ORP Wilk — Krawczyk and the Sund

The ORP Wilk ("Wolf") is a Polish submarine of 1929, built at the Augustin Normand yards (Le Havre) — 980 tons, six torpedo tubes, 40 mines aft. With her sister ships Rys and Żbik, she forms the 3rd Polish Submarine Squadron. Older and technically less performant than the modern ORP Orzeł and Sęp (delivered in 1939), but equipped with an original bottom-mine-laying system unique in the Baltic.

At the outbreak of war, the Wilk is in the Baltic Sea, under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Bogusław Krawczyk, 30, one of the youngest Polish submarine commanders. From 1 to 12 September, she conducts five offensive patrols, lays 20 mines off Rixhöft (Rozewie) and Memel on 4 September, but engages no targets by torpedo (the German convoys have been pulled back into the interior of the Bay of Danzig). On 12 September, while making for Hela to resupply, she is attacked by Heinkel He 111 bombers: eight near-misses, limited damage but the northern ballast damaged.

With the predictable fall of Hela and the Soviet invasion of 17 September, Krawczyk receives orders by radio from Admiral Unrug to attempt the escape to Great Britain. To reach the North Sea, the Danish straits must be crossed. Three passages lie open to him: the shortest but the most closely watched, a detour with shoals perilous for a submarine, or an intermediate route of adequate depth. The choice of route bears on the survival of the vessel.