OBSERVATIONS AT HOLM ISLAND AND WESTERPLATTE NEAR GDANSK

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A002601040006-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 17, 2010
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: November 4, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/17: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA002601040006-2
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION. REPORT
This Document contains information affecting the Ifa-
tional Defense of the United States, within the mean-
ing of Title 18, Sections 703 and 794, of the V.S. Code, as
amended. Its transmission or revelation of its contents
to or receipt by an unauthorized person is prohibited
by law. The reproduction of this form is prohibited.
SECRET/CONTROL - U.S. OFFICIALS ONLY
SECURITY INFORMATION
COUNTRY Poland
SUBJECT Observations at Holm Island and
Westerplatte. near Gdansk
REPORT
DATE DISTR. A 1} November 1953
NO. OF PAGES 3
REQUIREMENT NO. RD 50X1-HUM
REFERENCES
THE SOURCE EVALUATIONS IN THIS REPORT ARE DEFINITIVE.
THE APPRAISAL OP CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.
(FOR KEY SEE REVERSE)
1. Work was started in the spring of 1953 on the realization of plans for the
removal of the civil administration from Holml near Gdansk (Danzig). Plans
envisage the exploitation of all the surviving installations of the former
German Naval Base and the adaptation of the existing workshops of the Supply
Base for Shipyard Units (Baza Zdawoza Jednostek Stoczni) for use by the Polish
Navy. Reconstruction work on Holm has been progressing for a long. time; at the
same'time access to the island has been steadily curtailed (special passes, the
closing down of one of the bridges leading to Holm, etc.) .
2. Radar installations are probably mounted in the central WOP tower in Wester-
platte (see sketch, No. 6a). The likelihood of a radar installation being
there is suggested by the fact that people escaping from the port by small
boats by night in thick-fog are still successfully traced. 1ROP posts in such
cases were alerted only after the escapees had got beyond the breakwater. This,
fact appears to bear out the theory that Point No. 6 on the sketch is radar.
50X1-HUM
3. In the summer of 1952 plans being made
for the erection of fortifications in Westerplatte. According to the plan, the
authorities intend to deport the few inhabitants of the island and toltrransfer
the Gdynia-Gdansk Port Combine (Zespol Portowy Gdynia-Gdansk-Zor*L50X1-HUM -lX
Base to the other bank of the Port Canal.
In March 1953 part of Westerplatte was fenced in. and eu ded b WOP patrols.
lhi~ was the Ammunition Basin -where explosives
are unloaded. In addition WOP craft (MTBs, trawlers, patrol cutters are
stationed near the northern wharf.
S1;CRET/CONTROL - U.S. OFFICIALS ONLY
STATE g ARMY X NAVY Ev X AIR x FBI AEC
(Note: Washington Distribution Indicated By "X"; Field Distribution By
F71 I I 1
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-2-.
5. Explosives are packed in tight cases without 50X1-HUM
inscriptions, measuring approx. 120 x 70 x 30 cm. Apart from ordinary
precautions against fire, care is taken not to jolt the boxes. The unloading
is done with the help of a small land crane direct from the ship onto covered
railway trucks. In the summer mattresses on the roofs of the trucks are wet with
water. The trucks are shunted by hand inland to Westerplatte. Most probably
the explosives consist of nitroglycerin or its derivatives. after 50X1-HUM
unloading explosives is moved to another part of the port where she unloads the
rest of her cargo. On entering port the ship does not give any warnings about
the explosives she is conveying.
6. During the autumn and winter of 1952 a number of new brick buildings were
erected on the northern wharf at Westerplatte. One'of them houses the head-
quarterd'of WOP craft.
7. Communications with Westerplatte are by hard road or railway from the direction
of Siabki and by the WOP craft of the Harbormaster via the Canal (usual approach
of the military and civilian employees of the WOP).
Comment. Name now used: Island of Ostrows 0strawric:,
SECRET/CONTROL - U.S. OFFICIALS ONLY
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/17: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA002601040006-2
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/17: CIA-RDP80-00810A002601040006-2
,or
.ter tQ.
1.
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13.
Breakwater
WOP sentry post
Newly erected buildings
Railway siding
Storm Signalling Mast
lOP Central Observation Tower
Harbormaster's Office
WOP Observation Posts
M.U.Z. Quarantine station
Free Customs Basin
Ships' Pilots Basin
Ammunition Basin
Remnants of a bombed quay.,
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/12/17: CIA-RDP80-00810A002601040006-2