Battle of the Danzig Bay

Battle of Danzig Bay
Part of Invasion of Poland
Polish wz. 08/39 contact mine
Date 1 September 1939 Location Danzig Bay, Baltic Sea Result Strategic German victory Cancellation of Operation Rurka
Belligerents
Germany	Poland
Commanders and leaders
Unknown	Stefan Kwiatkowski † Wiktor Łomidze
Strength
33 Junkers Ju 87B	7 minelayers 2 gunboats AA units at Hel Peninsula
Casualties and losses
7-10 aircraft destroyed or damaged	52 killed and wounded 2 minelayers damaged

Strategic German victory

The Battle of Danzig Bay (Polish: bitwa w Zatoce Gdańskiej) took place on 1 September 1939, at the beginning of the invasion of Poland, when Polish Navy warships were attacked by German Luftwaffe aircraft in Gdańsk Bay (then Danzig Bay). It was the first naval-air battle of World War II.

The Polish Navy of the Second Polish Republic (1919–39) was prepared mostly as means of supporting naval communications with France in case of a war with the Soviet Union. However, after it became apparent that the aggressive side would be Germany, and the entrance to the Baltic Sea would be blocked, three out of four Polish modern destroyers were withdrawn from the Baltic Sea to Great Britain in what was called Operation Peking. The remaining forces, consisting of one large minelayer, one destroyer, five submarines and smaller vessels were to execute two major naval operations, both aimed at disrupting the German naval movement in the area of the Danzig Bay and transit movement between Germany and East Prussia. All submarines were dispatched for their operational zones in the southern Baltic to take part in Operation Worek, an attempt to sink as many German ships as possible.

All the remaining surface vessels were to be dispatched from the naval base in Gdynia to Hel Peninsula, from where they were to start the so-called Operation Rurka. The plan was to lay a naval mine barrier between Hel Peninsula and Danzig to prevent any enemy ship from entering the area.

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