German seaborn landing against Hela (1939) - info needed.

[L.Gladysiak]

Hello,

I am looking for any information connected with German plans of seaborn landing against Hela during the Polish Campaign 1939. As far as I know there were several units sended to fulfill the task (probably the detachement from 207 Inf.Div and Eberhardt Brigade), but I am not certain whether it is true or not...
Does anybody know something more about that planned event? Maybe any literature in English or German is available?

Thank you very much for help.

[william russ]

Hi LG,
As far as I know the Germans never planned any seaborne landing at Hela. The Germans had limited naval assets and the Germans considered the Polish seaward defensive works too strong to tackle with what they had. This is from my reading of Corps Kaupisch's war diary during the campaign.

Best regards, Bill

[L.Gladysiak]

Thanks for your answer Bill. As far as I know there were plans connected with landing at Hela (but also in Gdańsk and Gdynia) c.a. may-june 1939, but finally the action had benn cancelled, probably in mid july.

Could you write down the whole information about the diary you have mentioned (the whole title, publisher, year of publishing and number of pages)? I will be glad.

Best regards
Łukasz

[william russ]

Hi Gladysiak,
You're right in that OKH made plans for the seaborne landings. But by the time August rolled around they realized they did not have the assets to attempt the operations, so they were cancelled. All of this info is probably in the OKH records for May through July 1939. You would have to troll through them to find what you are looking for. I never got the OKH records for that period because I only needed the strategic overview of the invasion plans and much of what I needed was in secondary sources. Also the Kriegsmarine records may have some info.
All my primary sources come from the microfilms obtained through the National Archives here in the US. The Korps Kaupisch war diary is on one of those rolls. If you want a copy you can order that particular roll from the National Archives (they have gotten expensive lately though ).
If you have any information on these proposed operations could you post them here? I, and I'm sure others, would like to see it.

Best regards, Bill

PS: I'll look through the Korps Kaupisch war diary to see if it mentions any of the seaborne operations. Their war diary only starts in August, which means they will not have much about pre-war planning.

[L.Gladysiak]

Oh I see... I thought the diary is accesible on paper.

As far as the landing plans are concerned, the option of seaborne operation arised from the, as it had been thought, similar action in Memel. In the polish defensive plan the landing at Hela Peninsula was taken in consideration. Hence in the "Bag Plan" ("Plan Worek"), the topic of landing appeared. The natural targets were of course Gdańsk (Danzig), Gdynia (later Gotenhafen) and mentioned above Hela Peninsula. Nevertheless the operation in Gdańsk had been cancelled because of its ineffectiveness - land action augured to be quite better especially because of large german community in the city, which was incorporated in the action of breaking down polish resistance connected with land forces from East Prussia. The other landing actions - at Gdynia & Hela - seemed to be too risky because of defensive positions...

Apart of that I heared that the plan of seaborn operations against Poland had been made in mid-1939 and that is why I am looking for any info.

[william russ]

Hi Gladysiak,
Thanks for sharing the information you have.
I looked at the Korps Kaupisch war diary and it starts on August 25th! Naturally there is no mention of plans for seaborne operations. All it talks about is the mobilization and immediate deployment of its forces.
It would be interesting to find those details for the planned seaborne landings. You've got my curiosity up on what forces the Germans planned on using in each instance. I'm going to look at a couple of other microfilm rolls I have that may have something related to what you are looking for. I'll post back here if I find anything.

best regards, Bill

[crolick]

Hello all,

as for the seaborn operation I would love to know what vessels would be used to carry the troop to either Gdynia or Hel (I omit the possibility of the landing on the beaches as pure S-F).

Bill - is there anything in the KTB about the general assault on Hel Peninsula in October? In Polish sources it is claimed that Germans planned major attack in October and that capitulation on 1 X prevented from further unnecessary losses. Is this true?


Have a nice day!
Andrzej

[Domen123]

Hi Andrzej,

In Polish sources it is claimed that Germans planned major attack in October and that capitulation on 1 X prevented from further unnecessary losses. Is this true?

Hitler in his propaganda speech in Reichstag on 06.10.1939 also said so. But he didn't perceive this in categories of "preventing from further unnecessary losses" by the Polish side. He critcized Polish commander for capitulation. He said:

http://www.humanitas-international.org/ ... 10-06.html

"[...] The Polish soldiers as individuals fought bravely on many occasions, but their officers, beginning with the command, can only be described as irresponsible, unconscientious and inefficient. Before the bombardment of Hela I had also given orders that not a single man should be sacrificed until the most careful preparation for action had been made. There, too, surrender came at the very moment when the Germans had at length announced their intention of attacking and had begun to do so. [...]"

But what do you mean as "major attack"?

German ground attack against Hela already started on 30.09.39 - if I remember correctly Infanterie-Regiment 374. was attacking there (at least one battalion from this regiment), supported by some artillery - A.R.207. The commander of III./A.R.207 - Major Fritz Christoph - was even KIA on 30.09.1939. Germans managed to capture Chałupy and approached close to Kuźnica. According to Grzelak and Stańczyk ("Kampania Polska 1939 Roku"), ground fights on Hela also continued for the whole day on 01.10.39 and came to an end before midday on 02.10.39 - although I'm not sure if they are right.

Cheers!
Peter

[william russ]

Hi All,

Andrzej - I e-mailed you to tell you what I can do. I did forget to tell you that yes, the war diary has info on the final assault on Hela.

Gladysiak - The two areas I'm thinking of are the 4th Army and Army Group North. I think I have on microfilm some of their records going back to June 1939. They may mention the seaborne operations. It'll be this weekend before I get to them, so hang in there!

best regards, Bill

[L.Gladysiak]

Hi Everyone,

Andrzej - The problem of vessels is still unsolved. Probably it was a bedrock of cancelling the plans and transferring the major effort to the land forces...

Bill - I will be glad if you find something because there is quite hard to find any sources connected with the topic here in Poland.

Regards!

[william russ]

Hi Gladysiak,
Well, sad news . I looked through the microfilm rolls for the 4th Army and Army Group North and found nothing related to seaborne operations. The only special operation mentioned is the seizure of the Dirschau bridge by Group Medem. For pre-war stuff only the deployment and direction of the regular ground forces are discussed. Since records for both only start in July I would say that the seaborne operations were probably cancelled before July.
Sorry to draw a blank for you. Hopefully someone else in the forum will see this and may have the information.

best regards, Bill