At the start of the Second World War, Lutjens commanded the Kriegsmarine's light cruisers, destroyers, and torpedo boats despite having commanded only one cruiser himself. His first action against the Polish ships Gryf and Wicher at Gdynia achieved little and damaged his flagship, leaving the Luftwaffe to finish the targets. He then shifted his flag to Wilhelm Heidkamp and took six mine-carrying destroyers to the Humber estuary, with his flagship carrying no mines. The force laid its field unseen, demonstrating Lutjens's skill with small surface forces and exposing gaps in Britain's early coastal patrol coverage. The Royal Navy had only recently begun the small-craft construction programme needed to close those gaps. The successful mission helped propel Lutjens to vice admiral within months of the war's outbreak, further widening the gap between his rank and his capital-ship experience.
Chapter · 58:48-1:05:13
From Gdynia to the Humber minefield
Lutjens's early wartime destroyer operations ranged from an ineffective attack at Gdynia to an undetected mining mission off the Humber that accelerated his promotion.