Pruszcz is a village in the administrative district of

Gmina Gostycyn __NOTOC__ Gmina Gostycyn is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Tuchola County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. Its seat is the village of Gostycyn, which lies approximately south of Tuchola and north of Bydgosz ...

, within

Tuchola County __NOTOC__ Tuchola County ( pl, powiat tucholski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, north-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local ...

Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, also known as Cuiavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship or simply Kujawsko-Pomorskie, or Kujawy-Pomerania Province ( pl, województwo kujawsko-pomorskie ) is one of the 16 voivodeships (provinces) into which Poland is divide ...

, in north-central Poland. It lies approximately south of

Gostycyn Gostycyn (german: Liebenau) is a village in Tuchola County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Gostycyn. It lies approximately south of Tuchola and north ...

, south of

Tuchola Tuchola (german: Tuchel; csb, Tëchòlô) is a town in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship in northern Poland. The Pomeranian town, which is the seat of Tuchola County, had a population of 13,418 . Geographical location Tuchola lies about n ...

, and north of

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...

History

Pruszcz was the site of a minor battle during the

German invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week afte ...

in 1939. On September 1, 1939, the German 3rd Panzer Division, part of General

Heinz Guderian Heinz Wilhelm Guderian (; 17 June 1888 – 14 May 1954) was a German general during World War II who, after the war, became a successful memoirist. An early pioneer and advocate of the " blitzkrieg" approach, he played a central role in t ...

XIX Army Corps The XIX Army Corps ( German: ''XIX. Armeekorps'') was an armored corps of the German Wehrmacht between 1 July 1939 and 16 November 1940, when the unit was renamed Panzer Group 2 (German: ''Panzergruppe 2'') and later 2nd Panzer Army (German: ''2. P ...

, advanced through the village seeking to capture a railway bridge over the

Brda River The Brda (; german: Brahe) is a river in northern Poland, a tributary of the Vistula. It has a total length of 245 km and a catchment area (all within Poland) of 4,665 km2.Polish 9th Infantry Division The 9th Infantry Division ( pl, 9 Dywizja Piechoty) was a unit of the Polish Army in the Second Polish Republic. For most of 1919, the 9th Division's regiments were dispersed across the regions of Podlachia, Polesie and Volhynia, with one batta ...

's 34th Infantry Regiment. In the two hour battle that followed the Polish troops succeeded in destroying a

Panzer IV The ''Panzerkampfwagen'' IV (Pz.Kpfw. IV), commonly known as the ''Panzer'' IV, was a German medium tank developed in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 161. The Panze ...

medium tank using a 37mm anti-tank gun, while 22 Polish infantrymen were killed in the action. The skirmish bought time for Polish troops to partially burn the bridge over the Brda, delaying the German advance for several hours.

References

Pruszcz {{Tuchola-geo-stub