Działania wojenne w obronie polskiego wybrzeża : 1 września - 2 października 1939 roku. Cz. 2

This is a successive article concerning defending the Polish coast in 1920-2000. Fighting on the coast in 1939, due to its specific character, took the form of operations on isolated directions. Battles that the literature mentions as „ the defence of the coast” included in fact five „operations”. The first three refer to land defence of the Coast, naval defence of the Coast and War Fleet operations. The successive two include defending the Polish Post Office in Gdańsk and the defence of Polish Transit Depot at Westerplatte. In 1939 names such as Westerplatte, Gdynia, Kępa Oksywska, Hel proved that the commanders and soldiers who defended the Polish Coast passed their examination and capitulated after Warsaw had capitulated and the naval base at Hel had lost its operational importance. It is an indisputable merit of Col. Dębek and his units that the forces of Land Coast Defence fought twice as long as it had been expected from them. This long defence enabled the defenders of Hel to endure two weeks. The coast defence in 1939 was assumed and remained an independent operation, not dependent operationally on the armed forces operations. It became a kind of a „micro-campaign” first of all thanks to Land Coast Defence and its unforgettable commander.