Battle of Tuchola Forest

Danzig - Westerplatte - Tuchel Heath - Krojanten - Mlawa - Radom - Wizna - Bzury - Brześć - Lviv - Rawa Ruska - Lublin - Kampinoska Heide - Warsaw - Szack - Modlin - Hel Peninsula - Kock

The battle in the Tuchel Heath at the beginning of World War II from 1 to 5 September 1939, held in the Tuchel Heath southwest of Gdansk in the Polish Corridor between German and Polish troops.

In the imperial period, ( Grupa also Gruppa, Polish) was there in the province of West Prussia the military training area west of Graudenz group, so that the land was known to the German troops. Heinz Guderian, for example, came from the nearby Culm.

The line-up of the Armed Forces, consisting of the 4th Army under General Günther von Kluge the artillery had assembled in Pomerania. Involved German troops were:

• The 20th Infantry Division ( mot ) under Lieutenant General Mauritz of Wiktorin, and
• The 3rd Panzer Division under Lieutenant General Leo Freiherr Geyr of Schweppenburg.

• The 3rd Infantry Division under Major General Walter Lichel and
• The 32th Infantry Division under Lieutenant-General Franz Böhme.

The Polish Pomerania Army ( Armia Pomerania ), consisting of the 9th and 27th Infantry Division, the site had been chosen as a defensive position. The associations that were teilmobilisiert from August 30 were not yet fully arrived in their positions, as the 300 tanks were advancing from Guderian.

Participation was also the Infantry Regiment 9 in which were the second and third son of Secretary of State in the Foreign Office, Ernst von Weizsäcker. Lieutenant Heinrich von Weizsäcker fell on September 2 at the embankment of Klonowo at a Polish counter-attack in the evenings, Richard von Weizsäcker, who later became President, survived.

The majority of Poland was surrounded on 3 September, some Polish military units still managed to retreat to Bydgoszcz ( Bromberg ). After a few days, the Polish forces were wiped out, and achieved the breakthrough to East Prussia.

From 5 September, the German troops were split up to fight pockets of resistance on the Baltic coast or push forward to the south to the Polish heartland.

On September 6, visited Adolf Hitler, Guderian and congratulated him for the success.