Osowiec-Twierdza o is a village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 in the administrative district of Gmina Goniądz

Gmina Goniadz

Gmina Goniądz is an urban-rural gmina in Mońki County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland. Its seat is the town of Goniądz, which lies approximately north-west of Mońki and north-west of the regional capital Białystok....

, in Mońki County

Monki County

Mońki County is a unit of territorial administration and local government in Podlaskie Voivodeship, north-eastern Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its administrative seat and largest town is Mońki, which lies ...

, Podlaskie Voivodeship

Podlaskie Voivodeship

Podlaskie Voivodeship , is a voivodeship in northeastern Poland. It borders on Masovian Voivodeship to the west, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship to the northwest, Lublin Voivodeship to the south, the Belarusssian Voblasts of Grodno and Brest to the east, the Lithuanian Counties of Alytus and...

, in north-eastern Poland. It lies approximately 5 kilometres (3 mi) south of Goniądz

Goniadz

Goniądz is a town in Poland, located at the Biebrza river, in Mońki county in Podlaskie Voivodeship in northeastern Poland. 80% of the town was destroyed in World War II...

, 11 km (7 mi) north-west of Mońki

Monki

Mońki is a town in northeastern Poland and, as of 1999, is situated in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. From 1975 to 1998 it was part of the Białystok Voivodeship . It is the capital of Mońki County....

, and 51 km (32 mi) north-west of the regional capital Białystok. Osowiec-Twierdza is home to the Biebrza National Park

Biebrza National Park

Biebrza National Park is a national park in Podlaskie Voivodeship, northeastern Poland, situated along the Biebrza River.The largest of Poland’s 23 National Parks, the Biebrza National Park was created on September 9, 1993...

.

History

Excavations have revealed settlements in Osowiec from prehistoric times. Okrasa existed as a village since before 1444 AD. In 1743 to 1827 Osowiec (as Marcinpol) was a city. In the nineteenth century, a railway line was built from Białystok to Ełk, [Königsberg]], and passing through Osowiec. From 1882 to 1892, the Russian army

Imperial Russian Army

The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of around 938,731 regular soldiers and 245,850 irregulars . Until the time of military reform of Dmitry Milyutin in...

 built a regional military defense strategy.

Further work built fortifications at the outbreak of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. From 1914 to August 6, 1915, the German 8th Army futilely struggled to break the defensive belt represented by Osowiec Fortress

Osowiec Fortress

Osowiec Fortress - a 19th century fortress located in north-eastern Poland, originally built by the Russian Empire. The Russian name is Крепость Осовец i.e. Krepost Osovets. In English sources it is variously given as Osowiec , Osovets, Ossovetz, Osovetz and Ossovets...

, which successfully defended the Tsarist troops. During the fighting, the German army used gas (chlorine

Chlorine

Chlorine is the chemical element with atomic number 17 and symbol Cl. It is the second lightest halogen, found in the periodic table in group 17. The element forms diatomic molecules under standard conditions, called dichlorine...

), which killed about 2 000 of the Tsar's troops. Finally, due to an unfavorable strategic situation at the front, the Russian troops left the fort at the end of August 1915. The defense of Osowiec is comparable to the 1916 battle of Verdun

Verdun

Verdun is a city in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital of the department is the slightly smaller city of Bar-le-Duc.- History :...

, in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. Both towers (fortress) ware never captured. In the Second World War, there was no struggle for Osowiec.

Today some parts of the fortress are accessible to tourists, especially within the boundaries of Biebrza National Park

Biebrza National Park

Biebrza National Park is a national park in Podlaskie Voivodeship, northeastern Poland, situated along the Biebrza River.The largest of Poland’s 23 National Parks, the Biebrza National Park was created on September 9, 1993...

. The visitor information center of the park is located in Osowiec-Twierdza , a small settlement located within the boundaries of the fortress.
The village has a population of 630. It is most famous for its 19th-century Osowiec Fortress

Osowiec Fortress

Osowiec Fortress - a 19th century fortress located in north-eastern Poland, originally built by the Russian Empire. The Russian name is Крепость Осовец i.e. Krepost Osovets. In English sources it is variously given as Osowiec , Osovets, Ossovetz, Osovetz and Ossovets...

.