The Hel Peninsula, located north of Gdynia, is a strip of sand and trees stretching into the Baltic Sea. It served as one of Poland’s main defenses before World War II, protecting the approaches to Gdynia and Gdańsk. The peninsula witnessed intense and valiant combat by Polish forces during Germany’s invasion of Poland. Despite being outnumbered, around 3,500 courageous Polish soldiers held off a vastly superior German air, sea, and land force from September 1, 1939. Eventually, depleted of ammunition and supplies and with no reinforcements forthcoming, they surrendered on October 2, 1939.
During my visit, I was so engrossed in the sights that I didn’t take many photos, but I did capture some video footage of my journey to Hel.