Poland remembers start of second world war

However in August 1939, Hitler offered Poland the chance to surrender

Poland refused, so on September 1, 1939, a Nazi battleship bombarded a Polish military garrison marking the start of the war

This staged picture shows German troops crossing the German-Polish border shortly after the actual invasion

Following continued bombardment from land, sea and air German troops were able to enter the empty seaport town of Gdynia on Septemebr 23, 1939

German air-raids left the Polish desperate and homeless

Warsaw was devastated, leaving much of it flattened and in ruins

However, between August and October 1944 the Polish Home Army resisted with what became known as the Warsaw Uprising

But the largely Jewish army was eventually overpowered and its members arrested

After the uprising, Jews from the infamous Warsaw Ghetto surrendered or were rounded up and sent to concentration camps

Many people became sick or died from disease and hunger while living in the sewers and basements of the city during the siege

Seventy years on, a Polish veteran looks on at the Westerplatte Memorial and remembers those who lost their lives