Orzeł incident
Coverage of the "Orzeł" incident in Estonian newspaper "Uus Eesti" | |
| Date | 18 September 1939 |
|---|---|
| Location | Tallinn, Estonia |
| Cause | Polish submarine interned by neutral Estonia |
| Outcome | Submarine escaped to Great Britain |
| Casualties | |
| 2 Estonian guards captured | |
The Orzeł incident occurred at the beginning of World War II in September 1939, when the interned Polish submarine ORP Orzeł escaped from Tallinn, in neutral Estonia, to the United Kingdom. Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union used the incident as one of the pretexts to justify its eventual military invasion and occupation of Estonia in June 1940.