THE NIECHORZE NAVAL OBSERVATION POINT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00046R000300060014-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 29, 2013
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: December 2, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @-50-Yr 2013/07/30 CIA-RDP82-00046R000300060014-7
COUNTRY Poland
SUBJECT
PLACE
ACQUIRED
DATE
ACQUIRED B
CONFTDENTIAL
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The Niechorze Naval Observation' Point
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DATE OF INP
SOURCE
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
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DATE DISTR. &Lc,. 53
NO. OF PAGES 7
NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
L. The Naval Observation Point in Niechorze 54-06, E 15-047 was
subordinate to the Third Command of Observation and Communications
(Komenda 3-go Odcinka Obserwacji I Lacznosci) located in Kolobrzeg
LN 54-11, E 15,-3.5/. The Niechorze Naval Observation Point was
Accommodated in -a new building 4pVerlaY, Pt. #l7 located about-ne
kilometer west of the village Niechorze , verlay, Pt. 27. Nie-
chorze had 'a population of about .1,000. The building for the'
Observation point was located On the cliff close to the Baltic Sea
00ast.
?
. The observation point building was. built after 1948. It was of the
same type AS the other observation point buildings located in
.Dtiwnowil,,g';54-02 E Mrzezynog.54-09, E 15-1.27, Gaski
544ffiE 15-517, and the one near Darlowo,. All these buildings
were of one design; i.e.,)a four-story, square, tower-like brick
structure. I have never seen any other than this type tower
structure.
The first two Stories measured,. 10 to 12 m, on the south and north
sides and ,8 to 10..m,, on the east and west sides. These first
two stories contained living quarters for the men'As?mell.as
orderly and parts rooms. The third and smaller story measured
four to five meters by four to five meters. This story contained
the radio station and the telephone exchange. The?top story mea-
sured two by two meters and pad only One room that housed the
signal station. The basement contained just one room where the
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m0tor-generator (agregat) and the batterY (akuMulator) were
placed.
A 30 to 40 mlong tunnel led in an easterly direction from the
basement toward an underground pen or bunker with internal dimen-
sions of about eight by five by two meters. This was just one
room. The tunnel could be passed through in an upright position.
The walls and ceiling of the tunnel and pen were of reenforced
0Onerete'. I do not know how thick they were. There was a layer
"Of about 10 cm. of earth over tunnel and pen.
The ,observation point was operated exclusively by Polish Naval
Personnel. Although the personnel strength of every observa
tion point had been fixed at about 35, the complement of the Nie-
chorze station numbered about 15. The T/O called for an ensign
as commanding officer. Instead, however, a chief petty officer,
who was a signal specialist, acted as commanding officer. About
three petty officers and eleven sailors were under his command.
The enlisted personnel included five signalmen, four radiomen,
three telephone repairmen, one electricianjand one cook. Except
tor the signalmen, all personnel stationed at the Point were
exchanged with other observation point centers. They were trans-
ferred once or twice a year. Radiomen were on watch for a period
of twenty-four hours -- eight hours on and eight off.
The radio equipment of the observation point was as follows:
a. ?RSBF (Radio Stacja Samolotu Bombowego). This was a trans-
mitter-receiver of Soviet origin. It was enclosed in two
separate sections; one section for the transmitter and one
section for the receiver. It had a short wave, medium wave,
long Wave, and a so-called "reserve wave." The reserve wave
was supposed to have been effective when other waves failed
in very bad weather. The ?RSHF transmitted and received by
both key and microphone. . It had three converters (przY-
twornicza). (One was a timalIiIypeusgdpwith the-transmitter
which, converted 24 v. from the battery for charging (akumu-
lator) into 220 v. C.). The two larger converters
(nrzytwornicza) together 7upplied 1,500 to the receiver.
had three or four.tubes?,while
tne receiver0X1 k.la 7 or 12 7ubes.
5
diagram or tne woes. ine tuoes,
were secret ana eniistea men were not supposed to know the:
type tube used. the range of the RSHF at
about 150 km. wave lengths (faly metry)
were used, as t e e e'ally. The daily schedule
was received via RSBF from Kolobrzeg? Headquarters of the
Third Command. The antenna array for the RSBF set consisted
of two 8 to 10 m, wood masts supporting one single wire
T-type antenna, the masts were erected about 50'.m. apart and
about four meters off the building.
b. 'A7A, Soviet microphone-type receiver transmitter. This was
an old type apparatus that was used only to communicate with
coastal ships in very good weather. Even then the battery had
to be well charged. This was an ultra short wave set.
C. AGA - This was a Polish non-military radio set that was used
- for the entertainment of the crew. Foreign broadcasts were
never listened to on this set.
The Central Telephone Exchange (Centrala Telefoniczna )0 located
on the third floor,contained the following equipment:
a. A telephone switchboard which had only 10 plug ho348 or con-
necting outlets which were numbered from one to ten. All
that was necessary was to insert the contact plug into one
of the holes and the connection was made. Any number from
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one to ten was a telephone number. All ten numbers were
used.
b.. Oh the telephones in use in thiebUilding there was one con-
ventional field telephone in the signal tower for use by
the signalmen. There were two field, telephones near the .
central switchboard and one telephone in the quarters of the,
Commanding Officer -- a Chief Petty Officer who was a radio
specialist. The switchboard had direct lines to the Communi-
cations Center in Kolobrzeg, to the Kolobrzeg- Naval Observa-
tion and Communications POint, and with Polish Army Border
Guards (Wojsko Ochrony Pogranicza--W0P) units'. Telephone
lines were strung from utility poles, although in outlying
areas, underground telephone lines were used. Telephone
communications were used for messages that were not secret.
The biggest telephone problem was maintenance of telephone
lifieS. The telephone repairmen were constantly busy repair-
ing defective lines which, was due to the lines'
.age and inferior quality.
8. The Signal Station sketch, Pt. 1e7 located in the tower of the
building accommodated five signalmen who watched coastal and
sea areas Tneir equipment consisted of the following: .
a. One lighthouse searchlight (Vartalamp) between 60 and 100 w
No large searchlights were available.
b. Hand operated Morse Lamps. there
were but they all had a white light, a lens about four
inches in diameter, and a handle which resembled that of an
automatic pistol.
c. Hand operated meteorological instruments. Among others', there
were instruments for measuring wind velocity and direction.
d. A portable instrument for measuring the course and speed
? of a ship.
e. Hand operated_signal rockets. Of the various colored rockets
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50X1 were never used and under What circumstances
these rockets Were to be used.
f. International and national signal flags.
g.
Semaphore flags.
The signalmen maintained a 24-hour watch. Each had to be on watch
for aAperiord-Of:foUrIlour8., On top of the building a three meter
high steel signal mast was erected with a two meter long yard arm,
about 2i m. from the base. It was topped by a blue lamp used for
Morse light signals. Several pulleys with signal ropes for flag
signalling were fastened to the yardarm.
9. Three 60 amp-hour automatic battery chargers (Automatyczny Ladownik
Akumulatorow) supplied the electric power. These were referred to
as 4NKN-60's which meant four cells of iron-nickel, 60remp hours.
The batterieswere charged by an electric power generator (agregat)
driven by an electric motor. The generator held in reserve was
driven by a gasoline engine in ease of power failure. The generator
was known as Type GS-1000, which meant it was a self-generating
generator (generator samowzbudne) of 1,000 w. strength.
10. Although orders concerning the mission of the observation point were
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: All
Polish naval vessels at sea were reported by the Gdynia Naval Head-
milAT'tPrR fn thP wolobrzeg Navel District Command. ? In this connection
must have been-sent to all other District Commands
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as well. Kolobrzeg passed this information on to the subordinate
observation points via the RSBF. In response thereto, every obser-
vation point reported all sighted Polish Naval vessels to the Kolo-
brzeg Command and to the observation point past which the ships would
next pass. Only those merchantmen and all other non-Polish naval
vessels were reported to the Kolobrzeg District Command and the obser-
vation point they intended to pass. The passage of these non-Polish
vessels was not first sent out by the Kolobrzeg Station as in the
case of Polish naval vessels.
11. The following operations were noticed by me: Orders were only
received from the Kolobrzeg Naval Command. If these orders were
classified as secret they were received via telecom. Radio messages
were exchanged with the Kolobrzeg Communications Center, other observa-
tion points, and Polish Naval vessels at sea. Usually these radio
messages were of a non-classified nature and were 50:00
used mainly for practice exercises. Telephone connections could also
be established to civilian numbers via postal lines and to Army
Border Guards via direct lines. Although the signal personnel had
received special ship identification training they made no efforts
to establish a ship's character.
12. As to any shortages that might have existed, radio 50:00
tubes were in very short supply.
Although during my servce at
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this qtAtinn
the replacement of a defective radio
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tube, I
iof
took at least six months to receive radio
tubes out of the main
supply
office in Gdynia. Although we had radio
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tubes in stock,
there were, for 50:00
allowed to know e ype t;-, . Copper wire for winning -urans-
formers was in very short supply. If a transformer were sent to the
Oksywie office for rewinding, one could count on at least a six-month
wait because of the shortage of copper wire and metal in general.
LAverlay to AMS Series M8410 Sheet 1956, Karnitz, scale 1:25,000 and Rough
'Layout'. and Situation Sketches of the Niechorze Naval Observation Point7
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Overlay to AMS Series M 841, sheet
1956, Karnitz, scale 1:25,000
Naval Observation Point, Nlechorze
LEGEND
1.
1. Observation Point
2. Niechorze
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NavaLObserVationPOlh,t
to scale:
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Niechorze. Rough layout and situation sketches, not
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Teatend to Rough Layout and Situation Sketches, not to scale.
1. View from the east of the Observation Point building.
d. Blue lamp for Morse light-signals.
b. Yardarm with pulleys And signal ropes.
q. Signal mast.
d. Little iron rail.
e, 4th floor: signal station.
.
Porcelain inSUlator of antenna lead-in.
3rd floor: radio station telephone exchange, and battery
room.
h. Rod antenna of ultra short wave telephony set.
1. 2nd floOr: billets
j. 1st floor: miscellaneous rooms.
2. Sketch demonstrating the exact situation of the building in con-
nection with the cliff and the Baltic.
3. Pirst floor.
a. Meeting and dining rciom
b; Kitchen
c.c.Hallway and 6 ai caSe
d. Entrance
e. Unused room
f. -Storage for provisions
g. Storage for spare parts
Second Floor
a. Sailors' quarters
b. Petty officers' quarters
c. Orderly room
d. Commanding officer's quarters and office
e. Hallway and staircase
Third Floor
a. Telephone exchange
b. Storage battery room; measuring instruments of radio station
C. Radio Station.
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