in silent hunter v (a submarine simulator set in the second world war) one of the first missions you get is to sink ships that are fleeing from Poland. was this a real operation or mission?

by mattheus21
vonadler

Yes, the Polish navy, knowing that it could not possibly fight the German navy and that its bases (wedged between German-friendly Danzig and German territory) would most likely soon be over-run were evacuated to Britain to keep on fightin in what was named Operation Peking.

Poland had at the outbreak of war;

  • 4 modern destroyers.

  • 5 modern submarines.

  • 1 modern large minelayer

  • 6 modern small minesweepers.

  • 2 old small gunboats.

  • 1 old 1st class torpedo boat repurposed as gunboat and artillery training vessel.

  • 1 clipper sail school ship.

  • A smattering of patrol boats, armed trawlers and small, older minelaying vessels.

Operation Peking had 3 of the modern destroyers (Burza, Blyskawica and Grom) leave Poland and head for Britain on the 29th of August. They encountered the German light cruiser Königsberg during the 29th, but as hostilities had not broken out yet, there was no combat. The destroyers entered the Danish strait at midnight and were discovered by German seaplanes in the Skagerack Sea on the 31st, but managed to shake them. On the 1st of September, they entered the North Sea and were met by Royal Navy destroyers.

As for the submarines, they were tasked with laying mines in the German sea lanes between East Prussia and Germany proper and disrupt any German shipping before attempting to sneak through the Danish strait and then escape to Britain.

Wilk laid mines, unsuccessfully attacked German shipping and then escaped to Britain, where she arrived on the 20th of September. Orzel's Captain turned ill, and she sailed to Tallinn, Estonia and were interned there after intense German pressure. However, the crew overpowered and kidnapped the two Estonian harbour guard assigned to them and sailed out of Tallinn, with the conning towed riddled by machinegun fire and their radio equipment damaged by Estonian artillery fire. The two guards were given money (50 dollars each, enough to travel home in first class), clothes and alcohol and set ashore in Sweden and the submarine made its escape to Britain, where she arrived forty days after setting sail from Poland. This incident was used as a Soviet excuse for forcing Estonia to accept Soviet bases, as Estonia obviously could not "protect her neutrality".

The submarines Zbik, Rys and Zep laid mines and were lightly damaged. Considering escape through the Danish strait unlikely, they all sailed to Sweden, where they were interned throughout the war together with the sail school ship Dar Pomorza. The submarines were returned to Poland after the war, but about half of the crews and most of the officers opted to stay in Sweden rather than move to Communist Poland. The crews had been allowed to work in Sweden and buy Red Cross care packages to send to their families in Poland and many had met Swedish girlfriends and had learned Swedish.

The large minelayer Gryf, the six minesweepers (which could also lay mines) and the last destroyer, Whicher attempted to lay a large minefield, but were interrupted and attacked by 33 German Ju 87 Stuka bombers on the 1st of September. After a near miss killed 22 sailors including the commander. The 2nd in command, Captain Wiktor Lomidze ordered the ~600 mines dumped unactivated, fearing a hit that would explode them and returned to the naval base at Hel.

At Hel, Gryf and Whicher repulsed an attack by the German destroyers Z1 Leberecht Maass and Z9 Wolfgang Zenker on the morning of the 3rd of September. However, later the same day, after three air attacks in a row, both Gryf and Whicher were sunk in the harbour.