The War Illustrated, Volume 1, No. 1, Page 18, September 16, 1939.

Situated at the mouth of the Vistula, great river of Eastern Europe, stands Danzig, the city which was the final objective in Hitler’s campaign of aggression. For centuries it has been a centre of economic life. Danes, Pomeranians, Prussians, Brandenburgers and Teutonic Knights have held it in turn, but from the Middle Ages until the infamous partitions of Poland at the close of the 18th century, it was a Free City under Polish control. With truth did Frederick of Prussia declare that he who rules in Danzig was more the king of Poland than the sovereign in Warsaw.

For a short time during the Napoleonic age it was a dukedom, but with the collapse of Napoleon’s empire it was returned to Prussia. It was the capital of West Prussia until 1919. At Versailles the treaty-makers resolved that the ancient Free City centre should be re-established under the League of Nations.