Order of Battle
Battle off Hel
3 September 1939
Contributed by Michal Kopacz and Tony DiGiulian
Originally written 4 June 2000
Updated 22 December 2008
Polish Forces

ML Gryf—Cmdr. Stanislaw Hryniewiecki
DD Wicher—Cmdr. Stefan de Walden

Shore Battery Cyplowa - (4) 15.2 cm guns
Shore Battery Dunska - (1) 10.5 cm gun
Shore Battery Grecka - (1) 10.5 cm gun
 


German Forces
    Führer der Torpedoboote, Konter-admiral Günther Lütjens

DD Z.1 Leberecht Maass (F)—Cmdr. Fritz Bassenge
DD Z.9 Wolfgang Zenker—Lt. Cmdr. Gottfried Pönitz
 

Leberecht Maass was hit by one 15.2 cm shell near No. 2 gun, killing four and wounding four.  She fired a total of 74 rounds during the one-hour action.  Repaired at Swinemunde, she was fully battleworthy by 10 September.

Gryf was hit by two 12.7 cm shells, killing four.  Wicher was hit by splinters from a near miss, wounding two.

Later in the day, German airforces attacked and sank Wicher, Gryf, a gunboat and some smaller auxillary vessels.

Sources
"Burza nad Atlantykiem", t1, Andrzej Perepeczko
"The German Fleet at War:  1939-1945" by Vincent P. O'Hara