the name mean?
Western island, or cape.

The education ministry says western island; the heritage board says western cape.11,12

Was Westerplatte part of Poland before the war?
No, of the Free City.

Poland had the use of a depot there by League of Nations decision; the land was never Polish.16,83

Why did Poland keep soldiers there?
To guard an arms depot.

The League allowed a guard of up to 88 soldiers to protect the transit depot.5,4

When did the first Polish soldiers arrive?
18 January 1926.

They landed from the minesweeper ORP Mewa and began guard duty 2 days later.18

Did Mieczysław Jałowiecki buy Westerplatte?
No.

The city's historians say no purchase ever took place; Poland held buildings, not land.84,83

How far is it from the old town?
About 10 km.

The museum's bike route is about 10 km and takes up to 40 minutes one way.2

Sources

  1. Polska Zbrojna (Military Publishing Institute, Ministry of National Defence) · Taki był początek Westerplatte ↩
  2. Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk · How to get here? (Westerplatte) ↩
  3. Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk · How to get here? (Westerplatte) ↩
  4. Museum of Gdańsk · Wartownia nr 1 na Westerplatte ↩
  5. Polska Zbrojna (Military Publishing Institute, Ministry of National Defence) · Tak rodziło się Westerplatte ↩
  6. Museum of Gdańsk · Wartownia nr 1 na Westerplatte ↩
  7. Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk · Visitor Centre ↩
  8. City of Gdańsk (gdansk.pl) · Westerplatte we wrześniu 1939 roku ↩
  9. City of Gdańsk (gdansk.pl) · 7 września 1939 - kapitulacja Westerplatte ↩
  10. Gdańsk Tourist Organisation (visitgdansk.com) · Water activities ↩
  11. Integrated Education Platform (Ministry of National Education) · Wybuch II wojny światowej. Wojna obronna - początek walk ↩
  12. National Institute of Cultural Heritage (NID) · The battlefield of Westerplatte (zabytek.pl) ↩
  13. Polska Zbrojna (Military Publishing Institute, Ministry of National Defence) · Taki był początek Westerplatte ↩
  14. City of Gdańsk (gdansk.pl) · Kopiec - Pomnik Obrońców Wybrzeża ↩
  15. City of Gdańsk (gdansk.pl) · Kopiec - Pomnik Obrońców Wybrzeża ↩
  16. Polska Zbrojna (Military Publishing Institute, Ministry of National Defence) · Taki był początek Westerplatte ↩
  17. Polska Zbrojna (Military Publishing Institute, Ministry of National Defence) · Tak rodziło się Westerplatte ↩
  18. Polska Zbrojna (Military Publishing Institute, Ministry of National Defence) · Taki był początek Westerplatte ↩
  19. City of Gdańsk (gdansk.pl) · Kopiec - Pomnik Obrońców Wybrzeża ↩
  20. City of Gdańsk (gdansk.pl) · Co tak naprawdę kupił w Gdańsku Mieczysław Jałowiecki? ↩
  21. City of Gdańsk (gdansk.pl) · Kopiec - Pomnik Obrońców Wybrzeża ↩
  22. City of Gdańsk (gdansk.pl) · Co tak naprawdę kupił w Gdańsku Mieczysław Jałowiecki? ↩
  23. City of Gdańsk (gdansk.pl) · Co tak naprawdę kupił w Gdańsku Mieczysław Jałowiecki? ↩
  24. Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk · #WesterplatteHistory - The so-called old barracks building ↩
  25. City of Gdańsk (gdansk.pl) · Co tak naprawdę kupił w Gdańsku Mieczysław Jałowiecki? ↩
  26. National Institute of Cultural Heritage (NID) · 87. rocznica wybuchu II wojny światowej. Westerplatte jako symbol pamięci i niezłomności ↩
  27. Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk · Mission of the Westerplatte Museum ↩
  28. National Institute of Cultural Heritage (NID) · The battlefield of Westerplatte (zabytek.pl) ↩
  29. City of Gdańsk (gdansk.pl) · Kopiec - Pomnik Obrońców Wybrzeża ↩
  30. Polska Zbrojna (Military Publishing Institute, Ministry of National Defence) · Tak rodziło się Westerplatte ↩
  31. Gdańsk Tourist Organisation (visitgdansk.com) · Water activities ↩
  32. Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk · Power Plant ↩
  33. Integrated Education Platform (Ministry of National Education) · Wybuch II wojny światowej. Wojna obronna - początek walk ↩
  34. Polska Zbrojna (Military Publishing Institute, Ministry of National Defence) · Taki był początek Westerplatte ↩
  35. Polska Zbrojna (Military Publishing Institute, Ministry of National Defence) · Taki był początek Westerplatte ↩
  36. Polska Zbrojna (Military Publishing Institute, Ministry of National Defence) · Tak rodziło się Westerplatte ↩
  37. City of Gdańsk (gdansk.pl) · Co tak naprawdę kupił w Gdańsku Mieczysław Jałowiecki? ↩
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  40. Polska Zbrojna (Military Publishing Institute, Ministry of National Defence) · Tak rodziło się Westerplatte ↩
  41. Museum of Gdańsk · Wartownia nr 1 na Westerplatte
  42. Museum of Gdańsk · Wartownia nr 1 na Westerplatte
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  51. Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk · Power Plant
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  90. Polska Zbrojna (Military Publishing Institute, Ministry of National Defence) · Tak rodziło się Westerplatte ↩
  91. National Institute of Cultural Heritage (NID) · The battlefield of Westerplatte (zabytek.pl) ↩
  92. Polska Zbrojna (Military Publishing Institute, Ministry of National Defence) · Taki był początek Westerplatte ↩
  93. City of Gdańsk (gdansk.pl) · Kopiec - Pomnik Obrońców Wybrzeża ↩
  94. City of Gdańsk (gdansk.pl) · Kopiec - Pomnik Obrońców Wybrzeża ↩
  95. City of Gdańsk (gdansk.pl) · Kopiec - Pomnik Obrońców Wybrzeża ↩
  96. Gdańsk Tourist Organisation (visitgdansk.com) · Places associated with the Second World War ↩
  97. Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk · 87. rocznica wybuchu II wojny światowej - zapraszamy na obchody w Gdańsku ↩
  98. Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk · 87. rocznica wybuchu II wojny światowej - zapraszamy na obchody w Gdańsku ↩

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