Pruszcz is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Gostycyn, within
Tuchola County
__NOTOC__
Tuchola County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, north-central Poland. It came into being on 1 January 1999 as a result of the Polish local government reforms pas ...
,
Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship * Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship is one of the 16 voivodeships (provinces) in Poland.
* Kuyavian-Pomeranian is one of 13 Polish constituency of the European Parliament.
* Kuyavian-Pomeranian Regional Assembly is the regional legislature of t ...
, in north-central Poland. It lies approximately south of Gostycyn, south of
Tuchola
Tuchola (; ) 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 north of Bydgoszcz, close to th ...
, and north of
Bydgoszcz
Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Kuyavia. Straddling the confluence of the Vistula River and its bank (geography), left-bank tributary, the Brda (river), Brda, the strategic location of Byd ...
.
History
The existence of the village is documented in 1351. The
Baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary was built in 1762. In 1867, the village had a population of 463.
Pruszcz was the site of a minor battle during the German
invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...
, which started
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
in September 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 later became a successful memoirist. A pioneer and advocate of the "blitzkrieg" approach, he played a central role in the development of ...
's
XIX Army Corps
The XIX Army Corps (German language, German: ''XIX. Armeekorps'') was an Panzer corps, armored corps of the Nazi Germany, German Wehrmacht between 1 July 1939 and 16 November 1940, when the unit was renamed Panzer Group 2 (German: ''Panzergrupp ...
, advanced through the village seeking to capture a railway bridge over the
Brda River
The Brda (; ) is a river in northern Poland. A tributary of Vistula River, the Brda has a total length of 245 km and a catchment area of 4,665 km2, all within Poland.Polish 9th Infantry Division's 34th Infantry Regiment. In the two hour battle that followed the Polish troops succeeded in destroying a
Panzer IV
The IV (Pz.Kpfw. IV), commonly known as the Panzer IV, is 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 Panzer IV was the most numer ...
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. During the subsequent
German occupation
German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...
, in 1941–1942 and 1944, the occupiers carried out expulsions of Poles, whose houses and farms houses were handed over to
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
colonists as part of the ''
Lebensraum
(, ) is a German concept of expansionism and Völkisch movement, ''Völkisch'' nationalism, the philosophy and policies of which were common to German politics from the 1890s to the 1940s. First popularized around 1901, '' lso in:' beca ...
'' policy. Expelled Poles were either enslaved as
forced labour
Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...