Heliodor Laskowski Battery (Hel)

The Heliodor Laskowski Battery in Hel is a pre-war Polish coastal artillery battery hidden in the pine forest at the very tip of the Hel Peninsula, a few hundred meters from Hel Lighthouse. In September 1939 its four Swedish-made Bofors guns of 152.4 mm (6-inch) caliber fought German destroyers and two battleships. Today the local Museum of Coastal Defence opens the restored gun position no. 4, with a gun and a small exhibition in the bunker below.

Background

Poland ordered four Bofors guns on 20 December 1933, and the crew began training in 1935. On 1 January 1937 the unit was named after Lieutenant Commander Heliodor Laskowski, head of the Polish Navy's artillery and armament service, who had pushed for the purchase and died young. The guns stood on open reinforced-concrete positions with armored shields, with ammunition magazines beneath. From October 1938 the commander was Zbigniew Przybyszewski, then a navy lieutenant (kapitan marynarki).

The battle of September 1939

The Hel Peninsula held out longer than any other Polish position on the coast, and this battery was its strongest punch:

• 3 September: an artillery duel with the destroyers "Leberecht Maass" and "Wolfgang Zenker," which retreated behind smoke.
• 25 and 27 September: exchanges of fire with the battleships "Schleswig-Holstein" (the ship that opened World War II at Westerplatte) and "Schlesien"; the battery scored hits but took losses, and Przybyszewski was wounded.
• 2 October: with ammunition nearly gone, the battery surrendered along with the rest of Hel after 32 days.

After the war Soviet B-13 130 mm guns replaced the Bofors; the site stayed in military use until 1976. Two original guns survive in naval and army museums in Gdynia and Warsaw. Przybyszewski was executed in 1952 after a Stalinist show trial.

What you'll see

Position no. 4 was restored in 2008 and holds a post-war gun plus a mini exhibition in the underground magazine. Reenactments of the 1939 fighting take place here. Ruins of the other positions lie in the surrounding forest; stay on marked paths. Allow 20–30 minutes.

Combining it with other sights

Make it part of a loop: the lighthouse, the battery, the Kashubian Mound and the beach at the tip, then back to town through the forest. Older kids who know the Westerplatte story usually find this lesser-known chapter of 1939 gripping. If you plan to see several sites run by the Hel Museum Complex, the all-sites pass pays off.

Opening times and tickets (as of October 2026)

• The 2026 season at the gun position ended on 4 October; after that it opens only occasionally, by phone arrangement (+48 691 040 385). No regular winter hours.
• Tickets 2026: 8 PLN standard, 6 PLN reduced (proceeds fund restoration), or the 55 PLN pass for all Hel Museum Complex sites.
• The forest paths are open year-round.

How to get there

From Hel Lighthouse, follow the forest road toward the beach at the tip; the position is a few minutes' walk away. Hel train station, about 2 hours from Gdynia, is 20–25 minutes on foot.

Is it worth visiting?

Yes, if you walk to the headland anyway: it adds real context to the "end of Poland" and takes little time.