page_title: Tuchola Forest
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Tuchola Forest / History
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Masowa egzekucja w Rudzkim Moście nieopodal Tucholi. Między 24 października a 10 listopada 1939 Niemcy rozstrzelali w Rudzkim Moście łącznie 335 Polaków. Zbrodni dokonali miejscowi volksdeutsche z paramilitarnego Selbstschutzu, nadzorowani przez funkcjonariuszy SS. English: Mass execution of Poles in Rudzki Most forest near Tuchola, conducted by SS members and ethnic Germans – members of so-called "Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz". Between 24 October and 10 November 1939 exactly 335 Poles were executed in Rudzki Most.
context_page_description: The Tuchola Forest, also known as Tuchola Pinewoods, is a large forest near the town of Tuchola in northern Poland, which lies between the Brda and Wda Rivers, within the Gdańsk Pomerania region. It contains the Tuchola Forest National Park, which is at the core of the Tuchola Forest Biosphere Reserve, designated by UNESCO in 2010.
context_section_description: It formed part of Poland since the establishment of the state in the 11th century. After the First Partition of Poland in 1772 the area was annexed by Prussia, and from 1871 it was part of the German Empire. Under German rule, near the village of Grupa, a military exercise area Truppenübungsplatz Gruppe was established, 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 banished from Berlin to the remote area which had to be restored in 1919 to Poland as a result of the Treaty of Versailles, after Poland regained independence in November 1918.
  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, and called Truppenübungsplatz Westpreußen, or by its code name, "Heidekraut". During the occupation, in October and November 1939, Germans murdered 335 Poles from Tuchola and Tuchola County in six large massacres in Rudzki Most. Among the victims were teachers, school principals, merchants, craftsmen, farmers, priests, foresters, postmen, railwaymen, policemen and local officials, including mayor of Tuchola Stanisław Saganowski.
  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 a 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.
caption: Rudzki Most massacre of Poles, carried out by Nazi Germany in 1939
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