Didn’t these ruins of pl:Ruiny wieży nr 9 Transatlantyckiej Centrali Radiotelegraficznej Bemowo once hum with power? This place whispers tales of transatlantic communication and wartime secrets. Today we stand before a remnant of what was once a crucial link in global communication.
The Transatlantycka Centrala Radiotelegraficzna commonly known as Radiostacja Babice was a high-power radio station. It operated from 1923 to 1945. The radio station comprised three key units. These were the transmitting station the receiving station and the central operations bureau. The transmitting station was located in Stare Babice and Warsaw. The receiving station was in Grodzisk Mazowiecki. The central bureau managed operations in Warsaw.
Poland’s Ministry of Post and Telegraph envisioned a national radio network in 1919. It planned stations in Grudziądz Krakow and Poznań for European reach. Warsaw was to have a station for intercontinental communication. An agreement was signed with the Radio Corporation of America RCA in 1921.
Construction began in 1922 by Towarzystwo Akcyjne Fabryki Machin i Odlewów K Rudzki i S-ka. They built the receiving station in Grodzisk Mazowiecki and the transmitting station near Fort Babice. This was between the villages of Stare Babice Gać Klaudyn and Wawrzyszew. The radio station was launched on October 1 1923. A grand opening followed on November 17 1923 with President Stanisław Wojciechowski.
In 1926 the station switched from its own power to electricity from Pruszków. New tube transmitters were installed in 1932 made by Państwowe Zakłady Tele- i Radiotechniczne in Warsaw. The Babice Radio Telegraph Office later Boernerowo Radio Telegraph Office was established in 1935. Transmitters on two towers at Fort Babice broadcast Polish Radio to Polish communities abroad from 1938.
During the defense of Warsaw broadcasting stopped on September 8 1939. On September 16 1939 the radio station was manned by the 3rd Battalion. The 26th Infantry Regiment and the 5th Battery of the 54th Artillery Regiment defended it. German forces seized the station on September 27 1939.
From 1939 to 1945 the Germans used the station. They maintained communication with Kriegsmarine submarines. In autumn 1944 the station became part of Warsaw’s fortifications. An armored observation post was installed on one of the masts. German forces destroyed all antenna towers in Babice on January 16 1945.
After the war a transmitting and receiving station operated in Grodzisk Mazowiecki until 1956. The remains of the Transatlantycka Centrala Nadawcza were entered into the register of monuments on December 1 2017.
The transmitting station was located between Stare Babice and the Bemowo and Bielany districts of Warsaw. It stretched 4 km long and 0.5-1.2 km wide. It featured ten lattice steel towers each 126.5 m tall. Two 200 kW Alexanderson system transmitters made by RCA powered the station. It had its own power plant with a 500 kW diesel generator. Two multi-tuned transmitting antennas operated at 16.4 kHz and 14.29 kHz. The call signs were AXL and AXO.
Today only fragments remain of the pl:Ruiny wieży nr 9 Transatlantyckiej Centrali Radiotelegraficznej Bemowo. Buildings were destroyed after 1945 and equipment scrapped. Preserved foundations of masts coils guardhouses and technical buildings can still be found. Concrete anti-tank barriers from World War II also remain. Residential blocks for radio station workers were rebuilt around 2000. In Grodzisk only the gatehouse and some trees along the plot boundary survive.
Interestingly Babice’s transmitting station had a twin the Varberg Radio Station in Grimeton Sweden. This station is preserved and a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2004. In May 2018 a three-meter monument commemorating the antenna of the Transatlantycka Centrala Radiotelegraficzna was unveiled on Radiowa Street in Warsaw. A century after its opening in 2023 the Transatlantycka Centrala Radiotelegraficzna was celebrated.
As we leave pl:Ruiny wieży nr 9 Transatlantyckiej Centrali Radiotelegraficznej Bemowo remember its legacy. It was a vital link connecting Poland to the world. Today it serves as a reminder of technological innovation and wartime events.