Battle in the Tucheler Heide
| date | 1. bis 5. September 1939 |
|---|---|
| place | Tuchel Heath |
| output | German victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
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| losses | |
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unknown |
unknown |
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Gdansk - Westerplatte - Tucheler Heide - Krojanten - Mlawa - Radom - Wizna - Bzura - Brześć - Lemberg - Rawa Ruska - Lublin - Kampinos Heath - Warsaw - Szack - Modlin - Hel Peninsula - Kock
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Situation in what was then Poland |
The battle of tuchola forest at the beginning of World War II from the 1. bis 5 September 1939 was in the Tuchola Forest southwest of Gdansk in the Polish Corridor played between German and Polish troops.
During the imperial period there was the military training area group (also Gruppa, Polish group) west of Graudenz in the province of West Prussia , so that the area was known to the German troops. Heinz Guderian z. B. came from the nearby Kulm .
The contingent of the Wehrmacht , consisting of the 4th Army under Artillery General Günther von Kluge , had assembled in Western Pomerania . The German units involved were:
- The XIX. Army Corps under General of the Panzer Force Heinz Guderian
- the 2nd Infantry Division (motorized) under Lieutenant General Paul Bader ,
- of the 20th Infantry Division (motorized) under Lieutenant General Mauritz von Wiktorin , and
- of the 3rd Panzer Division under Lieutenant General Leo Freiherr Geyr von Schweppenburg .
- The II Army Corps under General der Infanterie Adolf Strauss consisted of two infantry divisions,
- the 3rd Infantry Division under Major General Walter Lichel and
- of the 32nd Infantry Division under Lieutenant General Franz Böhme .
The Polish Pomeranian Army ( Armia Pomorze ), consisting of the 9th and 27th Infantry Divisions, had chosen the area as a defensive position. The units, which had been partially mobilized from August 30th, were not fully in their positions when the 300 tanks advanced from Guderian.
On the evening of September 1st the battle took place near Krojanty ; this later gave rise to the myth that Polish cavalry deliberately attacked German tanks with bare sabers.
The 9th Infantry Regiment , in which the second and third sons of the State Secretary in the Foreign Office, Ernst von Weizsäcker served , also took part in the battle . Lieutenant Heinrich von Weizsäcker was killed on September 2 on the Klonowo embankment in a Polish counterattack in the evening, Richard von Weizsäcker , who later became President of Germany , survived.
The majority of the Poles were encircled on September 3rd, some Polish troops managed to withdraw to Bydgoszcz (Bromberg). After a few days the Polish forces were worn out and the breakthrough into East Prussia was achieved.
From September 5, the German troops split up to fight nests of resistance on the Baltic coast or to advance south into the Polish heartland.
On September 6th, Adolf Hitler visited Guderian and congratulated him on his success.
literature
- Steven J. Zaloga : The Polish Army 1939-1945 . Osprey, London 1982, ISBN 0-85045-417-4 , p. 8 ( Osprey military - Men-at-Arms 117); limited preview in Google Book search
Web links
- Bitwa w Borach Tucholskich (Bory Tucholskie 1939) on 1939.pl (Polish); Description of the battle
Individual evidence
- ^ Thilo Vogelsang : Guderian, Heinz Wilhelm . In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 7, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1966, ISBN 3-428-00188-5 , p. 251 f.
- ↑ erstes-garderegiment.de ( Memento of the original on 27 January 2008 at the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link is automatically inserted and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Klaus Wiegrefe: The quiet revolutionary . In: Der Spiegel . No. 11 , 2010 ( online ).
- ^ Christer Jörgensen, Chris Mann: Strategy and Tactics: Tank Warfare . Zenith Imprint, 2001, ISBN 0-7603-1016-5 ( page 35 in the Google book search).
- ^ Martin Gilbert : The Second World War: A Complete History . Owl Books, 2004, ISBN 0-8050-7623-9 ( page 6 in the google book search).
