Pratulin is a village in the administrative district of
Gmina Rokitno
Gmina Rokitno is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Biała Podlaska County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland on the border with Belarus. Its seat is the village of Rokitno which lies approximately north-east of Biała Podlaska and ...
, within
Biała Podlaska County Biała (the feminine form of Polish ''biały'' 'white') may refer to:
Cities and towns in Poland Greater Poland Voivodeship (west-central Poland)
* Biała, Gmina Trzcianka
* Biała, Gmina Wieleń
* Biała, Kalisz County
* Biała, Konin County
Łó ...
,
Lublin Voivodeship
Lublin Voivodeship ( ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship (province) of Poland, located in the southeastern part of the country, with its capital being the city of Lublin.
The region is named after its largest city and regional capital, Lu ...
, in eastern
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
, close to the border with
Belarus
Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
.
On 24 January 1874 the
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...
killed a group of 13
Greek Catholic Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to:
* The Catholic Church in Greece
* The Eastern Catholic Churches
The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Ea ...
s in the village. They later became known as the
Pratulin Martyrs
The Martyrs of Pratulin (or ''Wincenty Lewoniuk and 12 Companion Martyrs of Pratulin)'' were a group of 13 Ukrainian Greek Catholic men and boys who were killed by soldiers of the Imperial Russian Army on January 24, 1874, in the village of Prat ...
.
During "
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...
" the forest nearby was a staging point for the German 17th Panzer Division. At 3:30am on 22 June 1941 German Panzer and motorized troops decamped from this area, crossing the
Bug River
The Bug or Western Bug is a major river in Central Europe that flows through Belarus (border), Poland, and Ukraine, with a total length of .Villages in Biała Podlaska County
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