KEY TO DANZIG

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 61, 13 September 1939, Page 2

KEY TO DANZIG

THE WESTERPLATTE FORT IfELD BY SUICIDE SQUAD In the news last week was the defence. by the Polish garrison of Wes. tcrplattc against the German attack. The fort lias now been captured according to the Poles only alter the garrison had all been killed. The Germans first announced that the soldiers had surrendered through hun but if the following articlc describing the fortress is correct there were six months supplies in the stronghold. A small detachment of Polish soldiers, garrisoned in an isolated out_ post at the mouth of the Vistula River, nominally Danzig territorial water, holds the key to the military aspect of the Danzig problem. Determined to defend Poland's interests to the last, the picked members of this "suicide battalion'' are pledged tu resist any Nazi invasion. From; their strategic position on what thci people of Danzig still call the Westerplatte, they dominate the Free City. They could impede the Nazis' taking possession, or, as a last desperate resort, they could reduce the city to ruins. Though it is a carefully guarded secret in Berlin's Wilhelmstrasse, it was actually the pre. sen.ee of this Polish platoon within Danzig v#iich stopped Adolf Hitler from sending his troops goose stepping into the city on April his says the article. . . . STRATEGIC KEY TO DANZIG The Poles' Westerplatte fortress is one of the few provisions of the Versailles Treaty which is still in force. Articles 100f-108 of that treaty, which created Danzig's present status, set aside this spot—a popular holiday resort—as a military reservation for the Poles. A few years later Poland's Marshal Pilsudski gave orders to fortjfy it. . . INSIDE THE FORTIFICATIONS The harbour is Poland's lifeline to the fortress. It is a unit in itself, connected with the main port by o narrow' strip of land and a tunnel, which serves as an air-raid shelter well. The base was built to enable the two or three naval vessels which it can harbour to join forces with the fort in bombarding Danzig. The craft are sheltered behind the armoured shell-proof wall, facing the towers of the city itself. Inside this harbour is the ma hi store-house, large enough to hold la. tions to last through a six-month siege. The underground arsenals con tain n sufficient munitions reserve to conduct En extended campaign, even against overwhelming superiority of arms and armies. The concrete buildings are erected on a steel frame of the same material which supports France's Maginot Line. Anti-aircraft batteries are mounted on all roofs, their turrets built of the best French armour. The narrow canal leading through the outer wall can be shut by pulling an elcctric switch, which brings a steel barrier from under water. It mokes an impenetrable gate. There is but one bridge to th? Westerplatte from the eastern shore of the river. At present it is mined. Once the bridge is blown up and the steel gate lifted, there remains no approach to the completely isolated island. . . . HIDDEN POWER The whole system of fortifications is sunk into the ground. While today the garrison is housed in ( barracks above ground, in emergencies all men are to be moved to underground quarters, to which there are entrances inside the barracks. Under the protective wall along the edge of the island there runs the long under, ground which, at regular intervals of about 300 yards, widens into halls whence connecting tunnels lead to a second line of underground trenches. At four points un, the north," two points on the east and six points on the south are emplacements for heavy guns, operated by remote control from the com* mandant"s office. This underground headquarters is the nerve centre of the island's fortifications. There is the power station for the electric system, and a control and signal station which moves everything on the island. There is the telephone exchange, as well as the short-wave radio station powerful enough to rc. main in touch with points as far away as Sydney in Australia. There are four additional^ ; smaller • transmitters set up at four different (Continued at foot of next coluuu:)

points, each one of them made up two-way sets, able both to receivc and transmit messages. The Westerplatte uses a special code for its messages. . . . NAZIS SQUIRMING With its tremendous strategic importance actually dominating the entrance to Danzig from the north, where Poland would otherwise be unable to hinder the thrust of Germans, the Westerjplatte, small though it is, plays the role the strong Czechoslovakian fortifications played in delaying the dismemberment of that country. The Nazi strategy was to destroy this line of fortifications before attacking. At Hitler 13 using all the strength of his army to force the Poles to withdraw their outpost from the Westerplatte.