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The Tuchola Forest (Polish: Bory Tucholskie; Kashubian: Tëchòlsczé Bòrë; German: Tuchler or Tucheler Heide) is a large forest near the town of Tuchola (Tucheln) in northern Poland, and lies between the Brda and Wda Rivers. It contains the Tuchola Forest National Park, which is at the core of the Tuchola Forest Biosphere Reserve, designated by UNESCO in 2010.
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Landscape [link]
The area was formed during the last glacial age and is covered with low hills and more than 900 post-glacial lakes. With 1,200 km² of dense spruce and pine forest, the area is one of the biggest forests in Poland and Central Europe. Since 1996 part of the area has been designated as the Tuchola Forest National Park, covering 46.13 square kilometres (17.81 sq mi). Approximately 30% of the area is inhabited by the Kociewiacy people.
The largest towns in the area are Czersk and Tuchola.
History [link]
During the German Empire era, Truppenübungsplatz Gruppe (now pl:Grupa) was a military exercise area in which medical research was conducted, leading to publication of the name in scientific reports of the early 20th century. During World War I, pacifist doctor Georg Friedrich Nicolai was banned from Berlin to the remote area which had to be ceded in 1919 to Poland as a result of the Treaty of Versailles.
In 1939, during the Invasion of Poland at the very beginning of World War II, the major Battle of Tuchola Forest was fought in the area. Soon, the former military test area was occupied again by German troops[1] , and called Truppenübungsplatz Westpreußen, or by its code name, „Heidekraut“.
Between August 1944 and January 1945, SS troops under Hans Kammler and Walter Dornberger carried out extensive tests of the A-4 missiles (V-2 rockets), after the test site near Blizna was discovered by the Home Army and then bombed by the Allies. Approximately 107 missiles were fired, in southbound direction, for tests and training purposes. In January 1945 the site had to be evacuated before the Red Army offensive overran the area.
After World War II the forest was a safe haven for many anti-communist partisans, among them Zygmunt Szendzielarz.
Biosphere Reserve [link]
In June 2010 the Tuchola Forest area was designated by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve. The core area of the Biosphere Reserve consists of Tuchola Forest National Park and of the 25 nature reserves lying within the buffer zone. The buffer zone consists of Tuchola, Wda, Wdzydze and Zaborski Landscape Parks. There is also a transit zone which includes the town of Tuchola and surrounding districts. The core area of the Reserve covers 78.81 square kilometres (30.43 sq mi), and the three zones together cover 3,195 square kilometres (1,234 sq mi).[2]
See also [link]
References [link]
- ^ Heinz Guderian: Erinnerungen eines Soldaten, "Ich hatte am 3.9 ... meinen Sohn Kurt wiedergesehen und mich dabei an den Türmen von Kulm, meiner Geburtsstadt, erfreut, die vom Ostufer der Weichsel herüberwinkten. Am 4.9 ... bei ihren Waldgefechten und endete auf dem alten deutschen Truppenübungsplatz Gruppe westlich Graudenz.", 1951, [1]
- ^ Website of Tuchola Forest Biosphere Reserve
- (German) Erich Wernicke: Wanderungen durch die Tuchler Heide. Kafemann, Danzig 1913 (Digitalisat)
External links [link]
https://wn.com/Tuchola_Forest
Tuchola
Tuchola [tuˈxɔla] (former German name: Tuchel) 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 as of 2013.
Geographical location
Tuchola lies about 50 kilometres (31 miles) north of Bydgoszcz, close to the Tuchola Forests. Forest areas to the east and north of the town form the protected area of Tuchola Landscape Park.
History
Settlement around Tuchola dates from 980, while the town was first mentioned in 1287. The place was one of the strongholds of the count of Nowe Peter Swienca, who owned a fortified domicile in the area. In 1330 Tuchola came into possession of the Teutonic Order. It received Culm law in 1346 from Heinrich Dusemer, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights.
After the Order's defeat in the Battle of Grunwald on July 14, 1410, a Polish-Lithuanian army captured the town on November 5, 1410, but the Order regained the town in the First Peace of Thorn in 1411. At the end of the Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466), however, it was ceded to Poland in the Second Peace of Thorn and became part of Royal Prussia.
Tuchola prisoner of war camp
The Tuchola prisoner of war camp, located in the town of Tuchola (Tuchel, Тухоля), was built and operated by the German Empire from 1914 until 1918 and then by the Second Polish Republic from 1920 until 1921.
German prisoner of war camp
The camp was constructed at the beginning of World War I by the Germans. Initially the German military command believed that the war would last no more than a few weeks and even if the campaign in the west lasted longer, the expectation was that the Russians would not be able to mobilize large forces for some time. However Tsarist Russia began an offensive in Eastern Prussia soon after the commencement of hostilities and the German army was forced to relocate substantial forces to the east. After crucial strategic mistakes by Russian generals at the Battle of Tannenberg and the First Battle of the Masurian Lakes, the Germans, after these victories, found themselves with a substantial number of captured Russian soldiers, around 137,000 prisoners. Without a prior plan to accommodate this many captives the Germans began hastily building the facilities to house them, most of which were located in Gdańsk Pomerania, including Tuchola.
