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to end in disaster? Not quite. Westerplatte did put up a ferocious fight for seven days. Westerplatte demonstrated that the nation has the ideological and moral right to an independent existence.
But apart from this, Westerplatte was the scene of a psychological drama which took place in the souls of the commanders and of the soldiers. Some were intent upon glory and heroism.
Others however fought primarily for the effects of battle, for the price of every life, they sought to save the fighting men’s efforts, to save every drop of blood, if its shedding could be avoided while inflicting the greatest casualties upon the enemy.
They fought for prudence and professional skill in the soldier’s trade and ordeal. It was here that the drama of the loneliness of Major Sucharski, the commander of Westerplatte, unfolded in the presence of his comrades. It was here that the traditional stereotypes of Polish heroism crumbled, to be replaced by the portrait of a wise and disciplined common man who takes up arms in self-defense and who fights with full awareness and in an organized manner, with the sense of responsibility for his own life and that of his companions. That is why despite the fire, bombs and attacks that rained on Westerplatte, the casualties were comparatively low, communication contact was maintained to the end, and the morale, despite individual crack-ups, was excellent. That is why the capitulation of the tattered band of soldiers who had come to the end of their physical endurance, makes such an overpowering optimistic impression. The subject is therefore both important and dangerous to tackle by the director. What under the circumstances could save the film makers from this pitfall? Nothing but stark simplicity of approach. Fortunately, that is what Rozewicz elected to do. He did not succumb to the lure of facile battle scenes or to heroic but frequently vapid posturings. He has made the whole company, the moral and psychological drama of the battle, his heroes, renouncing all the easy charms of fiction. The film is a faithful reconstruction of the battle based on the memoirs and reminiscenes of the still living veterans of that ‘smal! Polish Verdun.”
Not a single woman’‘ss face appears on the screén. We have here a climate of male friendship recalling the best pages of “Days of Wrath” by André Malraux. We have here the cruel and grim battle for survival, a fight to hang on. There is no single gesture of pathos, although there is a great deal of human anguish, human blood and human fear. But it is precisely
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