Henryk Sucharski Henryk Sucharski ( 1898 – 1946 ) was a Polish military officer and a major in the Polish Army . At the outbreak of World War II , he was one of the commanders of the Westerplatte position in Danzig , which troops under his command defended for seven days against overwhelming odds . Sucharski survived the war and was posthumously promoted to the rank of general . Early life and career . Sucharski was born on November 12 , 1898 , in Gręboszów , a village near Tarnów , to a peasant family . He finished a local bi - yearly trade school and then a similar school in Otfinów . In early 1917 he graduated from the 2nd KuK Gymnasium in Tarnów and on February 13 he volunteered for service with the Austro - Hungarian Army . During his service in the March Battalion of the Bochnia - based 32nd Landwehr Regiment , he passed his matura exams and in February 1918 graduated from an officers school in Opatów . Dispatched with his regiment to the Italian front of the Great War , Sucharski was infected with malaria and spent the remainder of the war in various hospitals in Sanstino and then Celje . Upon his return to Poland , on February 7 , 1919 he joined the Polish Army and the Tarnów - based 16th Infantry Regiment , in part composed of his former Austro - Hungarian unit . In March he took part in the defence of Cieszyn Silesia against the Czechoslovakia n invasion and in June he was promoted to the rank of Corporal . By the end of October he was transferred to the North - Eastern sector of the front of the brief Polish - Bolshevik War where he took part in fighting along the Lithuanian border during the brief Polish - Lithuanian War for the region around Suwałki . On January 14 , 1920 he was promoted to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant and voluntarily joined the storming battalion of the 6th Infantry Division . For his bravery ( and wounds ) in the battle for Potnica and Bogdanówka on August 30 , 1920 , Sucharski was awarded the Order of Virtuti Militari , the highest Polish military decoration . He also received the Cross of the Valorous and was promoted to 1st Lieutenant after the war . In the interbellum Henryk Sucharski remained in active service . He graduated from a variety of courses for various branches of the military and on March 19 , 1928 he was promoted to the rank of Captain . An instructor in the Infantry NCO School in Ostrów Mazowiecka , in October 1930 he joined the Brześć nad Bugiem - based 35th Infantry Regiment . After graduating from additional courses at the Centre for Infantry Training in Rembertów near Warsaw , on March 19 , 1938 Sucharski was again promoted , this time to the rank of Major . Westerplatte . On December 3 , 1938 Sucharski became the commanding officer of the " Military Transit Depot " in Westerplatte , a Polish military outpost in the Free City of Danzig . A skilled organizer , Sucharski focused on improving the defences of the area under his command , a tiny ex – territorial area within the German - dominated city . He strengthened the fortifications of the Westerplatte peninsula and increased the number of soldiers serving there . After short stays in various German transit camps where the sabre was removed from his possession , on October 26 , 1939 Sucharski was imprisoned in Oflag IV - A in the Hohnstein castle . He spent the remainder of the war in various German prisoner of war camps , including Oflag II - B in Arnswalde ( from June 25 , 1940 ) and Oflag II - D in Gross - Born ( from May 12 , 1942 ) . During the evacuation of Gross - Born in March 1945 he suffered a serious accident from which he never fully recovered . After being liberated from the Schwerin sub - camp of the Oflag X - C Lübeck by the Americans , on May 28 , 1945 Sucharski joined the Polish II Corps and was transferred to Italy , where he briefly served as a commander of the 6th Karpaty Rifles Battalion following January 25 , 1946 . On August 19 , 1946 , he was sent to a British military hospital in Naples where he was interviewed by Melchior Wańkowicz , who made Sucharski the main protagonist in his 1948 short story " Westerplatte " . Henryk Sucharski died from peritonitis several days after the interview , on August 30 , 1946 . The following day he was buried in the Polish war cemetery in Casamassima near Bari . On September 1 , 1971 his ashes were returned to Poland and buried with military honours at Westerplatte , where it was decorated with the Commanders ' Cross of the Virtuti Militari . During the post - war years , Wańkowicz ' s mythologised account of Sucharski as a brave commander enduring under hopeless odds became the main source of information on Westerplatte action . The myth was propagated in numerous books and films . [ It is often thought that the Communist authorities preferred to maintain the myth of Sucharski , a heroic son of a peasant and shoemaker , rather than support his deputy , Franciszek Dąbrowski who was born into a " szlachta " family . ( opinion ) ] It was not until the 1990s that the truth about Sucharski and Westerplatte started to become more widely known . Places named for him . A street in Gdynia is named for him ( located at 54°33 ' 30 . 99 " N and 18°30 ' 24 . 21 " E ) and also another in Ostroleka , called Sucharskiego , with seven apartment blocks along it .