A few weeks ago we wrote about the disgraceful desertion of Commander Henryk Kłoczkowski. There is a different, much more interesting story connected with this event from the first days of the September campaign. This time, it is not devoted to disgrace and cowardice, but to Polish courage and resourcefulness at its best. It's high time to recall the spectacular escape of the ORP Orzeł crew from the port in Tallinn.
Commander Kłoczkowski, leaving the ship on the morning of September 15, 1939, left his men in an unenviable situation. Initially, it was planned that the Eagle would only stay in the Tallinn port for 24 hours in order to make the necessary repairs. After this time, the unit should move forward.
However, unexpected complications quickly appeared on the horizon. Namely, the German ship Thalatta, which was supposed to set sail on September 15, anchored in the same port.
Broken flag
The maritime law unequivocally regulated the awkward situation when the ships of two countries at war with each other stopped in the harbor of a neutral state. According to the regulations, they could leave the parking place with a minimum 24-hour interval.
The provision had an obvious justification. He assured that there would be no uncontrolled fighting in neutral waters or in front of the port itself. For Poles, however, it meant only problems.
The scheduled stoppage for one day was extended to 48 hours. And that was just the beginning of trouble. In the evening, the Estonians informed Orzel's first officer, Captain Jan Grudziński, that the ship was being interned until further notice . As Kacper Śledziński explains in the book "Courage of the losers", the hosts referred to:
paragraphs of the November 1938 treaty, the most significant part of which consisted of the internment of a militant submarine if it entered the territorial waters of one of the signatories.
Unfortunately for our submitters, Estonia - along with Lithuania and Latvia - was one of the signatories of the above-mentioned agreement. However, this was not the decisive factor. In fact, making this and no other decision was determined by the pressure of the German authorities on the government of a small and defenseless Baltic country.
Everything was therefore indicated that for the crew of Orzel - as for the former commander - the war was definitely over. As if as proof of this the Estonian officer broke the Polish flag waving at the stern.
ORP Orzel in all its glory. The photo was taken in February 1939 at the Gdynia port road.
The next day, Saturday, September 16, the Estonians started disarming the ship. The maps and the navigation log went first. Next, the locks of the guns were removed and the ammunition was confiscated. Finally, torpedoes were dealt with. By the end of the day 2pm was dealt with, the last 6 were left for Sunday.
The Orzeł crew, however, did not intend to wait with their arms folded. Nobody slept all night long. There was no time for that, everyone was involved in devising a plan to escape Tallinn. In the morning everyone knew what to do.
You can run
First, the Poles damaged the rope with which the torpedoes were pulled. And since it was Sunday, the Estonians did not manage to find another one. One problem solved.
At the same time, boatswain Władysław Narkiewicz was fishing in a small boat in the port. At least that's what the Estonians thought, because Narkiewicz actually measured the depth along the planned escape route. Mats Olejnik and Świebocki, on the other hand, engaged in social talks with the sailors they met in the port. They had no problem extracting information about the changes of the guard from them. Now all you had to do was wait for the night to come.
At midnight all the lights in the port suddenly went out and, surprisingly, it was not the Poles' doing. It would be a sin, however, not to take advantage of the timing failure. Captain Grudziński was about to give the command all the way forward, when out of nowhere, an Estonian officer invited himself on board. He sat there for an hour and a half, until finally - convinced that the Poles weren't up to anything - he said goodbye. Finally, nothing stood in the way. The final stage of the escape plan could begin.
By trickery, Olejnik and Świebocki lured the Estonian guards they had known before, who were silently incapacitated and taken aboard the Eagle. Subsequently, the lines were cut and another lighting failure was caused in the port. Immediately after that, both engines sounded, and the ship began to move forward. The salutary darkness did not last long, unfortunately. As Kacper Śledziński writes in his book:
One spotlight flashed first, followed by a second, third and more. The lights skimmed over the buildings, swept the wharfs, and finally caught the silhouette of the Eagle. Then the silence was broken by a short burst of machine gun.
The escape of the Eagle caused quite a sensation. She wrote extensively on this subject, inter alia, Estonian press. The photo shows an article from the "Uus Eesti" (Our Estonia) newspaper.
It didn't matter anymore. The ship was rushing towards the exit from the port and when it seemed that nothing bad could happen anymore ... the long hull did not fit into the designated track. The eagle hit the breakwater and stopped . The situation was becoming more and more critical, as the Estonian artillery opened fire - fortunately inaccurate - on the immobilized unit.
In the end, after several nervous minutes, the crew managed to lead the ship out into deep waters. Now they had to travel one and a half thousand nautical miles to the allied Great Britain. No maps, no weapons, no contact with command. But that's a topic for another article.
Source:
Trivia is the essence of our website. Short materials devoted to interesting anecdotes, surprising details from the past, strange news from the old press. Reading that will take you no more than 3 minutes, based on single sources. This particular material is based on:
- Kacper Śledziński, Courage of despair. Polish heroes of the submarine war , SIW Znak 2013.