Battle of Hel 1939
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 9 September 1939 – 2 October 1939 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1939 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Location | Poland | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | 1939 Invasion of Poland, World War II | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 54.6417, 18.7814 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Hel (Polish: Obrona Helu, literally "the Defense of Hel") was a World War II engagement fought from 1 September to 2 October 1939 on the Hel Peninsula, of the Baltic Sea coast, between invading German forces and defending Polish units during the German invasion of Poland (also known in Polish historiography as the September Campaign). The defense of the Hel Peninsula took place around the Hel Fortified Area, a system of Polish fortifications that had been constructed in the 1930s near the interwar border with the German Third Reich.
Beginning on 20 September 1939, after the Polish Army Pomorze had been defeated in the Battle of Tuchola Forest and after other Polish coastal strongholds had capitulated in the Battle of Westerplatte, Battle of Gdynia and the Battle of Kępa Oksywska, Hel was the only substantial pocket of Polish military resistance left in northern Poland. It was also the site of the invasion's only naval surface engagement.
The Germans blockaded the defenders of the Hel Peninsula and did not launch major land operations until the end of September 1939.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Hel (revision 1374024553), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Danzig Bay 1939 · 1 km
- Battle of Kępa Oksywska 1939 · 18 km
- Battle of Gdynia 1939 · 22 km
- Battle of Westerplatte 1939 · 27 km
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- Siege of Danzig (1807) 1807 · 32 km
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All 178 battles of the World War II →
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