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The Peking Plan (or Operation Peking) was an operation in which three destroyers of the Polish Navy
Polish Navy

The Polish Navy is the branch of Polish Armed Forces responsible for naval operations. It has 60 ships and about 14,300 commissioned and enlisted personnel....
, the Burza
ORP Burza

ORP Burza was a of the Polish Navy which saw action in World War II....
 ("Storm"), Blyskawica
ORP Blyskawica

ORP Blyskawica was a Grom class destroyer destroyer serving in the Polish Navy during World War II, currently preserved as a museum ship in Gdynia....
 ("Lightning"), and Grom
ORP Grom

ORP Grom was the lead ship of Grom class destroyer of destroyers serving in the Polish Navy during World War II. She was named after the Polish language word for "thunderclap"....
 ("Thunder"), were evacuated to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 in late August and early September of 1939 prior to the outbreak of war.






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Peking
The Peking Plan (or Operation Peking) was an operation in which three destroyers of the Polish Navy
Polish Navy

The Polish Navy is the branch of Polish Armed Forces responsible for naval operations. It has 60 ships and about 14,300 commissioned and enlisted personnel....
, the Burza
ORP Burza

ORP Burza was a of the Polish Navy which saw action in World War II....
 ("Storm"), Blyskawica
ORP Blyskawica

ORP Blyskawica was a Grom class destroyer destroyer serving in the Polish Navy during World War II, currently preserved as a museum ship in Gdynia....
 ("Lightning"), and Grom
ORP Grom

ORP Grom was the lead ship of Grom class destroyer of destroyers serving in the Polish Navy during World War II. She was named after the Polish language word for "thunderclap"....
 ("Thunder"), were evacuated to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 in late August and early September of 1939 prior to the outbreak of war. They were ordered to travel to British ports and assist the British Royal Navy
Royal Navy

The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British Armed Forces . From the mid-18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early 1940s....
 in the event of a war with Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the colloquial English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party , which established a Totalitarianism dictatorship that existed from 1933 to 1945....
. The plan was successful and allowed the ships to avoid certain destruction in the German invasion.

Background

The plan was created in order to remove the Destroyer Division (Dywizjon Kontrtorpedowców) of the Polish Navy from the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53?N to 66?N latitude and from 20?E to 26?E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Denmark islands....
 operation theatre
Theater (warfare)

In warfare, a theater or theatre is defined as a specific geographical area of conduct of armed conflict, bordered by areas where no combat is taking place....
. The Kriegsmarine
German Navy

The German Navy The German Navy traces its roots back to the Imperial Fleet of the Revolutions of 1848 and more directly to the Prussian Navy, which later evolved into the Northern German Federal Navy and became the Imperial Navy ....
 had a significant numerical advantage over the Polish Navy, and in the event of a war the Polish High Command realized that the ships which remained in the small and mostly landlocked Baltic were likely to be quickly sunk by the Germans. Also, the Danish straits
Danish straits

The Danish straits are the three channels connecting the Baltic sea to the North Sea through the Kattegat and Skagerrak. They transect Denmark, and are not to be confused with the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland....
 were well within operation range of the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe

is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1933 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
, so there was little chance for the plan to succeed if implemented after hostilities began.

The British government on 24 August,1939, through Lieutenant-General Sir Adrian Carton De Wiart
Adrian Carton de Wiart

Lieutenant-General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart Victoria Cross, Order of the British Empire, Order of the Bath, Order of St Michael and St George, Distinguished Service Order , was a British officer of Belgian and Irish people descent....
, head of the British Military Mission made strong representations to Marshal Edward Smigly-Rydz
Edward Rydz-Smigly

Edward Rydz-Smigly sometimes Edward Smigly-Rydz ; nom de guerre Smigly, Tarlowski, Adam Zawisza) was a Marshal of Poland, Poland political figure, Commander-in-Chief of Poland's armed forces, and a Artist and poet....
, Commander-in-Chief
Commander-in-Chief

A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function....
 of the Polish Forces, to evacuate the most modern elements of the fleet from the Baltic. Although Smigly-Rydz resisted the idea at first, he finally agreed.

Part of Smigly-Rydz's reason for doing so was the idea of a Romanian Bridgehead
Romanian Bridgehead

The Romanian Bridgehead was an area in southeastern Poland, now located in Ukraine. During the Invasion of Poland of 1939 , on September 14 the Polish Commander in Chief Marshal of Poland Edward Rydz-Smigly ordered all Polish troops fighting east of the Vistula to withdraw towards Lw?w, and then to the hills along the borders with Romani...
. It was hoped the Polish forces could hold out in the southeast of the country, near the common border with Romania, until relieved by a Franco-British offensive. Munitions and arms could be delivered from the west via Romanian ports and railways. The Polish Navy would then be able to escort the ships delivering the supplies to Romanian ports.

The trip to Edinburgh

As the tensions between Poland and Germany were increasing, the Commander of the Polish Fleet, Counter Admiral
Counter Admiral

Counter Admiral is an Anglicisation of a naval military rank found in most navies of the world. This Anglicisation is, however, rarely used, as the rank is usually kept in the original language or translated to Rear Admiral or in the United States, Commodore ....
 Józef Unrug
Józef Unrug

J?zef Michal Hubert Unrug was a Germany-born Poland vice admiral who helped reestablish Poland's navy after World War I. During the opening stages of World War II, he served as the Polish Navy's commander....
 signed the order for the operation on 26 August 1939, a day after the signing of the Polish-British Common Defence Pact
Polish-British Common Defence Pact

The Anglo-Polish military alliance refers to agreements reached between the United Kingdom and the Polish Second Republic for mutual assistance in case of military invasion by a third party....
; the order was delivered in sealed envelopes to the ships. On 29 August the fleet received the signal "Peking, Peking, Peking" from the Polish Commander-in-Chief, Marshall Smigly-Rydz: "Execute Peking". At 1255 the ships received the signal via signal flags or radio from the signal tower at Oksywie
Oksywie

Oksywie is a dzielnica of the city of Gdynia, Pomeranian Voivodeship, northern Poland. Formerly a separate settlement, it is actually several centuries older than the city it is a part of currently....
, the respective captains of the ships opened the envelopes, and departed at 1415 under the command of Commander
Commander

Commander is a military rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the military, particularly in police and law enforcement....
 (Komandor Porucznik) Roman Stankiewicz. Blyskawica was commanded by Commander (Komandor Porucznik) Wlodzimierz Kodrebski, Burza by Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander

Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer military rank in many navy superior to a Lieutenant and subordinate to a Commander. The corresponding rank in most army, and air forces is Major, and in the Royal Air Force and other Commonwealth of Nations air forces is Squadron Leader also....
 (Komandor Podporucznik) Stanislaw Nahorski and Grom by Commander (Komandor Porucznik) Wlodzimierz Hulewicz.

The ships traveled without any problems through the Baltic, entering Oresund
Oresund

Properly spelled with diacritics, ?resund or ?resund , sometimes also known as The Sound, is the strait that separates the Denmark island Zealand from the southern Swedish province of Scania ....
 after midnight. In the passage they encountered the German light cruiser Königsberg
German cruiser Königsberg

K?nigsberg was a light cruiser of the German K class cruiser in the German Reichsmarine and Kriegsmarine. Her sisterships were German cruiser K?ln and German cruiser Karlsruhe....
 and a destroyer, but as the war had not started yet there was no combat. The Polish ships then passed through the Kattegat
Kattegat

The Kattegat , or Kattegatt is a sea area bounded by Jutland , and Scania, Halland and Bohusl?n . The Baltic Sea drains into the Kattegat through the Oresund and the Danish Straits....
 and Skagerrak
Skagerrak

The Skagerrak strait runs between Norway and the southwest coast of Sweden and the Jutland of Denmark, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat strait, which leads to the Baltic Sea....
. On the 31 August the ships were spotted and followed by German reconnaissance seaplane
Seaplane

A seaplane is a fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff and Water landing on water. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories: floatplanes and flying boats....
s, and the group changed course towards Norway
Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula....
 in order to shake off the pursuit during the night, when they returned to their original course towards the UK. The ships entered the North Sea
North Sea

The North Sea is a marginal sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean....
, and at 0925 on 1 September learned about the German invasion of Poland
Invasion of Poland (1939)

The Invasion of Poland in 1939 precipitated World War II. It was carried out by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak invasion of Poland contingent....
. At 1258 they encountered the Royal Navy
Royal Navy

The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British Armed Forces . From the mid-18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early 1940s....
 destroyers HMS Wanderer and Wallace and received a liaison
Liaison

Liaison may refer to:* Liaison , the pronunciation of a word-final consonant due to a following vowel sound in French* Liaison officer, a military officer who coordinates different forces or national units usually at Staff level...
 officer. At 1737 they docked in Leith
Leith

Leith is a district and former municipal burgh in the north of the city of Edinburgh at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is the Seaport of Edinburgh, Scotland....
, the port of Edinburgh
Edinburgh

Edinburgh ; is the Capital city of Scotland, a position it has held since 1437. It is the seventh largest city in the United Kingdom and the second largest Scottish City status in the United Kingdom after Glasgow....
.

Aftermath

The Peking Plan generated controversy in Poland, but it proved to be a wise decision. The ships served alongside the Royal Navy for the remainder of the war, and ORP Burza and ORP Blyskawica survived the war. On the other hand, all the other surface ship
Surface ship

A surface ship is any type of navy ship that is confined to the surface of the sea. The term is primarily used to mean any modern vessel type that is not a submarine; although a "surface ship" may range in size from a Cutter to an aircraft carrier, the weapons and tactics have some commonality, more so than for submerged vessels....
s of the Polish Navy which remained in the Baltic were engaged and sunk or captured by the Germans forces, starting with the Battle of the Gdansk Bay
Battle of the Gdansk Bay

A minor battle of the Danzig Bay took place on September 1, 1939, at the beginning of the Invasion of Poland , when Polish Navy vessels were attacked by German Luftwaffe aircraft in Gdansk Bay ....
 on 1 September. The fate of the two largest remaining ships is telling: the fourth Polish destroyer, Wicher
ORP Wicher

ORP Wicher , the lead ship Wicher class destroyer, was a destroyer in the Polish Navy. She took part in the Invasion of Poland and was sunk by German bombers on September 3, 1939....
 and the largest ship of the Polish navy, the heavy minelayer
Minelayer

Minelaying is the act of deploying explosive mines. Historically this has been carried out by ships, submarines and aircraft. Additionally, the term Minelayer refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines....
 Gryf
ORP Gryf

ORP Gryf was a large Polish Navy minelayer, sunk during the 1939 German invasion of Poland. It was one of two large Polish ships that were not evacuated to Great Britain during Operation Peking prior to the outbreak of the Invasion of Poland ....
, were both sunk by the third day of the war, on 3 September.

As for the Germans, in the face of Plan Peking on August 30 they recalled from the Baltic Sea the tactical unit which had been assigned to engage them — the three light cruisers Nürnberg
German cruiser Nürnberg

The N?rnberg, was a German light cruiser of the Leipzig class cruiser named after the city of Nuremberg. Some sources consider the Leipzig and N?rnberg to be of separate, single ship, classes....
, Köln
German cruiser Köln

K?ln was a German light cruiser prior to and during World War II, one of three 'K' class cruiser named after cities starting with the letter K....
 and Leipzig
German cruiser Leipzig

The Germany light cruiser Leipzig was the lead ship of Leipzig class cruiser . She was the fourth German warship to carry the name of the city of Leipzig....
, under Vice-Admiral Densch.

See also

  • Orzel incident
    Orzel incident

    The Orzel incident was an incident at the beginning of World War II in which the Polish submarine ORP Orzel escaped from internment in Tallinn, Estonia, and eventually made her way to the United Kingdom....
  • Plan Worek
  • Polish Navy order of battle in 1939
    Polish Navy order of battle in 1939

    This article details the Order of Battle of the Polish Navy prior to the outbreak of World War II and the Invasion of Poland of 1939. Following World War I, Poland's shoreline was relatively short and included no major seaports....