Battle of Gdynia

Battle of Gdynia
Part of Invasion of Poland
German battleship Schleswig-Holstein, stationed at Danzig harbour, shelling nearby Polish positions at Gdynia.
Date September 8–14, 1939 Location Gdynia, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland Result German victory
Belligerents
Germany	Poland
Commanders and leaders
Fedor von Bock Leonhard Kaupisch	Józef Unrug Stanisław Dąbek
Strength
29,000	17,000
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown

Battle of Gdynia was one of the major battles in northern Poland during the Invasion of Poland of 1939. The Germans' main push towards Gdynia began on 8 September and they captured Gdynia less than a week later on 14 September.

Gdynia is a major civilian and military port on the Baltic Sea, and was an important industrial centre of the Second Polish Republic. Its defence was one of the key elements in the Polish defence plan. One of the Polish armies, Armia Pomorze, had orders to prevent German forces from breaking through the Polish Corridor that linked most of Germany with East Prussia and to defend Gdynia, Hel, Kępa Oksywska and Oksywie.

The forces defending Gdynia were grouped under the Land Coastal Defence (Lądowa Obrona Wybrzeża), commanded by Colonel Stanisław Dąbek and Naval Coastal Defence (Morska Obrona Wybrzeża) Captain Stanisław Frankowski. The Polish plan foresaw that the Germans would manage to cut off Gdynia from the main forces of Armia Pomorze; therefore, the Land Coastal Defence was tasked with defence of the coast for 8–10 days and promised reinforcements after that period. It was thus prepared for individual operations and reassigned from Armia Pomorze to the Polish Navy, and Stanisław Dąbek received orders directly from counter-admiral Józef Unrug. The Polish Navy would support the coastal defence with 1 destroyer (ORP Wicher); 3 other destroyers had been evacuated from the Baltic Sea during Plan Peking), 1 heavy minelayer (ORP Gryf) and several submarines and smaller surface ships.

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