Emily Chan
In September 1939, German forces moved into the Westerplatte peninsula in the Bay of Gdańsk in Poland on the Baltic Sea coast, initiating the Battle of Westerplatte. It was the first Nazi invasion of Poland, marking the start of World War II in Europe.
More than 4,700 dangerous artifacts have been cleared away from the site of the battle after lying hidden for decades.
The extraordinary find is a reminder of the destruction that the war left in its wake and underscores the challenges of maintaining the safety of the public.
These relics also bring history to the present, giving archaeologists and historians a unique opportunity to study and preserve important artifacts.
The removal project has been going on since 2016, headed by the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk. The museum was working with soldiers from the 43rd Naval Sapper Battalion and the Engineer Battalion Sapper Company from the 2nd Sapper Regiment based in Kazuń Nowy to document all the material.
Recently, they finished clearing the last area of the battlefield, which spanned 6.1 acres. From this section, they found 49 dangerous objects and 180 historical artifacts.
The expanse of the battlefield measured a total of about 32.1 acres. Over the course of the project, more than 4,700 dangerous objects were discovered across this area.
Among these items, there were three aircraft bombs, around 200 artillery shells, mortar and hand grenades, fuses, and fragments of small arms ammunition. One of the aircraft bombs weighed over 1,100 pounds and was located just 12 inches beneath the ground.
In addition, approximately 3,800 historical artifacts from the 18th century to postwar times in Westerplatte were uncovered. These included cannonballs and musket shells, which were evidence of battles that took place during the 1733 to 1738 War of the Polish Succession and the Napoleonic period.
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