To defend the naval base in Hel, medium-caliber guns were necessary, which could also fight against enemy cruisers. Thanks to the efforts of Navy Captain Heliodor Laskowski, the purchase of old guns in France was abandoned and in 1933, guns were ordered from the Swedish company Bofors. These were modern 152.4 mm.
Shore battery
The new and strongest Polish coastal battery at that time was located almost at the end of the Hel Peninsula. During 1935, four firing positions were built, in which cannons were placed on the ceilings of reinforced concrete shelters containing ammunition magazines. The battery received the number 1, which was changed to 31 on January 1, 1937. At the same time, the battery was named after Heliodor Laskowski, who had died half a year earlier.
The fortification trail on the Hel Peninsula, photo by M. Ochocki
In the following years, a special ammunition warehouse and modern barracks were built, but the fire control system and ammunition supplies were neglected. The battery entered combat in September 1939 with rangefinders placed on makeshift wooden towers, with artillery headquarters in a tin barrack, and with a supply of 186 shells for each gun (this gives 30 minutes of continuous fire).
At the beginning of the fights, due to the small supply of ammunition, the guns fired only a few times: on September 3, they fought against German destroyers, then supported the land defense in Kepa Oksywska. Two long fire operations took place only on September 24 and 27. The target were the old and slow battleships “Schleswig-Holstein” and “Schlesien”, which approached Hel at a distance of about 15,000 m. Despite firing about 400-500 missiles at them, only 1 hit was achieved (statistically, 5-10% of the missiles should have hit).Therefore, the battery showed unexpectedly low effectiveness, due to the makeshift fire control system.
The fortification trail on the Hel Peninsula, photo by M. Ochocki
German fire had similarly low effectiveness. It turns out that despite careful camouflage, the location of the guns was well recognized by the Germans.
However, repeated air raids did not cause significant damage. The German battleships were similarly ineffective and fired 476 280 mm and 440 150 mm shells at the Polish positions – they scored two direct hits on the gun positions, but this did not cause any permanent damage. During the capitulation of the Fortified Area Hel the locks were removed from the guns and the sights were destroyed, but the Germans supplemented the missing elements and returned the battery to service under the name “Schlesien”. Just after the war, in unknown circumstances, gun position No. 1, closest to the shore of the bay, was blown up. In 1948, the surviving Bofors guns were dismantled and replaced with Soviet B-13s, and the battery was renamed the 13th BAS. Two 152.4 mm Bofors guns were donated to museums in Warsaw and Gdynia.
The fortification trail on the Hel Peninsula, photo by M. Ochocki
Today, all battery facilities are connected by paths and a tourist trail. The ruin of Site 1 is currently in the water due to erosion of the bay shore. However, at site No. 4 (in the 13th BAS No. 203) there is an exhibition dedicated to the memory of Cmdr. Lieutenant Zbigniew Przybyszewski, who commanded the “headland” battery in 1939. The commander survived the German camp and returned to service in the Polish Navy in 1945. Five years later, he was falsely accused by the communist regime of the Polish People’s Republic and executed on December 16, 1952.
The fortification trail on the Hel Peninsula, photo by M. Ochocki
