WWII ceremonies begin in Poland

A day of commemorations has begun in Poland to mark the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.

The first ceremony took place at dawn on Westerplatte peninsula near Gdansk, where a German battleship fired the first shots on a Polish fort in 1939.

Poland's president and prime minister led a sombre ceremony at the fort.

Foreign leaders from 20 countries including Germany and Russia are expected in Gdansk later in the day as ceremonies continue.

At 0445 (0245 GMT) Polish President Lech Kaczynski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk joined war veterans beside a monument to the heroes of Westerplatte.

The ceremony marked the exact time on 1 September 1939 when the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire at point-blank range on the fort. At the same time, the German Wehrmacht invaded Poland from east, west and south. The attacks triggered Britain and France's declaration of war against Germany two days later.

In an address, Mr Tusk said the lessons of history should not be forgotten. "We remember because we know well that he who forgets, or he who falsifies history, and has power or will assume power will bring unhappiness again like 70 years ago," he said.

At the time of the attack by the Schleswig-Holstein - which was moored in the Polish harbour on a friendship visit - Gdansk was known as the free city of Danzig.

    
A German battleship, the Schleswig-Holstein, bombards the Polish coast at Westerplatte, at the start of World War II

The 182 Polish troops defending the Polish fort were expected to resist for about 12 hours. Despite coming under fire from the air, sea and land, they held out against a force of more than 3,000 Germans for seven days.

According to a survey published on Monday, Westerplatte is the most important symbol of Polish resistance in the whole of the war.

A wreath-laying ceremony will take place later in the day and, of the speeches expected throughout the ceremonies, it is Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's which is the most keenly anticipated in Poland, reports the BBC's Adam Easton, in Gdansk.

According to the historian Professor Pawel Machcewicz, the Poles are expecting some sort of gesture from Mr Putin.

Poland's relations with Russia are currently thornier than those with Germany, partly because of differing historical interpretations of events at the start of the war.

Two weeks after the German invasion, the Red Army invaded and annexed eastern Poland under terms agreed in the secret protocol of a Nazi-Soviet pact.

In early 1940, the Soviet secret services murdered more than 20,000 Polish officers in the forests around Katyn. For 50 years Moscow blamed the Nazis and only admitted responsibility for the crime in 1990.

Russian courts have ruled that Katyn cannot be considered a war crime and Moscow is still refusing to declassify documents about the massacre.

The temperature was raised further this week with accusations broadcast on Russian state TV which implied the USSR was justified in its invasion of Poland because Warsaw had been conspiring with Hitler against Moscow.

Mr Putin is unlikely to defend this viewpoint, but nor is he likely to offer an apology for the Soviet invasion, although he may make a gesture to ease the tensions over Katyn, our correspondent says.

In an article published in the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza on Monday, Mr Putin wrote: "The Russian nation, whose fate was distorted by the totalitarian regime, well understands Poles' feelings about Katyn, where thousands of Polish soldiers are buried.

"We should remember the victims of this crime."