WWII Rocket Testing Site

On the beach strip north of Łeba, reached by cycling or walking along the beach road, lies a strange collection of concrete bunkers, launch ramps, and testing infrastructure dating from the Second World War. The German military established a secret weapons testing range here in 1940, using the deserted coastline to trial radio-guided bombs and early missiles away from Allied surveillance.

The site is now an open-air museum. The concrete structures are still standing — remarkably preserved given the salt air — and information boards explain what was tested here and how the weapons worked. The isolation that made the site useful to the Nazis is now the quality that makes visiting it atmospheric: you're standing in dunes with the Baltic behind you, surrounded by heavy concrete, in a place most visitors to Łeba never find. The beach itself is excellent if you want to combine the history with a swim.

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A story
The testing range at Łeba was established by the Luftwaffe in 1940 and used to test the Hs 293 radio-guided glide bomb — one of the world's first operational anti-ship guided missiles — before it was deployed in combat operations against Allied shipping in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. The remote Baltic coastline was chosen specifically for its secrecy.