Defense of the Hel Peninsula, 1939

At the end of the 1920s, it was decided to strengthen the air defense of the Khel Peninsula by installing anti-aircraft batteries on it. The battery plans were developed by Wlodzimierz Otocki at the headquarters of the Naval Fortifications in 1932. He envisioned the creation of three anti-aircraft batteries: 21, 22 and 23, which are part of the 2nd Naval anti-aircraft artillery Squadron. Each battery was equipped with two Schneider 75 mm / L50 rpm 22/24 naval guns mounted on reinforced concrete ammunition shelters. Battery No. 21 was located at Cape Hel, battery No. 22 was located 1.5 km north of the naval port under construction, and battery No. 23 was located near the Bor lighthouse, which does not exist today. The batteries could also fire at surface and ground targets.
All battery facilities were connected by a narrow-gauge railway network for the delivery of ammunition. In 1935, the 2nd Naval Anti-Aircraft Artillery Squadron had 13 officers, 57 professional non-commissioned officers and 263 non-commissioned officers and enlisted men. By order of February 3, 1938, naval anti-aircraft artillery squadrons moved from the ground forces to the fleet. In 1938, in order to strengthen the air defense, the Navy Department ordered 80 40 mm / L56 vol. 36 guns. The order was delivered in July 1939. In addition, in 1939-1940 it was planned to purchase 10 machine guns, but after the March mobilization in 1939, section 2 of the MDA for various reasons received 13.2-mm guns of the .30 caliber of 13.2 mm.
Until September 1939, the equipment of the MDA 2 section included 6 guns of about 22 75 mm / 24, 8 40 mm guns of about 36 and two guns on the territory of about 36, 38, 13.2 and 18 Hotchkiss machine guns.08. The remaining units of the Reinforced Hel Region had 7 ob.30 machine guns on three-legged bases, 4 old Hotchkiss machine guns and 4 ob.30 machine guns. The strength of the 2 MDA section was increased to 27 officers and 692 non-commissioned officers and enlisted men, and anti-aircraft weapons were dispersed across the Hel peninsula.
The plan to protect Hel from land included the construction of permanent fortifications to block the naval base from Vladislavovo. In 1939, it was decided to build several bunkers on the spit. The main line of defense was to be the Yastarnya Resistance Center, the construction of which began on May 15, 1939. The first line of defense was to consist of 4 heavy combat bunkers located on the line from the Gulf of Gdansk to the Baltic Sea, intended for side fire, located north of Yastarni. The width of the peninsula in this place is about 400 meters.
The location of the main defense position at such a distance from the base of the peninsula was supposed to reduce the vulnerability of the object to artillery fire from land. They were equipped with ob. 30 and ob. 28 machine guns. The two outermost bunkers (Sok and Sp) were adapted for the installation of anti-tank guns in armored domes, but were not installed before the start of the war. Escort in Berlin berlin.map-escort-de.com