II
The Opening Days
For the Polish and German navies, the war began in earnest on 1 September 1939. Poland’s navy was both new and small, reflecting her recent emergence as an independent country after centuries of partition and oppression by her immediate neighbours. It was formed from a small and miscellaneous collection of river gunboats, coastal patrol vessels, minesweepers and torpedo boats; but it was not until the completion of the destroyer ORP1Wicher (Wind) in 1929 that a sea-going Polish Navy emerged. Over the next ten years, up to the outbreak of war, the Polish Navy grew in strength as the almost-landlocked country sought to assert her independence and to demonstrate to her powerful neighbours Germany and Russia her determination to defend her small coastline.
A further three modern and formidable destroyers were added to the Polish Fleet between 1932 and 1938:Burza (Squall),Blyskawica (Lightning), andGrom (Thunderbolt). In addition to these four destroyers, the Polish Navy consisted of the small torpedo boatMazur; the minelayerGryf; five submarines,Wilk, Zbik, Rys,Orzel andSep; eight trawler-sized minesweepers; plus a dozen or so gunboats and coastal vessels. It was a very small force to be matched against the might of the German Navy and from the outset there could only be one outcome in any confrontation.
TheMazur was sunk by German bombers at the Gdynia-Oksywic naval base at about mid-day on 1 September 1939. TheWicher,Gryf and some minesweepers put to sea later that day on a mine-laying and sweeping operation across the sea route between Pilan and Gdansk, where they were attacked by formations of German Ju 87 Stuka dive-bombers. Although damaged by near misses and bomb splinters, and suffering casualties, they fought off the attackers and made their way to the naval base at Hel. There the ships were bombed again; and on Sunday 3 September, the day when Britain and France declared war on Germany in Poland’s cause, the ships were attacked in harbour by the two German destroyersLeberecht Maas andWolfgang Zenker.Maas fired onWicher andZenker engagedGryf at a range of some 14,000 yards. Already damaged, the immobile Polish ships, aided by a shore battery of four 6-inch guns, put up a doughty fight against the fast-moving German ships. Shortly before 0700 hours the leading German destroyer was hit and severely damaged by a salvo of return fire from the shore battery. A 6-inch shell struck the starboard fore-corner of theLeberecht Maas; splinters from the exploding shell scything down the gun crew behind B gun, killing four and wounding four.(1) Although not a mortal blow, the ship’s firing and fighting power was diminished; and at 0735 the German destroyers broke off the action and with