An honorary guard looked on as officials placed wreaths at the foot of the monument to the defenders of Westerplatte at 4:45 am local time, the exact time that the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein began shelling this tiny Polish military outpost.

VOA: standard.2009.09.01

The then 24-year-old Cpl Skowron was one of just 182 Polish soldiers defending the military transit depot on the Westerplatte peninsula.

BBC: Watching the start of World War II

The day began with Mr Kaczynski and his Prime Minister Donald Tusk joining war veterans beside a monument to the heroes of Westerplatte at 0445 (0245 GMT).

BBC: Poland remembers World War start

Few survive to tell the tale of the German battleship, Schleswig-Holstein, unleashing a barrage of 280mm and 170mm shells at a Polish fort and shattering the dawn breaking over the Westerplatte peninsula in the free city of Danzig on 1 September 1939.

BBC: Watching the start of World War II