Westerplatte is a peninsula that juts out into the Gdansk Harbor channel of the Baltic Sea.
The Polish government had a military installation here from 1926 to 1939. The peninsula played an important role in the German invasion of Poland in 1939 as the first shots of World War II were fired here when the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein began to barrage the naval depot here.
Although the Germans eventually won the battle, Polish forces were able to hold them off for seven days, suffering few casualties. Today the site has an outdoor museum that details the battle and the history of the peninsula.
Places nearby:Stadion Energa: The huge Gdansk stadium that hosted a Euro quarter-final 3 km / 1 mi
Neptunes Fountain in Gdansk, Poland: Legend and Goldwasser 6 km / 4 mi
Power and Structure Represented by Malbork Castle 46 km / 28 mi
Kaliningrad Zoo One of Russias Oldest Zoos 121 km / 75 mi
Amber Museum an art depository of fossilized resin 123 km / 77 mi