The defense of the Polish coast (1939)

On July 30, 1939, the Inspector General of the Armed Forces issued an order to protect the coast. In anticipation of the inevitable armed conflict, the defense plans of the naval command prepared on the coast mainly focused on the defense of Gdynia , the most important industrial and military center of the region, and Hel , who in anticipation of a massive attack on the cities of Gdynia and Gdansk should was to become the main base of the Polish fleet. All forces were divided into three main parts: Naval Defense of the Coast (Morska Obrona Wybrzeża), Land Defense of the Coast (Lądowa Obrona Wybrzeża) and units directly subordinate to the Coast Defense Command (Dowództwo Obrony Wybrzeża).

Naval forces

The maritime defense of the coast consisted of all the ships of the Polish Navy , with the exception of the destroyer Viher (Whirlwind) and the submarine division, which were subordinated to the Coast Defense Command. A separate detachment of destroyers: "Bougie" ("The Tempest") , "Blyskavitsa" ("Lightning") and "Thunder" - had to go to the ports of Great Britain before the war and from there with the British fleet to conduct operations against the aggressor according to the plan of Operation Peking . This was due to the risk of losing destroyers in the first days of the war. The destroyer “Viher” was eventually left in Poland to cover the mine layer “Gryf” .

Other surface ships, including the Gryf large minelayer - the largest ship of the Polish fleet - and the mine division (Dywizjon Minowców, six minesweepers of the Yaskulka type ("Swallow") and two gunners of the ship were to participate in Operation Rourke " and put mines in order to make it harder to navigate in the Gdansk Bay, especially between the main coast of Germany and East Prussia. The task of the submarines was to take up positions in the southern part of the Baltic Sea, attack enemy ships and lay mines. The submarines, which were to be distributed along the Hel Peninsula and the Gdansk Bay, were also envisaged in the Rourke plan, and were mainly focused on the defense of the naval bases , due to the alleged predominance of German forces.

Ground and air forces

On land, it was planned to focus on the defense of the most important port cities of Gdynia and Hel. The main forces were concentrated in a separate unit “Wejherowo” (Oddział wydzielony “Wejherowo”) to the west of Wejherowo. The detachment consisted of the 1st Naval Rifle Regiment and the national defense battalion "Puck". The Redlovo detachment (Oddział Wydzielony "Redłowo") south of Gdynia consisted of the 2nd Marine Regiment and the 1st Reserve Battalion. The Kartuzy squad (Oddział Wydzielony "Kartuzy") next to Kartuzy included the national defense battalions Kartuzy and Gdynia II. In the immediate vicinity of Kolechkovo was located the battalion of national defense "Gdynia I".

The anti-aircraft defense of Gdynia consisted of the 1st naval anti-aircraft artillery battalion with eight 75-mm stationary anti-aircraft guns wz. 22/24 and two platoons searchlights.

The Land Defense of the coast had a total of 40 artillery pieces of various types, 34 mortars and a grenade launcher, 192 heavy machine guns and 266 light machine guns. Border guard commissariats and a transit military depot (Wojskowa Składnica Tranzytowa) in Westerplatte also submitted to her. The number of personnel of the coast defense forces is about 17 thousand people.

The composition of the Marine Defense Coast, in addition to ships, included coastal artillery and all other units located on the Hel Peninsula, which formed the fortified area "Hel" (Rejon Umocniony Hel). The coastal artillery division consisted of coastal artillery batteries: No. 31 named after Helidor Laskovsky (four modern Bofors guns of 152.4 mm caliber), No. 32 "Greek" and No. 33 "Danish" (two 105-mm cannons on wheels). Behind them, three anti-amphibious batteries were deployed on the Hel Spit, with a total of eight 75-mm cannons. On the highlands of Kemp-Oksyvska, a two-cannon battery of Kane guns of 100 mm caliber was located. To protect the area from Hel to Wladyslavovo , the 4th battalion of the Hel Guard Corps was equipped with 124 machine guns, 11 grenade launchers and 42 light guns. The air defense forces consisted of the 2nd naval anti-aircraft artillery battalion (6 stationary 75-mm guns Wz. 22/24 and 8 40-mm Wz. 38). The only aviation unit of the Land Defense of the coast was the Naval Aviation Division (Morski Dywizjon Lotniczy) in Puck (13 seaplanes mainly obsolete and only reconnaissance: Polish Lublin R-VIIIter, Lublin R-XIIIter, Lublin R-XIIIG and one Italian CANT Z .506b)

On August 24, the President of Poland issued a decree on general mobilization. Practically all categories of military service were called to the service - reservists, militia members, who are eligible for auxiliary service, retired officers and non-commissioned officers, regardless of age, health status and type of weapon. Mobilization of fleet units proceeded fairly smoothly, there was some disorganization in the ground units, nevertheless, by the end of August all units had reached a high level of combat readiness.

On August 26, 1939, the day after the conclusion of the Anglo-Polish military alliance, the commander of the Polish fleet, Rear Admiral Jozef Unrug, approved the plan "Peking" - the redeployment of Polish destroyers to the UK in the event of war. Sealed envelopes with orders were sent to the ships. On August 29, at 12:55 pm, the signal “Execute Peking” was transmitted to the ships by radio and flag semaphore. The destroyers “Buzha”, “Blyskavitsa” and “Thunder” passed through the Baltic Sea, Oresund , Kattegat and Skagerrak , and through the North Sea on September 1 entered the port of Edinburgh . The transition took place without serious incidents. On August 30, the detachment met with German ships - the light cruiser “Königsberg” and the destroyer — but due to the absence of an order there was no clash on both sides.

First encounters

September 1, German troops began the invasion of Poland. The forces of the Polish fleet and ground forces of the Primorsky region were immediately transformed into a special formation - Coast Defense ( Polish Obrona Wybrzeża ) under a single command, which immediately found itself in a critical situation because of a simultaneous attack from land (from the west and east), from the sea and from the air. The Germans had against the Poles on land the corps and brigade of the Wehrmacht - about 29 thousand people, 60 howitzers, 254 guns, 72 mortars and a grenade launcher and about 700 machine guns. The forces of the German fleet allocated for the operation consisted of two old battleships, ten destroyers, eight torpedo boats, four patrol boats and 24 minesweepers. One destroyer, nine destroyers and twelve submarines carried out a blockade of the coastal region.

Gdansk Port was the first to be attacked: the German training battleship Schleswig-Holstein (built before World War I) opened fire on Polish positions on Westerplatte . At the same time, the Wehrmacht crossed the Polish-German border along the entire coastal zone. The Luftwaffe aircraft bombed Hel and Puck, destroying almost all the aircraft stationed there. All relatively large Polish warships after the bombing of Gdynia and Hel took to the sea.

Sea Fights

Operation Rourke

In accordance with the plan for the defense of Gdansk prepared at the end of 1938 - early 1939, on the night of September 1 to September 2, 1939 the Polish fleet was entrusted with the operation "Rourke" ("Pipe"). It consisted in setting up minefields on the Hel-Sopot line, which were supposed to detain the Germans and not allow them to land on the coast. The destroyer "Viher" was supposed to cover the mine layer "Gryf", which left Pillau ^[2] . After loading the sea mines on the Gryf, the Poles set off and collided in the afternoon with Hel near about 30 dive bombers Junkers Ju 87 from the 4th group of the 1st training squadron ^{[3] [4]} . They tried to sink and destroyer and minelayer. Timely measures taken by the commander of "Vihera" de Walden, allowed his ship to avoid hitting bombs ^[5] , but it was not possible to save the whole "Gryph" - five crew members, headed by commander Stefan Kvyatkovsky, were killed by a bomb at the stern. Deputy Commander Captain Viktor Lomidze, fearing further air raids, immediately ordered to drop overboard mines that had not yet been prepared ^[6] . Operation “Rourke” had to be canceled, but the crew of the “Vihera”, which went west from Pillau, was not informed. ^[7] The same night, the crew of the Vihera discovered approximately at a distance of 4,500 meters two German destroyers. According to historians, they were “ Georg Thiele ” and “ Richard Baytzen ”. Soon the Poles also discovered the third ship, or the light cruiser Leipzig , or the destroyer Wolfgang Zenker ^{[8] [9]} . So, the commander of the ship, who did not receive an order to cancel the operation, decided not to open fire, so as not to attract attention. Later, de Walden wrote that it was a serious mistake: the German ships were clearly visible to the Poles and were vulnerable to artillery fire and torpedoes, but the Germans could not see the Polish ships ^[10] . However, historians have refuted a similar thesis: by then, de Walden had already received an order to cancel the operation and headed back to Pillau ^[8] .

On September 2, at about 5 o'clock in the morning, "Viher" returned to Hel. According to the order of the Fleet Command, the Viher and the Gryf were turned into a floating battery near Hel.

On the same day, due to the raids of German aircraft, two ships were mobilized mobilized as a floating base : Gdynia and Gdansk. Most of the crews of these ships died. On the 3rd of September, the first sea battle was in the morning, when the German destroyers Liberich Maas and Wolfgang Zenker were heading towards Hel and attacked the port, where the Viher and Gryph were located. The coastal battery No. 31 helped the Polish ships. At about 6:30 in the morning, the Polish crew noticed two German destroyers. At about 6:50 am, the enemy ships opened fire, and the Poles also opened fire. At about 6:57, the Meuse was hit by a projectile from the Gryfa or from the battery No. 31 into a 127-mm gun, and a fire broke out on board (4 dead and 4 wounded). Confirmation of other losses on the German ships is not, but, according to some Polish data, the "Meuse" went down and was towed to Pillau. Gryf himself received two projectiles that damaged his anti-aircraft guns.

On the same day, the Zenker was again spotted, which, after the shelling of the battery, left Hel. The German command after decided to strengthen the bombing of the Hel Peninsula, in particular the Polish warships. Also on September 3, ships in Heli bombed the Ju 87 dive bombers. As a result of the airstrike, four Polish warships were flooded: the Gryf, the Viher, the Seagull and the General Haller. One Ju 87 was shot down. On September 4, German destroyers left the Baltic Sea due to the cessation of the threat of attack by large Polish ships. They were replaced by small ships capable of patrolling coastal waters and trawling mines. On September 6, the German ships blocked the way to the port of Gdynia, two merchant ships were also flooded: the Greek “Ioannis Karas” and the Polish “Torun” - they were flooded at the southern entrance to the port of Gdynia.

The activities of the submarine division did not produce any effect, they were constantly pursued by the enemy. The “Semp” submarine damaged by depth bombs ( ORP „Sęp” , “ Vulture ”) was forced on September 5 to leave for the Swedish island of Gotland and there try to repair the damage. The bombings also caused damage to the Wilk (Wolf) and Lynx submarines. Last on the night of 4 to 5 September, returned to the naval port of Hel for repairs, despite the prohibition of the General Staff. At the same time, the submarine "Red" ("Eagle") moved away from the shores of Sweden, violating the order. Underwater minzagi "Wilk", "Lynx" and "Zhbik" ("Wild Cat") were engaged in mine settings: "Wilk" on September 3 put the entire reserve of twenty mines between Hel and Veykselmünde , on September 7 put 10 minutes north of Hel Peninsula; “Zhbik” put twenty minutes north of Yastarni . After this operation, the submarines went into new sectors on the high seas.

On September 12, three Polish minesweepers sailed into the sea: “Yaskulka”, “Rybitva” and “The Seagull”. Ships opened fire on German positions in the city of Reva . On the night of the 12th to the 13th, these trawlers laid 60 min in the Gdansk Bay , and on September 14, they fired at German positions in the area of Mechelinok . In the afternoon of September 14, as a result of a Luftwaffe raid on Yastarnyu, the minesweepers Chaplya and Yaskulka, the Pogoshanin hydrographic vessel, the Lech and Sokul tugs, and the minesweeper Rybitva were damaged. On the evening of September 14, the remaining afloat "Seagull", "Rybitva" and "Zhurav" left for Hel, where they were disarmed and capitulated.

All submarines headed to the ports of neutral countries or in the UK. The Semp submarine arrived in Sweden on September 18, the Lynx arrived there on September 19, and the Zhbik arrived on September 25. Wilk broke through the Danish straits on September 15 and came to the Scottish port of Rosyth on September 20. The submarine "Auger" came to Tallinn , where she was interned; on the night of September 17-18, the crew managed to repel the ship and leave Tallinn. On October 14th, “Ozhel” arrived at the British naval base at the Firth of Forth .

On October 1, 1939, a German minesweeper M-85 with 24 sailors sank and sank on a mine delivered by Zbik three weeks earlier. Together with the minesweeper the German boat Mulhausen sank. December 7, 1939 on a mine, set by the submarine "Wilk", the German boat Pil 55 sank and sank.

From September 1, fierce fighting took place on land. The superiority of the Wehrmacht was overwhelming, but the Polish troops put up strong resistance from 4 to 8 September, even after Gdansk Pomerania was cut off and the Pomorie army retreated. September 7 capitulated Westerplatte. The Germans were slowly pushing the Polish troops. The minesweepers “Yaskulka”, “Rybitva” and “The Seagull” constantly fired enemy positions with guns. Nevertheless, the German troops broke through the front and on September 12 the Polish troops retreated to the Okshivska rock hill. On September 14, Polish troops completely abandoned Gdynia. The troops on the Okshivskaya rock were still defensive, but because of the constant onslaught from land and from the sea, the situation on the Okshivskaya rock became critical. After an unsuccessful attempt to break through on September 19 at 17:00, the defense of the Okshivskaya rock fell.

After the Germans captured Gdynia and the Okshivska rock on the Baltic coast, only the Hel peninsula defended itself. The 4th battalion "Hel" on September 12 repulsed all German attempts to seize the peninsula. The Schleswig-Holstein and Schlesien battleships shelled the peninsula from September 18 to September 23, but without much success. These ships resumed the attack on September 25 and attacked the Laskovsky battery (commander Z. Przybyshevsky). Not reaching success, the Germans retreated again. On September 27, in the course of another such attack, Schleswig-Holstein suffered minor damage from a 152.4-mm projectile. Despite the shelling of the peninsula from the sea, the Poles did not give up. On September 25, the Nentsi captured the village of Chalupy, podklashli to Kutnitsa and actually captured about a third of the spit. Only after this, on October 1, the 4th battalion "Hel" laid down their arms and capitulated.

Piotr Derdej. Westerplatte, Oksywie, Hel 1939 . - Bellona, ​​2009. - 225 p.