Fortified area of Hela
The fortified area of Hela (Polish: Rejon Umocniony Hel) was a Polish fortification zone on the Putziger Spit (also known as the Hela peninsula) in northern West Prussia . This area was separated from the German Reich in 1918 and became part of the newly established Polish state. The fortified area of Hela was in the immediate vicinity of the border with the German Empire in the Polish interwar period (1918 to 1939). It was built in 1936 following a decree by President Ignacy Mościcki . It was equipped with the Hel field railway and covered most of the peninsula and was during the invasion of Polandone of the last places where Poles surrendered to the invading Wehrmacht . During the Second World War , the Hela naval base served as the main training area for submarine crews. At the end of the war, the mass evacuation of the German population of West Prussia, East Prussia and Danzig took place via the ports of the peninsula as part of the transport of wounded and refugees across the Baltic Sea from 1945 to May 1945. The Hela peninsula was one of the areas on the Baltic coast, along with parts of the Vistula Delta which were held by German troops until the surrender on May 9, 1945.
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ Milan N. Vego: Naval strategy and operations in narrow seas . Frank Cass, London 2003, p. 62: "in the area of the Hel Peninsula and Libau were concentrated 50-60 per cent of all German U-boat training facilities".
- ^ Christian Hartmann : Wehrmacht in the Eastern War. Front and military hinterland 1941/42. Oldenbourg science publisher. Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-486-70225-5 , pp. 167-168.