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Parry Sound, Ontario

Parry Sound is a town in Ontario, Canada, located on the eastern shore of the sound after which it is named. Parry Sound is located 160 km south of Sudbury and 225 km north of Toronto. It is a single tier government located in the territorial District of Parry Sound which has no second tier County, Regional or District level of government. Parry Sound is a popular cottage country region for Southern Ontario residents. It also has the world's deepest natural freshwater port.

History
The Anishinaabeg/Anishinaabek - Ojibway, Odawa, and Potawatomi communities reside in the surrounding District of Parry Sound, which also encompasses the lands of the Wasauksing, Shawanaga, Magnetawan, Dokis, and Henvey Inlet First Nations. The district falls under the Robinson-Huron Treaty.

There was a slight decline in economic activity shortly after World War I with J.R. Booth's construction of a rival town, Depot Harbour on nearby Parry Island, but this setback was overcome through later developments in tourism and commerce, and the accidental destruction by fire of the entire town of Depot Harbour on August 14, 1945.

The body of water that gives the town its name was surveyed and named by Captain (later Admiral) Henry Wolsey Bayfield in the 19th century, in honour of the Arctic explorer Sir William Edward Parry. In 1857, the modern townsite was established near the Ojibwa village of Wasauksing ("shining shore") at the mouth of the Seguin River. The post office was established in 1865. Parry Sound was incorporated as a town in 1887. In the late 19th century, rail service was established, making the town an important depot along the rail lines to Western Canada.

In 1916, a cordite factory was established in the nearby town of Nobel for the Imperial Munitions Board. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, an explosives and munitions factory was also built at Nobel, making Parry Sound an important part of both the First World War and the Second World War effort.

Forest fire protection history
The Parry Sound Forest Fire District was founded by Ontario's former Department of Lands and Forests (now the MNR) in 1922 as one of 17 districts to help protect Ontario's forests from fire by early detection from fire towers. The headquarters for the district were housed in town. It was the central location for 18 fire tower lookouts, including the Parry Sound fire tower, which was erected in the same location as the modern lookout tower at 17 George Street. In the 1970s all the towers had been decommissioned as aerial firefighting techniques were employed. Fire suppression is of enhanced concern in and near Parry Sound due to this area's strong tendency toward drier weather coinciding with the period of highest sun, in June and July. In drier-summer years, drought can be a significant concern here, and with it, heightened wildfire risk.

Climate
Parry Sound has a humid continental climate, with local variations in cloudiness and precipitation resulting from its location on the eastern shore of the large body of water, comprising Parry Sound and Lake Huron to its west. Parry Sound's annual temperature regime reflects a cool summer humid continental climate (Koppen Dfb), with January average temperatures of -9.0 C and July average temperatures near 20.2 C, and the usual minimal seasonal lag typical of continental climates, i.e. January as the coldest month, July as the warmest.

Much more unusual (for Dfb climates) is Parry Sound's average annual cycle of precipitation, and cloudiness vs. sunshine. With its location on the eastern side of large bodies of water, where prevailing winds and weather come from the west (typical in the mid-latitude Northern Hemisphere), Parry Sound experiences an exceptionally strong lake effect. From spring to mid-summer, this means lake waters are cooler than nearby land areas, resulting in diminished intensity of low pressure systems and less precipitation, but alternation of low clouds and fog (resulting from warmer air passing over snow-covered ground, frequent into May most years) with occasional sunshine, especially once the long winter's snow cover has melted (mostly May through July). Parry Sound's average driest month is July; here, thunderstorms are rare, due to cool lake waters inhibiting the combination of heat and humidity that fuels thunderstorm activity over areas like the central, southern and eastern United States.

From September to January in Parry Sound the lake effect reverses its stabilizing effect from spring into mid-summer, becoming destabilizing. During these months, nearby waters release their stored warmth from the summer season, and increasingly strong polar and Arctic air outbreaks pass over these still-relatively-warm waters before hitting Parry Sound. This results in heavy cumulus cloud formation, instability rain showers (in September and October), transitioning toward heavy snow showers and squalls as temperatures continue to drop from November to January. Parry Sound's average monthly precipitation exceeds 100 mm inches every month from September to January - but this pattern peaks in December, the year's average wettest month, which averages over 137 mm of precipitation, mostly carried by that month's average of 101.6 cm of snow, followed by January's snowfall average of 91.2 cm. Such heavy winter-month precipitation and snowfall figures are virtually nonexistent in humid continental climates, which tend to exist away from large bodies of water. As winter transitions toward spring, snowfall drops sharply by March, when lake and land temperatures nearly equalize. In winter, the heavy lake-effect snowfall is augmented by snowfall from sometimes-strong low-pressure systems (mid-latitude cyclones) that often converge on the Great Lakes and areas further east.

Overall, Parry Sound experiences a typical humid continental, cool-summer climate type in terms of temperatures - but a highly unusual climate regime in precipitation and cloudiness; the year's driest months are generally from March through July, while its wettest months are from September to January, with autumnal lake effect producing cloudy skies and heavy rainfall from September into November, followed by extremely heavy snowfall in December and January.

The highest temperature ever recorded in Parry Sound was 37.8 C on July 6, 1921. The coldest temperature ever recorded was -41.1 C on February 12. 1967.

Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Parry Sound had a population of $6,879$ living in $3,197$ of its $3,518$ total private dwellings, a change of NaN% from its 2016 population of $6,408$. With a land area of 13.1 km2, it had a population density of in 2021.

According to the 2016 census, the median total income of economic families in 2015 was $69,911.

Culture

Parry Sound is the birthplace of hockey legend Bobby Orr, the namesake of the local community centre and the town's own Bobby Orr Hall of Fame. In Orr's best-selling autobiography, Orr: My Story, he speaks highly of Parry Sound, the friends and family who resided there and the happy childhood he had living in that part of Canada.

Canadian actor Don Harron's stage character Charlie Farquharson remains one of the town's most cherished personalities. Former Ontario premier Ernie Eves also called the town home for many years; he was the MPP for the Parry Sound—Muskoka riding from 1981 through 2001.

The town is home to several cultural festivals, including the Festival of the Sound classical music festival, an annual dragonboat race and a buskers' festival which takes place as part of the town's Canada Day festivities. The Charles W. Stockey Centre for the Performing Arts serves as the principal performance venue during the Festival of the Sound, and also hosts concerts, live theatre and other cultural events throughout the year.

Recreation and sports
There are several provincial parks in the Parry Sound area, including Oastler Lake, The Massasauga and Killbear, as well as numerous provincial conservation reserves, including the Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve, one of only 13 UNESCO sites in Canada. The eastern coast of Georgian Bay where Parry Sound is located is known as the "30,000 Islands" and is considered the world's largest freshwater archipelago. It covers 347,000 hectares of shoreline ecosystem, and over 100 species of animals and plants that are at risk in Canada and Ontario, including unique reptiles and amphibians. Parry Sound's Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary cares for injured and orphaned animals, and offers an informational and interpretive centre for wildlife education. A 230-kilometre recreational trail, the Park-to-Park Trail, connects Killbear with Algonquin Provincial Park in two locations, to the south at Dwight, and farther north, east of Kearney.

Parry Sound, and much of Central and Northern Ontario, are well known for their tourism businesses. Accommodation businesses range from hotels and full service resorts to lodges and camping grounds. Sightseeing tours of the 30,000 Islands are offered by Georgian Bay Airways, and the Island Queen and MV Chippawa cruise ships. kayak and canoe rentals and tours are available during the summer, as well as winter sporting gear rentals during the winter. The town is home to an annual ATV Jamboree, and guided ATV tours of the region's wilderness are available throughout the year. There are several golf courses located in and near Parry Sound; ice hockey, fishing, cross-country skiing, and softball are also popular recreational sports in the area. Cross-country skiing in the Parry Sound area is based out of Georgian Nordic Outdoor Activity Centre (GNOAC). Famous NHLer Bobby Orr played minor hockey for the Parry Sound Shamrocks. Another more recent professional hockey player who played for the Shamrocks is Aidan Dudas who plays for HC TPS of the Finnish SM-Liiga. Aidan was selected in the fourth round (113th overall) of the 2019 NHL Draft by the Los Angeles Kings. The town had a junior team also called the Shamrocks for a short period of time who reached the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey Association championship finals in 1998 and 1999 before the team folded in 2003.

Transportation
Parry Sound is located along a highway which currently bears the dual designation of Highway 69/Highway 400. From the opening of this freeway alignment in 2004 until October 26, 2010, a point one kilometre north of Parry Sound's Bowes Street/McDougall Road interchange was the terminus of Highway 400, but the freeway now begins 17 kilometres further north, at Highway 559 north of Nobel. The former alignment of Highway 69 from Parry Sound southerly to Holmur now has the street name Oastler Park Drive and serves as the main access road to Oastler Lake Provincial Park.

The western termini of Highway 124, which extends easterly to Sundridge, and Highway 518, which heads east to Kearney, are both located just outside Parry Sound's town limits.

Bus service from Toronto is available by Ontario Northland Motor Coach Services, the government-owned transportation company, and buses arrive daily en route to Sudbury. In addition, Via Rail's Canadian (Toronto – Vancouver) transcontinental passenger train serve Parry Sound railway stations twice a week both east- and westbound. Westbound passenger as well as Canadian Pacific Kansas City and Canadian National Railway freight trains are carried over the Seguin River by the Parry Sound CPR Trestle, a visible presence in the centre of town.

The town is served by the Parry Sound Area Municipal Airport and the Parry Sound Medical Heliport, as well as numerous small water aerodromes:
 * Parry Sound Harbour Water Aerodrome (CPS1)
 * Parry Sound/Deep Bay Water Aerodrome (CPT6)
 * Parry Sound/Derbyshire Island Water Aerodrome (CDS6)
 * Parry Sound/Frying Pan Island-Sans Souci Water Aerodrome (CPS9)
 * Parry Sound/Huron Island Water Aerodrome (CPS8)
 * Parry Sound/St. Waleran Island Water Aerodrome (CPD6)

The Big Sound Marina is a 120-serviced slip marina on Georgian Bay for transient vessels up to 60 ft.

Canadian Coast Guard Parry Sound Base
Canadian Coast Guard has a base in Parry Sound at 28 Waubeek Street. The base has berthing and maintenance facilities for CCG vessels. CCGS Samuel Risley and CCGS Cove Isle are the current home ported vessels at the CCG base. There is an unregistered helipad at the base next to the Waubuno Beach boat launch and is the home base to two helicopters, a Bell 412 and a Bell 429.

The entrance to the station is a shack with lantern room from the historic Cape Robert Lighthouse formerly on Manitoulin Island

Newspapers

 * North Star – The Parry Sound North Star

Notable people
List of notable people associated with Parry Sound:

 * Marty Adams, actor, writer and comedian
 * Samuel Armstrong (1844–1921), businessman and politician
 * James Arthurs (1866–1937), politician and senator
 * Bill Beagan (born 1937), National Hockey League referee and commissioner of four hockey leagues
 * William Rabb Beatty (1851–1905), businessman and politician
 * Neil Belland (born 1961), professional ice hockey player
 * Fred Bourdginon (1906–1995), professional ice hockey player
 * John Brackenborough (1897–1993), professional ice hockey player
 * Gerald Carson (1903–1956), professional ice hockey player
 * Wayne Clairmont (born 1943), professional ice hockey player
 * Terry Crisp (born 1943), professional ice hockey player and coach
 * Eleanor Joanne Daley (born 1955), composer and choir director
 * Douglas Durkin (1884–1967), novelist, short story writer and screenwriter
 * Ernie Eves (born 1946), lawyer, politician and 23rd Premier of Ontario
 * Donald Guloien, business executive
 * Mark Ideson (born 1976), Paralympic wheelchair curler
 * Allan Loney (1885–1965), hockey player charged with manslaughter
 * William Morgan (born 1975), Paralympic judoka
 * Bobby Orr (born 1948), professional ice hockey player and Hockey Hall of Fame inductee
 * Francis Pegahmagabow (1891–1956) deadliest sniper in World War I
 * Gary Sabourin (born 1943), professional ice hockey player
 * James Sharpe (1846–1935), merchant and politician
 * Fred J. Stevenson (1895–1928), aviator and bush pilot
 * William Sutherland (1926/27–1998), politician
 * Graham Ritchie (born 1998), Olympic and professional cross country skier

title: Parry Sound, Ontario


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Robert Rolfe, 1st Baron Cranworth

Robert Monsey Rolfe, 1st Baron Cranworth, PC (18 December 1790 – 26 July 1868) was a British lawyer and Liberal politician. He twice served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain.

Background and education
Born at Cranworth, Norfolk, he was the elder son of the Reverend Edmund Rolfe and Jemima Alexander, James Alexander, 1st Earl of Caledon's niece and a granddaughter of physician Messenger Monsey. Rolfe, a relative of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, was educated at Bury St Edmunds, Winchester, Trinity College, Cambridge, Downing College, Cambridge (of which he was elected fellow) and was called to the bar, Lincoln's Inn, in 1816.

Legal and political career
Cranworth represented Penryn and Falmouth in Parliament from 1832 until he was appointed a Baron of the Exchequer in 1839. In 1850 he was appointed a Vice-Chancellor and raised to the peerage as Baron Cranworth, of Cranworth in the County of Norfolk. In 1852 Lord Cranworth became Lord Chancellor in Lord Aberdeen's coalition ministry. He continued to hold the chancellorship also in the administration of Lord Palmerston until the latter's resignation in 1858. Cranworth was not reappointed when Palmerston returned to office in 1859, but on the retirement of Lord Westbury in 1865 he accepted the office for a second time, and held it till the fall of the Russell administration in 1866.

Personal life
In 1845, Cranworth married Laura Carr (1807–1868), daughter of Thomas William Carr (born 1770). The couple had no children.

Lord Cranworth died at his seat, Holwood House, on 26 July 1868, aged 77, after a short illness related to the heat. He was childless and the title became extinct on his death.

Cases

 * Fouldes v. Willoughby (1841)
 * Aberdeen Rly Co v Blaikie Bros (1854)
 * Scott v Avery (1855)
 * Jones v Lock (1865)
 * Rylands v. Fletcher judgment given 9 days before his death.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Robert Rolfe, 1st Baron Cranworth


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Inuksuk

An inuksuk (plural inuksuit) or inukshuk (from the ᐃᓄᒃᓱᒃ, plural ᐃᓄᒃᓱᐃᑦ; alternatively inukhuk in Inuinnaqtun, iñuksuk in Iñupiaq, inussuk in Greenlandic) is a type of stone landmark or cairn built by, and for the use of, Inuit, Iñupiat, Kalaallit, Yupik, and other peoples of the Arctic region of North America. These structures are found in northern Canada, Greenland, and Alaska (United States). This combined region, north of the Arctic Circle, is dominated by the tundra biome and has areas with few natural landmarks.

The inuksuk may historically have been used for navigation, as a point of reference, a marker for travel routes, fishing places, camps, hunting grounds, places of veneration, drift fences used in hunting, or to mark a food cache. The Iñupiat in northern Alaska used inuksuit to assist in the herding of caribou into contained areas for slaughter. Varying in shape and size, the inuksuit have ancient roots in Inuit culture.

Historically, the most common types of inuksuit are built with stone placed upon stone. The simplest type is a single stone positioned in an upright manner. There is some debate as to whether the appearance of human- or cross-shaped cairns developed in the Inuit culture before the arrival of European missionaries and explorers. The size of some inuksuit suggests that the construction was often a communal effort.

At Inuksuk Point (Enukso Point) on Baffin Island, there are more than 100 inuksuit. The site was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1969.

Name

The word means "that which acts in the capacity of a human". The word comes from the morphemes (person) and -suk (ersatz, substitute). It is pronounced inutsuk in Nunavik and the southern part of Baffin Island (see Inuit phonology for the linguistic reasons). In many of the central Nunavut dialects, it has the etymologically related name inuksugaq (plural: inuksugait).

While the predominant English spelling is, both the Government of Nunavut and the Government of Canada through Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada promote the Inuit-preferred spelling.

A structure similar to an inuksuk is called an inunnguaq (ᐃᓄᙳᐊᖅ, imitation of a person, plural inunnguat); it is meant to represent a human figure. Inunnguaq has become widely familiar to non-Inuit, and is particularly found in Greenland. However, it is not the most common type of inuksuk. It is distinguished from inuksuit in general.

The Hammer of Thor, located on the Ungava Peninsula, Quebec may be an inuksuk.

Modern usage
Inuksuit continue to serve as an Inuit cultural symbol. An inuksuk is the centrepiece of the flag and coat of arms of the Canadian territory of Nunavut, and the flag of Nunatsiavut. The Inuksuk High School in Iqaluit is named after the landmark.

Inuksuitparticularly, but not exclusively, of the inunnguaq varietyare also increasingly serving as a mainstream Canadian national symbol. In 1999, Inukshuk was the name for the International Arctic Art & Music Project of ARBOS in the Canadian provinces of Quebec, Ontario, Nunavik, and Nunavut; and in Greenland, Austria, Denmark and Norway.

On July 13, 2005, Canadian military personnel erected an inuksuk on Hans Island, along with a plaque and a Canadian flag, as part of Canada's longstanding dispute with Denmark over the small Arctic island. The markers have been erected throughout the country, often as generic gateways into tourist regions, including a 9 m inuksuk that stands in Toronto on the shores of Lake Ontario. Located in Battery Park, it commemorates the World Youth Day 2002 festival that was held in the city in July 2002.

An inunnguaq is the basis of the logo of the 2010 Winter Olympics designed by Vancouver artist Elena Rivera MacGregor. Its use in this context has been controversial among the Inuit, and the First Nations within British Columbia. Although the design has been questioned, people believe it pays tribute to Alvin Kanak's 1986 inuksuk at English Bay. Friendship and the welcoming of the world are the meanings of both the English Bay structure and the 2010 Winter Olympics emblem.

The Vancouver 2010 logo and the construction of inuksuit around the world have led to increasing recognition of them. There are five authentic inuksuit which were donated to other jurisdictions wholly or in partby the government of Canada: they are located in Brisbane, Australia; Monterrey, Mexico; Oslo, Norway; Washington, D.C., United States; and Guatemala City, Guatemala.

A Canadian-donated inuksuk was built in Monterrey, Mexico, in October 2007 by the Inuvialuit artist Bill Nasogaluak. The sculpture was presented to the people of the northern state of Nuevo León as a gift from the Monterrey chapter of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Mexico and the Government of Canada, to mark the chamber's 10th anniversary in the city. The sculpture stands over the Santa Lucía Riverwalk. Nasogaluak, of Tuktoyaktuk, personally chose the rocks for the structure from a local quarry near Monterrey. The inuksuk contains two rocks which the artist took to Mexico from Canada, one from the high Arctic and another from his home town of Toronto. Together they form the inuksuk's heart.

The inuksuk was also used as the symbol of the Summit of the Americas, because of its connotations of "guidance and unity ... towards common goals."

Officials in various wilderness parks throughout Canada routinely dismantle inuksuit constructed by hikers and campers, for fear that they could misdirect park visitors from the cairns and other markers that indicate hiking trails. The practice of erecting inuksuit in parks has become so widespread that Killarney Provincial Park, on the north shore of Ontario's Georgian Bay, issued a notice in 2007 urging visitors to "stop the invasion" of inuksuit.

A large number of inuksuit have been built in some areas along the Trans-Canada Highway, including Northern Ontario. In 2010, a journalist from Sudbury's Northern Life counted 93 inuksuit along Highway 69 between Sudbury and Parry Sound. The journalist successfully tracked down a person who had built two inuksuit along the route; he attributed his action to having had a "fill the dreams moment where I needed to stop and do it" while driving home from a family funeral.

In 2015, a small group of women near Hamilton, Ontario, constructed 1,181 inuksuit on the Chedoke Rail Trail to memorialize the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, while seeking government action. It was one of many types of activism across the county, and the newly elected government committed to conducting a national inquiry that year.

According to Guinness World Records, the tallest inuksuk is in Schomberg, Ontario, Canada. Built in 2007, it is 11.377 m tall.

On the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the Rome Statute, to mark Canada's support for the International Criminal Court (ICC) and as a symbol for its commitment to reconciliation with Canada's First Nations, Canadian Minister of Justice and Attorney General Wilson-Raybould on 7 March 2018 donated an inuksuk as a gift to the ICC. It was unveiled by her and ICC President Judge Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi at the ICC premises in The Hague.

In popular culture
The Canadian rock band Rush featured an inuksuk on the cover of their 1996 album Test for Echo.

title: Inuksuk


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Oleśnica

Oleśnica ( pronounced ; Oels; Ôleśnica) is a town in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland, within the Wrocław metropolitan area. It is the administrative seat of Oleśnica County and also of the rural district of Gmina Oleśnica, although it is not part of the territory of the latter, the town being an urban gmina in its own right.

The town is famed for its large 16th-century castle, which has previously been the seat of several dukes and lords. The castle's inner courtyard arcades, a masterpiece of Renaissance architecture, are iconic in the region.

Name
The town's name comes from Polish olsza ("Alder"); Olcha is an Old Slavic word for this common plant and tree. On 22 February 1255 the Silesian duke Henry III the White, son of the Polish High Duke Henry II the Pious, vested civitas nostra Olsnicz ("our town Oleśnica") with town privileges.

Geography
The town is situated in the Silesian Lowlands east of the Trzebnickie Hills, part of the historical region of Lower Silesia. It is situated on the Oleśnica River, a tributary of Widawa. Located about 30 km northeast of the Silesian capital Wrocław, it has been a stop on an important trade route to the Greater Poland region, Kalisz, Łódź and Warsaw; it had close ties with Kraków via Namysłów in the east. It was the site of an important printing press and gymnasium.

The town quarters are Centrum, Serbinów, Lucień, Lucień Osiedle, Wądoły, Rataje (Stare, Nowe) and Zielone Ogrody.

History

The Piast castle with a nearby abbey and trading settlement was first mentioned in an 1189 deed. It was part of fragmented Poland under the Piast dynasty. In 1255, it was granted town rights by Duke Henry III the White. From the 13th century onwards, the area was largely settled by Germans in the course of the Ostsiedlung. From the 13th century, it had a coin mint. In the 13th century Oleśnica was part of the Duchy of Silesia, in 1294 it became part of the Duchy of Głogów and in 1313 it became capital of the Duchy of Oleśnica, just partitioned from Głogów. By that time a hospital already existed in Oleśnica, mentioned in a document from 1307. From 1320/21 the former castellany served as the residence of the Piast duke Konrad I of Oleśnica; his son Duke Konrad II the Gray also inherited Koźle. The dukes of Oleśnica in the 14th century still claimed to be heirs of the entire Kingdom of Poland, even though they ruled only in their principality, which caused animosity from other Polish dukes in Silesia and monarchs of all Poland. Oleśnica was located on an important trade route which connected Wrocław with Kalisz and Toruń.

In 1329, Duke Konrad I was forced to accept the overlordship of the Bohemian (Czech) Crown, although he retained vast autonomy. Local Polish dukes granted numerous privileges to Oleśnica, and the Duchy of Oleśnica was still ruled from the town until the 1492 death of Duke Konrad X the White, last of the local Piasts. During the Hussite Wars, Oleśnica was invaded by the Hussites in 1432, and later Polish–Hussite negotiations took place there. During the Bohemian–Hungarian War local dukes switched sides several times. In 1469 they recognized the overlordship of King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, in the 1470s Duke Konrad X sided with Bohemian King Vladislaus Jagiellon, in 1480 he recognized Hungarian suzerainty again, and then revolted in 1489. Afterwards it was again a Bohemian fief.

According to an agreement from 1491, the duchy was supposed to pass to future Polish King John I Albert, but eventually in 1495 it was sold to Duke Henry I of Münsterberg, son of the Bohemian (Czech) king George of Poděbrady. His grandson Duke John of Münsterberg-Oels established a gymnasium at Oleśnica in 1530. When the Czech Podiebrad family became extinct in 1647, town and duchy were inherited by the Swabian dukes of Württemberg, and in 1792 by the Welf dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

On September 11, 1535, a violent F4 tornado completely destroyed part of the town. The written account of this tornado was done by Dr. Alfred Wegener, which is in the CLIMDAT archive located at Leipzig University and the F4 rating on the Fujita scale was assigned by the European Severe Storms Laboratory.

In the 17th century, the Polish-German language border ran close to Oleśnica, including the town to the territory dominated by the Polish language. Polish religious writers Adam Gdacius (nicknamed Rey of Silesia) and Jerzy Bock published their works in Oleśnica.

In the 18th century, one of two main routes connecting Warsaw and Dresden ran through the town and Kings Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III of Poland often traveled that route. As a result of the First Silesian War the Duchy of Oels (Oleśnica) came under suzerainty of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1742. Following administrative reform in 1807 during the Napoleonic Wars, Oels became the seat of Landkreis Oels in the Province of Silesia, remaining capital of the Duchy of Oels (Oleśnica). In 1884 the duchy was incorporated into Prussia, itself part of Germany since the 1871 Prussian-led unification of Germany.

After World War I, Oels was included within the Province of Lower Silesia. Nazi Germany operated a prison in the town, and a forced labour camp for Italian, English, Yugoslavian, Belgian and Polish prisoners of war during World War II. Dozens of Polish resistance members, including women, were held in the local prison, and at least 14 were sentenced to death in the town in 1942. The German administration evacuated almost the entire population, leaving only a few Germans and the forced laborers. The town was heavily damaged by the Red Army in 1945 in the final stages of World War II, having approximately 60-80% of its buildings destroyed. The city was placed in Poland's borders after the Potsdam Conference and its official name became Oleśnica. The remaining German-speaking population was subsequently expelled in accordance to the Potsdam Agreement and the town was resettled with Poles many of whom were expelled from Eastern Poland annexed in 1945 by the Soviet Union. The majority of monuments in the Old Town have been rebuilt since the 1960s.

Cuisine
The officially protected traditional food of Oleśnica, as designated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland, is the Oleśnica wheat and rye gingerbread.

Sports
Football club Pogoń Oleśnica is based in the town. It played at the Polish second division in the 1990s.

Notable people

 * Joachim of Münsterberg-Oels (1503–1562), Duke of Münsterberg and from 1536 to 1542 also Duke of Oels
 * Hedwig of Münsterberg-Oels (1508–1531), Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach
 * John, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels (1509–1565), Duke of the Münsterberg from 1542 to 1565, Duke of Oels from 1548 to 1565 and Duke of Bernstadt from 1548 to 1565
 * George II, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels (1512–1553), Duke of Münsterberg from 1536 to 1542 and Duke of Oels
 * Henry III, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels (1542–1587), Duke of Münsterberg from 1565 to 1574 and Duke of Bernstadt
 * Karl II, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels (1545–1617), Duke of Oels from 1565 to 1617 and Duke of Bernstadt from 1604 to 1617
 * Karl Christoph, Duke of Münsterberg (1545–1569), Duke of Münsterberg from 1565 to 1569
 * Henry Wenceslaus, Duke of Oels-Bernstadt (1592–1639)
 * Abraham von Franckenberg (1593–1652), mystic, born in nearby Bystre
 * Karl Friedrich I, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels (1593–1647), Duke of Oels from 1617 to 1647 and Duke of Bernstadt from 1639 to 1647
 * Elisabeth Marie, Duchess of Oels (1625–1686), German noblewoman
 * Christian Ulrich I, Duke of Württemberg-Oels (1652–1704), German nobleman, Duke of Württemberg-Bernstadt from 1669 to 1697 and Duke of Oels-Württemberg from 1697 until his death
 * Julius Siegmund, Duke of Württemberg-Juliusburg (1653–1684), was Duke of Württemberg-Juliusburg
 * Eugen of Württemberg (1788–1857), general
 * Carl Heinrich Zöllner (1792–1836), German composer
 * Julius Hübner (1806–1882), painter
 * Gustav Becker (1819–1885), clockmaker
 * Willy Hellpach (1877–1955), physicist and politician
 * Antoni Cieszyński (1882–1941), surgeon
 * Werner Krolikowski (born 1928), East German politician
 * Sigmar Polke (1941–2010), artist
 * Piotr Czech (born 1986), kicker for Pittsburgh Steelers
 * Wojciech Bartnik (born 1967), boxer, Olympic bronze medallist
 * Kasia Glowicka (born 1977), composer
 * Jerzy Rogalski (born 1948), film and theatre actor
 * Rafał Dębski (born 1969), Polish writer
 * Babatunde Aiyegbusi (born 1989), Polish-Nigerian professional wrestler and former American football player

Twin towns – sister cities
Oleśnica is twinned with:
 * 🇨🇿 Chrudim, Czech Republic
 * 🇫🇷 Jaunay-Marigny, France
 * 🇩🇪 Warendorf, Germany

title: Oleśnica


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Oława

Oława (, Ohlau,, Oława) is a historic town in south-western Poland with 33,029 inhabitants (2019). It is situated in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, within the Wrocław metropolitan area. It is the seat of Oława County and of the smaller administrative district of Gmina Oława (although it is not part of the territory of the latter, as the town is an urban gmina in its own right).

Etymology
The name of the city comes from the Polish word root el-, ol-, which in Polish lands took also the form of oła-, meaning "water". The association with water refers to the location of the settlement between two rivers: the Oder and the Oława, which are close to each other, but only connect in Wrocław, which is 27 km away. The location of the city between rivers, pools and forests, and at the same time in the place of crossing the Oder River, favored the creation of a market settlement of Ślęża, and later a stronghold, a town.

The locality was mentioned in the Old Polish, Latinized form of Oleva in a Latin document issued on August 12, 1201, by the chancellery of Pope Innocent III in Segni. In a document written in Latin by Henry I the Bearded from 1214, the city is mentioned under the name Olaua in the fragment Olauam et Odriczam. In a Latin document issued in Wrocław in 1269, signed by the Silesian prince Władysław of Wrocław, the town is mentioned under two names: Olawa oraz Olauia. Latin language contain much less lettres and sounds that Polish, that's why many distorted versions of Polish, Slavic words, toponyms across Europe in various documents. In the Latin book Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis (Polish Book of Emoluments of the Bishopric of Wrocław) written in the times of Bishop Henry of Wierzbno in the years 1295–1305, the town is mentioned in the Latinized form Olavia. The town was mentioned in a Latin document from 1310, where the town was recorded as "civitati Olavia versus Nyzam". In 1613, the Polish regionalist from the region of Śląsk and historian Mikołaj Henel mentioned the town in his Latin work on the geography of Śląsk (also known by the Latinized as "Silesia"), entitled Silesiographia giving two names Olavia and Olawa/Olaw.

History
Oława began to develop during the 11th or early 12th century at a site that was protected by the rivers Oder and Oława, when it was part of the Piast-ruled Kingdom of Poland. It was first mentioned as Oloua in a document of 1149 confirming Piotr Włostowic's donation to the abbey of St. Vincent in Wrocław. In 1206 Oława became one of the residential towns of the dukes of the Silesian branch of the Piast dynasty, who also granted Oława the status of a town in 1234. As a result of the fragmentation of Poland, Oława at various times formed part of the duchies of Silesia, Legnica and Brzeg.

During its history Oława was destroyed completely three times. In 1241 it was destroyed during the First Mongol invasion of Poland, in 1448 by the Hussites, and again in 1634 during the Thirty Years' War. After the Polish King Casimir III had renounced his rights on Silesia with the contract of Trenčín in 1335, Silesia became until 1806 a part of the Holy Roman Empire as a Bohemian fief, although the town remained under the rule of the Polish Piast dynasty as part of the Duchy of Legnica until 1675. In 1526, when the Habsburgs gained the Bohemian crown, Silesia came under Austrian suzerainty. In 1527 with the Reformation High German language came in use and with it the first usage of the version of the town's name Ohlau is reported. Following the death of the last Silesian Piast duke George IV William of Legnica in 1675, Oława ceased to be a residence town. In spite of Habsburg political influence, in the 17th century, the town was still part of the territory dominated by the Polish language. Oława found itself again under Polish rule, when Polish prince James Louis Sobieski, son of King John III Sobieski, became duke of Oława in years 1691–1737. Together with most of Silesia, the town became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1742.

The 18th and 19th centuries were a period of economic growth and Oława (then as Ohlau) became well known as a centre of tobacco-growing. Ethnic Polish traditions and population also remained strong in the area, with a large influx of people from nearby Congress Poland. In 1842 a railroad between Ohlau and Wrocław, the first in Silesia, was opened. Poles smuggled large amounts of gunpowder through the town to the Russian Partition of Poland during the January Uprising in 1863.

The historic town of Ohlau did not suffer any damage during World War I, however, in World War II about 60% of the buildings were destroyed. On 2 September 1939, a Polish PZL.23 Karaś bomber (scout) plane bombed a German factory in the city in the first attack on German territory after the German invasion of Poland and the outbreak of World War II the day before. During the war, the Germans established and operated two labour subcamps of the Stalag VIII-B/344 prisoner-of-war camp in the town. At least five Polish resistance members were sentenced to death in the city by a German court in 1942. After Nazi Germany's defeat in the war, the town became again part of Poland. Oława also became a garrison town of the Soviet Red Army Northern Group of Forces and remained so until 1992.

From 1975 to 1998, it was administratively located in the Wrocław Voivodeship.

Flag and coat of arms
The flag of Oława presents the coat of arms of Oława, on a diagonally divided white-red background.

The coat of arms presents a white rooster on a red-shield background, looking to the left. There are two traditional hypotheses for the origin of the coat of arms:

 * 1) The symbol links in with Walloonian weavers; historically located in Oława's land - and the coat of arms of Wallonia - a red rooster on a yellow background.
 * 2) The shield originates from the town coat of arms of the Czech knight family of Olav.

Neither hypothesis explains the look of the coat of arms in relation to Oława. The coat of arms of Oława is identical on the basis and content of the Kur coat of arms.

On the basis that the coat of arms of Oława is in relation to the Kur coat of arms, such hypothesis can be deemed highly agreeable. The Kur coat of arms can be linked to Jan of Kur, a knight of Konrad I of Głogów, being the owner of the village of Kurów Wielki in 1266, in the Polkowice County. The coat of arms can also be also traced back to the personage of Szyban von Der - the court adjudicator of Henry III of Głogów - erroneously equated to Szaban Tader, a castellan of the Świny Castle, mentioned in Franciszek Piekosiński's book - Heraldyka polska wieków średnich - (Heraldry of Polish Middle Ages) published in Kraków, in 1899; where the document is sealed with the town's coat of arms from 1300.

Economy

Oława is the centre for industry and production in the Oława County. The town's industries include the production of electronics (namely Electrolux Poland and Nardi Appliances), furniture and car parts. Oława is also called "European Drug Capitol". This is because there are many active drug cartels, the biggest and the most dangerous one is called "888".

Largest industries include:
 * Zm Silesia SA (formerly Huta Oława S.A.) – production of zinc oxide, lead oxide and cadmium oxide
 * SCA Hygiene Products – production of nappies for toddlers and adults
 * DS Smith – packaging production
 * Autoliv Poland – production of seat belts and car airbags
 * Centrozłom Wrocław PPZM – branch of metal recycling
 * The Lorenz Bahlsen Snack-World Sp. z o.o. – food production
 * Ergis SA – packaging production
 * MetalErg – processing of metals and plastics
 * Tabex – car parts production
 * ZNTK Oława Sp. z o.o. – train repair department
 * Zakpol – architrave production
 * Marco – plastic materials production
 * Formtech – plastic materials production
 * Rotex – plastic materials production
 * Atex Sp. z o.o. – muffler and petrol tank production
 * Electrolux Poland – electronics
 * Nardi Appliances Poland – electronics
 * Standis Polska Sp. z o.o. - shop furniture production
 * Bama Europa Sp. z o.o. - confectionery production

Sports
The local football team is. It competes in the lower leagues.

Notable people

 * John Christian of Brzeg-Legnica (1591–1639), Duke of Brzeg and Legnica, member of the Piast dynasty
 * George Rudolf of Legnica (1595–1653), Duke of Legnica, member of the Piast dynasty
 * Christian of Brzeg-Legnica (1618–1672), Duke of Brzeg and Legnica, member of the Piast dynasty, candidate for the Polish throne
 * George IV William of Legnica (1660–1675), Duke of Legnica, last ruling member of the Piast dynasty
 * Maria Karolina Sobieska (1697–1740), Polish noblewoman, duchesse de Bouillon, daughter of James Louis Sobieski
 * Maria Clementina Sobieska (1702–1735), Polish noblewoman, wife of the Jacobite pretender James Francis Edward Stuart, sister of the above
 * Johann Baptist Alzog (1808–1878), German theologian and Catholic church historian.
 * Alfred Pringsheim (1850–1941), German mathematician and patron of the arts
 * Hermann Eberhard (1852–1908), German explorer
 * Bernhard Lichtenberg (1875–1943), German Roman Catholic priest and theologian, awarded the title righteous among the Nations.
 * Leopold Lichtwitz (1876–1943), German-American internist
 * Hans-Georg von der Marwitz (1893–1925), German World War I flying ace
 * Bernd Eistert, (1902–1978) German chemist
 * Peter Yorck von Wartenburg, (1904–1944) German jurist and a member of the German Resistance against Nazism
 * Hans Kloss (1938–2018), German artist and graphic designer
 * Marek Wrona (born 1966), Polish racing cyclist, Tour de Pologne winner
 * Adam Wójcik (1970–2017), Polish basketball player, 8-time Polish champion
 * Paweł Mykietyn (born 1971), Polish composer
 * Szymon Kołecki (born 1981), Polish weightlifter who won the gold medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing after doping reanalysis
 * Marek Gancarczyk (born 1983), Polish footballer
 * Janusz Gancarczyk (born 1984), Polish footballer
 * Maciej Bodnar (born 1985), Polish professional cyclist
 * Mateusz Rudyk (born 1995), Polish track cyclist

Twin towns – sister cities
Oława is twinned with:

 * 🇨🇿 Česká Třebová, Czech Republic
 * 🇩🇪 Oberasbach, Germany
 * 🇮🇹 Priolo Gargallo, Italy
 * 🇷🇴 Sighetu Marmației, Romania
 * 🇺🇦 Zolochiv, Ukraine

title: Oława


text:
Battle of Arcole

The Battle of Arcole or Battle of Arcola (15–17 November 1796) was fought between French and Austrian forces 25 km southeast of Verona during the War of the First Coalition, a part of the French Revolutionary Wars. The battle saw a bold maneuver by Napoleon Bonaparte's French Army of Italy to outflank the Austrian army led by József Alvinczi and cut off its line of retreat. The French victory proved to be a highly significant event during the third Austrian attempt to lift the siege of Mantua. Alvinczi planned to execute a two-pronged offensive against Bonaparte's army. The Austrian commander ordered Paul Davidovich to advance south along the Adige River valley with one corps while Alvinczi led the main army in an advance from the east. The Austrians hoped to raise the siege of Mantua where Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser was trapped with a large garrison. If the two Austrian columns linked up and if Wurmser's troops were released, French prospects were grim.

Davidovich scored a victory against Claude-Henri Belgrand de Vaubois at Calliano and threatened Verona from the north. Meanwhile, Alvinczi repulsed one attack by Bonaparte at Bassano and advanced almost to the gates of Verona where he defeated a second French attack at Caldiero. Leaving Vaubois' battered division to contain Davidovich, Bonaparte massed every available man and tried to turn Alvinczi's left flank by crossing the Adige. For two days the French assaulted the stoutly defended Austrian position at Arcole without success. Their persistent attacks finally forced Alvinczi to withdraw on the third day. That day Davidovich routed Vaubois, but it was too late. Bonaparte's victory at Arcole permitted him to concentrate against Davidovich and chase him up the Adige valley. Left alone, Alvinczi threatened Verona again. But without his colleague's support, the Austrian commander was too weak to continue the campaign and he withdrew again. Wurmser attempted a breakout, but his effort came too late in the campaign and had no effect on the result. The third relief attempt failed by the narrowest of margins.

Armies
The second relief attempt of the siege of Mantua ended badly for Austria when General Napoleon Bonaparte routed Feldmarschall Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser's army at the Battle of Bassano. In the sequel, Wurmser marched for Mantua, evading French attempts to cut him off. He reached there with 16,000 soldiers on 12 September 1796, but was defeated and driven into the fortress by the French on the 15th. With Wurmser's Austrians and the original garrison crowded into the encircled city, disease and hunger began exacting a serious toll on the garrison. Emperor Francis II of Austria appointed Feldzeugmeister József Alvinczi to lead a reconstituted field army in the third attempt to relieve Mantua. Alvinczi, Feldmarschall-Leutnant Paul Davidovich, General-major Johann Rudolf Sporck, and Major Franz von Weyrother drew up plans for a two-pronged offensive. The Friaul Corps was assigned to Feldmarschall-Leutnant Peter Vitus von Quosdanovich and directed to move west toward Verona. The Tyrol Corps was entrusted to Davidovich and ordered to advance south from the Alps to join Quosdanovich. Wurmser would break out from Mantua and attack the French field armies in the rear.

Quosdanovich's 26,432-strong Friaul Corps was accompanied by Alvinczi as it moved west on Mantua from the Piave River. This force was formed into a 4,397-man Advance Guard under General-major Friedrich Franz Xaver Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, a 4,376-strong Reserve led by General-major Philipp Pittoni von Dannenfeld, and a Main corps supervised by Feldmarschall-Leutnant Giovanni Marchese di Provera. This last unit was subdivided into a 9,380-man First line consisting of the brigades of Generals-major Gerhard Rosselmini and Anton Lipthay de Kisfalud and an 8,279-strong Second line composed of brigades led by Generals-major Anton Schübirz von Chobinin and Adolf Brabeck. There were 54 line and 20 reserve artillery pieces with the Friaul Corps.

On 1 November 1796, Davidovich's Tyrol Corps numbered 18,427 infantry and 1,049 cavalry. The corps was split into six brigade-size columns under Generals-major Johann Loudon, Joseph Ocskay von Ocsko, Sporck, and Josef Philipp Vukassovich and Colonel Seulen. Loudon commanded 3,915 infantry and 362 cavalry in Column 1, Ocskay led 4,200-foot soldiers and 463 horsemen in Column 2, Sporck directed 2,560 infantry in Column 3, Vukassovich supervised both Column 4 with 3,772-foot and 30 horse and Column 5 with 2,958-foot and 120 horse, and Seulen led 1,022 infantry and 74 cavalry in Column 6. The Tyrol Corps counted 40 line and 20 reserve guns.

Wurmser commanded 23,708 soldiers within Mantua. However, only 12,420 were reported as capable of taking the field. In addition, General-major Anton Ferdinand Mittrowsky's brigade occupied the upper Brenta River, connecting the wings under Davidovich and Quosdanovich. Mittrowsky commanded about 3,000 men.

Bonaparte deployed a 10,500-man division under General of Division Claude-Henri Belgrand de Vaubois at Lavis to watch Davidovich. At Bassano, General of Division André Masséna's 9,540 soldiers defended the line of the Brenta River. The 8,340 troops of General of Division Pierre Augereau covered the Adige River. General of Division Charles Edward Jennings de Kilmaine with 8,830 soldiers blockaded Wurmser's large garrison in Mantua. General of Division François Macquard's 2,750-man infantry reserve was posted at Villafranca di Verona while General of Division Thomas-Alexandre Dumas with 1,600 troopers of the cavalry reserve was stationed at Verona.

The Austrians went to a lot of trouble to conceal the strength of Davidovich's corps from their enemies. The ruse was so successful that Bonaparte ordered Vaubois to advance and defeat his opponent so that he could shift 3,000 troops to help fight Alvinczi. On 2 November, Vaubois attacked Davidovich near Cembra, inflicting 1,116 casualties before retiring. Though the French suffered only 650 killed and wounded, this included 280 soldiers of the 85th Line Infantry Demi Brigade. This loss seems to have seriously damaged the unit's morale. The next day, Vaubois pulled back to Calliano.

Second Bassano and Calliano
On 1 November, the Friaul Corps began crossing the Piave. Bonaparte elected to attack the Austrians on the Brenta and called Augereau and Macquard east to join Masséna. In the Second Battle of Bassano on 6 November, the Austrians held off Bonaparte's attacks. French losses numbered 3,000 killed, wounded, and missing, plus an additional 508 men and one howitzer captured. In this hard-fought engagement, the Austrians lost 534 killed, 1,731 wounded, and 558 captured for a total of 2,823 casualties. Bonaparte quickly pulled back to Verona.

Davidovich attacked Vaubois at the Battle of Calliano on 6 November but was repulsed after hard fighting. He renewed his assault at daybreak on the 7th. After holding out all day, French morale collapsed in the late afternoon and Vaubois' men fled the battlefield in a panic. Between 2 and 7 November, Vaubois' division suffered 4,400 killed, wounded, and missing and lost six artillery pieces. The Austrians also lost heavily, with 2,000 killed and wounded plus a further 1,500 taken prisoner. In a public announcement, Bonaparte vented his fury at the poor performance of the 39th and 85th Line Infantry Demi Brigades.

Poor communications plagued the Austrian commanders throughout the campaign. This was a consequence of the wide separation between the two wings. Furthermore, many of Alvinczi's men were indifferently equipped raw recruits who straggled badly. The Austrians also suffered from a serious shortage of officers. After Alvinczi sent him a mistaken report that Masséna was reinforcing Vaubois, Davidovich became very cautious. The report was sent on 9 November but only reached its recipient on the 11th, which was typical of the Austrian communications problems. Alvinczi also repeatedly urged Davidovich to speed up his march toward Verona.

Alvinczi's advance guard under GM Friedrich of Hohenzollern-Hechingen pressed toward Verona. Near that city, he encountered Masséna on 11 November and was forced to pull back after losing 400 men in a sharp combat. In a sleet storm on the 12th, Hohenzollern fought off the attacks of Masséna and Augereau in the Battle of Caldiero. When reinforcements under Brabeck, Schübirz, and Provera arrived later in the day, Bonaparte called off the futile attacks and drew his troops back within the walls of Verona. The Austrians reported losses of 1,244 officers and men. French losses were estimated at 1,000 killed and wounded, plus an additional 800 men and two guns captured.

Maneuver

After two sharp defeats, even Bonaparte "became very despondent about his chances of survival." He deployed Macquard and 3,000 men to hold Verona. A slightly reinforced Vaubois clung to a strong position with about 8,000 troops, keeping Davidovich's 14,000 soldiers bottled up in the Adige valley. To blockade Wurmser's garrison within Mantua, Kilmaine could count only 6,626 men after providing reinforcements to other commands. This left Bonaparte a field force consisting of Masséna's 7,937, Augereau's 6,000, a reserve of 2,600 infantry plus cavalry, for a total of 18,000 soldiers. By this time, Alvinczi's main force numbered about 23,000 men. Historian David G. Chandler wrote,

"Like a juggler keeping three balls in the air at once, Bonaparte had to balance the dangers of the three sectors against each other, keeping them in clear relative perspective. Although he had singled out Alvinczi as his main target, it was only too clear that an aggressive move on the part of Davidovich or even by Wurmser might compel the French to abandon their operations against the main Austrian army and move every available man to reinforce the threatened area. Defeat on any sector could well spell catastrophe and the destruction of the Army of Italy."

Unknown to the French, Alvinczi planned to throw a pontoon bridge across the Adige below Verona at Zevio on 15 November at nightfall. Meanwhile, Bonaparte determined on an audacious strategy. He force-marched Masséna and Augereau along the west bank of the Adige to a bridging site at Ronco all'Adige, behind Alvinczi's left flank. Once he moved his army across the river, he planned to move north to cut the Austrian line of retreat and seize the enemy's trains and artillery park.

On the far bank was an area of marshy land that troops could not penetrate, which meant that all movement was limited to the causeways or dikes on the banks of the river Adige, and the causeways on the banks of a small tributary called the Alpone River that flowed into it from the north. The Alpone was only 20 yd wide and 5 ft deep. In the difficult terrain, the French soldiers might have an advantage. Further, the Austrians would not be able to use their superior numbers in the restricted battlefield.

From Ronco, the north-bound road followed a dike for about 1.5 mi to a bridge, on the east side of which was the village of Arcole. From there, the road continued going north on the east bank of the stream to San Bonifacio near the main highway. The dikes along the Alpone near Arcole were "26 feet high, and had very steep faces." Another road followed a dike from Ronco northwest to Belfiore and on to Caldiero.

First day

By dawn on 15 November, Bonaparte's troops reached the intended crossing, and soon afterward Chef de brigade (Colonel) Antoine-François Andréossy's engineers had a pontoon bridge in operation. Augereau's division crossed first and headed east and north toward Arcole. Masséna's soldiers followed and, to cover the left flank, took a causeway leading north and west toward Belfiore di Porcile.

Alvinczi posted Oberst (Colonel) Wenzel Brigido's four battalions in the area; of these, two battalions and two cannons defended Arcole. These troops repulsed Augereau's leading demi-brigade under General of Brigade Louis André Bon. Before long, most of the French soldiers were lying in the lee of the causeway to shelter from the searing fire. Brigido pulled every available man into the combat. Augereau threw in demi-brigades led by Generals of Brigade Jean-Antoine Verdier and Pierre Verne. At mid-day, Austrian reinforcements led by General-Major Anton Ferdinand Mittrowsky began arriving to help the defenders. Soon, Bon, Verdier, Verne and General of Brigade Jean Lannes were all wounded and the attack completely stalled.

On the western flank, Alvinczi sent the brigades of Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel) Alois von Gavasini and General-Major Adolf Brabeck to seize the French pontoon bridge. They collided with Masséna near Bionde, midway between Belfiore and Ronco. Initially successful, the Austrians were soon driven back beyond Belfiore after Brabeck's troops accidentally fired on Gavasini's men, causing a panic. Once they reached Belfiore, the French watched as the Austrian trains rolled east on the main highway, out of their reach.

Attempting to break the stalemate near Arcole, Bonaparte ordered General of Brigade Jean Joseph Guieu with two demi-brigades to boat across the Adige below its confluence with the Alpone at Albaredo d'Adige. He also sent a French battalion across the Alpone by boat near its mouth. The latter unit fought its way north along the east bank dike.

Trying to inspire his men to attack, Bonaparte grabbed a flag and stood in the open on the dike "about 55 paces" from the bridge. He remained miraculously untouched, but several members of his staff were hit by the intense fire and his aide-de-camp, Jean-Baptiste Muiron, was killed. An unknown officer dragged Bonaparte out of the line of fire and the commanding general ended up in the muddy ditch.

Adding to the confusion, the Austrians launched a sortie from Arcole and defeated the French battalion on the east bank. In the evening, Guieu crossed at Albaredo and eventually managed to flush the Austrian defenders out of Arcole. At midnight, worried that Davidovich was about to fall upon his rear, Bonaparte withdrew Guieu from Arcole and pulled most of his troops back across the Adige. He left a garrison on the Austrian side of the river to hold his bridgehead.

Second day
Alvinczi left Hohenzollern's troops near Verona to guard against an attack from that city. The Austrian leader ordered Provera with six battalions to attack from Belfiore. Alvinczi reinforced Mittrowsky to a total of 14 battalions, including the brigades of Schübirz and Oberst Franz Sticker, and instructed him to advance south from Arcole. The two forces would march at dawn on 16 November and converge on the French bridgehead. Alvinczi sent two battalions to guard Albaredo against a repetition of Guieu's attack.

Provera's effort came to grief when he ran into Masséna. Brabeck was killed during the encounter and the Austrians were chased back to Belfiore with the loss of five cannons. During the morning, Mittrowsky and Augereau engaged in a see-saw battle that ended when the Austrians fell back to Arcole.

Mittrowsky positioned Sticker's four battalions on the western dike, lined the eastern dike with four battalions under Brigido, and packed the rest of his troops into Arcole. These intelligent dispositions blocked Bonaparte's repeated attempts to seize the village during the day. French attempts to cross the Adige at Albaredo and the Alpone near its mouth both failed. At nightfall, Bonaparte withdrew Masséna and Augereau toward the bridgehead, but sizable forces stayed on the Austrian side of the Adige.

The former slave Joseph Hercule Domingue, French cavalry lieutenant, was promoted to captain and given a ceremonial sword by Bonaparte for his actions in executing a surprise attack on the Austrian cavalry on this day of the battle.

Third day
On 17 November, Alvinczi withdrew Hohenzollern to Caldiero, closer to his main body. Again, Provera held Belfiore while Mittrowsky defended Arcole. During the night, Bonaparte's engineers floated some pontoons into the Alpone where they built a bridge near its mouth. Augereau's division crossed the bridge and began fighting its way along the eastern dike. A French battalion and some cavalry also set out from Legnago and joined Augereau later in the day. Meanwhile, two of Masséna's demi-brigades led by General of Brigade Jean Gilles André Robert attacked along the western dike.

By early afternoon, Masséna drubbed Provera near Belfiore again. Alvinczi recalled both Provera and Hohenzollern toward the east and began feeding some of the latter's troops into the combat at Arcole. There, the battle went back and forth all day. At 3:00 PM, a large column of Austrian reinforcements surged out of Arcole and drove back the troops under Robert. Augereau's men on the east bank saw this development and also fell back. By 4:00 PM, Augereau's rattled division pulled back across the pontoon bridge to the west bank.

Just when the day seemed lost, Masséna appeared with reinforcements from the western flank. With these, he ambushed the Austrians on the western dike and sent them reeling back toward Arcole. Heartened, Augereau's men recrossed to the east bank of the Alpone and renewed the fight. Masséna and Augereau finally battled their way into Arcole around 5:00 PM. A lieutenant and 25 Guides aided the final attack by riding into the Austrian rear area and blowing several bugles to create the impression of a large force. The French followed up their success by advancing north and threatening to block the main east-west highway. Alvinczi threw in Schübirz's brigade to hold off the French, and this allowed Provera's division to escape to the east.

Aftermath
French losses at Arcole numbered 3,500 dead and wounded, plus 1,300 captured or missing. The Austrians suffered only 2,200 dead and wounded, but lost 4,000 men and 11 guns to capture. On the French side, General Jean Gilles André Robert was mortally wounded, while Austrian General-Major Gerhard Rosselmini died in Vicenza on 19 November. On 17 November, Davidovich finally attacked Vaubois at Rivoli. Ocskay's brigade from Monte Baldo met Vukassovich's brigade from the Adige gorge, and together they drove the French soldiers steadily back. After resisting all morning the French troops stampeded in the afternoon. Again, the 85th Line was among the first units to panic. The French lost 800 killed and wounded, plus 1,000 captured including Generals of Brigade Pascal Antoine Fiorella and Antoine Valette. Austrian casualties were 600. Vaubois pulled back toward Peschiera del Garda while Davidovich pursued as far as Castelnuovo del Garda. Bonaparte sent his cavalry to watch Alvinczi's retreat, while turning the bulk of his forces toward Davidovich. On 19 November, Davidovich heard of the Austrian defeat at Arcole and detected signs that Bonaparte was about to fall upon him in full force. The Austrian pulled back to Rivoli on the 20th and began to fall back farther the next morning. At this moment, he received an encouraging note from Alvinczi and halted his retreat. But the French caught up with him at Rivoli. In the ensuing clash, the French suffered 200 casualties while inflicting losses of 250 killed and wounded. An additional 600 Austrians, three guns and a bridging train fell into French hands. Davidovich hastily fell back north. Altogether, Davidovich's retreat from Rivoli cost him as many as 1,500 men and nine guns.

After Arcole, Alvinczi pulled back to Olmo where he held a council of war on the morning of 18 November. At this meeting, the Austrian generals gamely decided to return to the field with their 16,000 remaining troops. By 21 November, Alvinczi occupied Caldiero again but could go no farther. While there, he heard of Davidovich's defeat on 23 November. That evening the Austrian field army began its retreat to the Brenta. During the three days that the battle of Arcole raged, cannon fire could be heard in Mantua. Observers in the fortress even noticed that some of the French camps seemed to be empty, yet Wurmser unaccountably failed to act. On 23 November, Wurmser assaulted the siege lines, capturing 200 Frenchmen and demolishing some earthworks. The Austrians suffered almost 800 casualties. When he learned that Davidovich was in full retreat, Wurmser withdrew into the city. In November 1796, the French seized Venice and two 44-gun frigates that were being built in the shipyard. One of the warships was named the Muiron in honor of Bonaparte's aide who was killed at his side on 15 November. When Bonaparte returned from Egypt in 1799, he escaped to France on the Muiron. Napoleon's actions at the bridge of Arcole were quickly turned legendary by French artists and newspapers, making Napoleon a household name among the French. Thus, Arcole is widely regarded as the beginning of the Napoleonic legend, which would last until Napoleon's downfall in 1815.

title: Battle of Arcole


text:
Świebodzice

Świebodzice (Frybork; Freiburg) is a town in south-western Poland with 22,793 inhabitants. It is situated in Świdnica County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship (from 1975–1998 it was in the former Wałbrzych Voivodeship).

The town is situated close to Książ Castle, which during World War II, together with the cave complex, was expanded to create private quarters for Adolf Hitler.

The town dates back to the medieval Kingdom of Poland. It was granted town rights by 1279. During World War II, the Germans established a subcamp of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp in the town. In 1957 Pełcznica, and in 1973 Ciernie, were included within the town limits as its new districts.

Sports
football club is based in Świebodzice.

Notable people

 * Gustav Becker (1819–1885), German clockmaker
 * Martin Kirschner (1842–1912), Mayor of Berlin
 * Jan Mikulicz-Radecki (1850–1905), Polish surgeon, one of the pioneers of antiseptics and aseptic techniques
 * Alfred Zucker (1852–1913), German architect
 * Wilhelm Niepelt (1862–1936), German scientist
 * Emil Krebs (1867–1930), German scientist, noted polyglot who spoke a total of 68 languages at the time of his death
 * Hartmut Kilger (born 1943), President of the German Lawyer's Association (2003–2009)
 * Anna Zalewska (born 1965), politician, Minister of National Education of Poland
 * Krzysztof Stelmach (born 1967), former Polish volleyball player with 274 games played for the Poland men's national volleyball team
 * Jarosław Krzyżanowski (born 1975), retired Polish footballer
 * Eliza Surdyka (born 1977), Polish Olympic cross-country skier
 * Marcin Kokoszka (born 1984), Polish footballer
 * Paweł Fajdek (born 1989), Polish hammer-thrower

Twin towns – sister cities
Świebodzice is twinned with:
 * 🇸🇰 Hrušov, Slovakia
 * 🇨🇿 Jilemnice, Czech Republic
 * 🇧🇾 Marjina Horka, Belarus
 * 🇩🇪 Waldbröl, Germany

title: Świebodzice


text:
Nowa Ruda, Lower Silesian Voivodeship

Nowa Ruda (Nová Ruda) is a town in south-western Poland near the Czech border, lying on the Włodzica river in the central Sudetes mountain range. it had 22,067 inhabitants. The town is located in Kłodzko County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the seat of the rural district of Gmina Nowa Ruda, but is not part of its territory (the town is a separate urban gmina in its own right).

Under Polish and Bohemian rule
A medieval village situated in the rich Kłodzko Valley, Nowa Ruda developed in the mid-13th century as part of the Kingdom of Bohemia. German-speaking immigrants settled there as part of the Ostsiedlung. The oldest known mention of the settlement comes from 1337 from a document issued in nearby Kłodzko, when it was part of the Polish Piast-ruled Duchy of Ziębice/Münsterberg under the suzerainty of the Bohemian (Czech) Crown of the Holy Roman Empire. It passed directly to Bohemia in the next decades. Officially, the settlement was granted a city charter in 1363 and received the name of Newenrode. In the Late Middle Ages, weaving, clothmaking and shoemaking developed in the town. In the years 1427-1429 the town was invaded by the Hussites. The city was rechartered under a local variant of the Magdeburg Law in 1434 and then again in 1596. From 1459 it was part of the Bohemian-ruled County of Kladsko. The city was invaded and devastated again during the Thirty Years' War in 1622.

Under Prussia and Germany
In 1742 it passed to Prussia. In the second half of the 19th century the town developed due to coal mining and the textile industry. In 1884 it suffered a great fire. During World War I, the Germans operated three forced labour camps for Allied prisoners of war at local coal mines. After World War I, it suffered an economic crisis. The town was no longer a district seat after 1932, when it was reincorporated into the Landkreis Glatz (Kłodzko district).

During World War II, the Germans established three labour units for French, Belgian and Soviet prisoners of war, as well as two forced labour camps. Also during the war, the largest mining disaster in the town's history took place; 187 miners were killed.

After World War II
Following the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II the region became part of Poland, and the town took on its present name, with the German population being expelled in accordance to the Potsdam Agreement. It was repopulated by Poles, expellees from former eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union, settlers from central Poland and miners returning from France. In 1973 the settlement of Słupiec was included within the town limits as a new district. In 1976 and 1979 mining disasters occurred, in which 17 and 7 miners respectively died. After the adoption of Ostpolitik by the German Chancellor Willy Brandt, the former German inhabitants were allowed to travel to their hometowns and tried to establish relations with the current population and the Holy See redrew the boundaries of the ecclesiastical provinces along the post-war borders. On 28 June 1972 the Catholic parishes of Nowa Ruda were transferred from the traditional Hradec Králové diocese (est. 1664; Ecclesiastical Province of Bohemia) to the Archdiocese of Wrocław.

From 1975 to 1998 it was administratively located in the former Wałbrzych Voivodeship.

The area was notable in the Middle Ages as a source of rich iron ore deposits. Until 2000 there was also a coal mine and a gabbro mine in Nowa Ruda's borough of Słupiec.

Transport
There is a train station in Nowa Ruda. The Voivodeship roads 381, 384 and 385 pass through the town.

Sport
Piast Nowa Ruda is the local multi-sports club.

Culture

 * The Literary Heights Festival, a Polish literary festival founded in 2015 which takes place in the vicinity of Gmina Nowa Ruda at the foot of the Owl Mountains in the Kłodzko Valley. The event's organizers include the Olga Tokarczuk Foundation, the city and commune of Nowa Ruda, while the hosts are Karol Maliszewski and Olga Tokarczuk. The festival's program includes educational sessions, debates, concerts, panels, shows, meetings, poetry, literary workshops, film screenings, culinary workshops and various exhibitions.
 * Nowa Ruda Literary Club Ogma
 * Polish-Czech Group of Poets '97.

Notable people

 * Franz Eckert (1852–1916), composer
 * Joachim von Pfeil (1857–1924), German explorer
 * Friedrich Kayßler (1874–1945), actor and writer
 * Joseph Wittig (1879–1949), German theologian and writer
 * Friedrich-Wilhelm Otte (1898–1944), Wehrmacht general
 * (1913–1992), writer
 * Gero Trauth (born 1942), painter, graphic artist, porcelain illustrator and designer
 * Edyta Geppert (born 1953), singer
 * (born 1956), actor
 * Karol Maliszewski (born 1960), poet
 * Olga Tokarczuk (born 1962), writer, Nobel laureate
 * Robert Więckiewicz (born 1967), actor

Twin towns – sister cities
Nowa Ruda is twinned with:

 * 🇨🇿 Broumov, Czech Republic
 * 🇩🇪 Castrop-Rauxel, Germany
 * 🇫🇷 Wallers, France

title: Nowa Ruda, Lower Silesian Voivodeship


text:
Kłodzko

Kłodzko (Glatz; Glacio) is a historic town in south-western Poland, in the region of Lower Silesia. It is situated in the centre of the Kłodzko Valley, on the Eastern Neisse river.

Kłodzko is the seat of Kłodzko County (and of the rural Gmina Kłodzko, although the town itself is a separate urban gmina), and is situated in Lower Silesian Voivodeship. With 26,845 inhabitants (2019), Kłodzko is the main commercial centre as well as an important transport and tourist node for the area.

For its historical monuments it is sometimes referred to as "Little Prague" (Mała Praga). It was established as a settlement in the 10th century, and is one of the oldest towns in Poland, having been granted city rights in 1233. Culturally and traditionally a part of Bohemia, administratively it has been a part of Silesia since 1763.

Prehistory
The area of present-day Kłodzko has been populated at least since the 1st century BC. There are several archaeological sites both in and around the town that indicate that there must have been a settlement located on the ancient Amber Road that conducted extensive trade relations with the Roman Empire.

Medieval Bohemia and Poland
The earliest mention of the town is in the 12th-century Chronicle of Bohemians by Cosmas of Prague. He mentions the town of Cladzco as belonging to duke Slavník, father of Adalbert of Prague, in 981. Initially in Bohemia, together with the Kłodzko Land, it changed affiliation several times, passing between Poland and Bohemia in a series of conflicts which in turn devastated the town completely by the beginning of the 12th century. In 1114 Bohemian Duke Soběslav I captured and burnt the town to the ground, but he rebuilt it shortly afterwards. He also rebuilt and strengthened the castle located on a high rock overlooking the town. After the of 1137, Duke Bolesław III Wrymouth of Poland ceded all claims to the Kłodzko Land to the Bohemian Duchy (later Kingdom).

In 1241, Klodzko became the site of a Mongol raid during the Mongolian Invasion of Europe. However, King Wenceslaus I managed to rally his troops and drove the Mongols out, saving much of Bohemia from Mongolian conquest. The town was granted German city rights under Magdeburg Law between 1253 and 1278, though the exact date is unknown. In 1278 it came under Polish rule again, as it was taken over by the Silesian duke Henry Probus who claimed entire Bohemian Kingdom after death of Ottokar II of Bohemia. In 1290 it was sold to the Dukes of Świdnica and then, in 1301, it was sold to the Dukes of Ziębice. However, in 1334, Duke Boleslav II sold the town back to the Kingdom of Bohemia. The same year Bohemian king John of Luxembourg, relocated the town, which led to a period of fast growth, bringing German settlers to the town. A city hall was built in 1341, and in the following year a brick factory was opened. From 1366, the town has been protected by a group of professional firemen. The town gained significant profits from its location on the ancient road from Bohemia to Poland through mountain passes in the Sudetes.

German Augustinian monks were invited to the city and, in 1376, most streets were paved with stone setts. The Augustinian abbey became one of the most important centres of culture in the region – for example, in 1399 one of the earliest texts in the Polish language, the St. Florian's Psalter (Psałterz Floriański), was written here. In 1390 a Gothic stone bridge over the Młynówka River (local branch of Eastern Neisse River) was built by the local lord.

County seat within Bohemia
Kladsko developed rapidly until the start of the Hussite Wars in the 15th century. The wars left the town depopulated by plagues, partially burnt, and demolished by several consecutive floods. In 1459 whole Kłodzko Land was elevated by Bohemian king George of Poděbrady to the status of county – thus the city became a seat of Count (for most of time ruler of Bohemia itself) and local Diet – but still remained integral part of Bohemia as "outer region" (vnější kraj), and was not counted as part of Silesia. In 1472, the Polish prince Vladislaus Jagiellon stayed in the city before his coronation as King of Bohemia in Prague.

In 1526 the Habsburgs succeeded after the Jagiellons as hereditary kings of Bohemia. Thus the County of Kladsko (hrabství Kladské, Grafschaft Glatz) became a part of the Habsburg monarchy; the local counts retained their powers and Bohemian kings (i.e. Habsburg emperors) ruled this land as suzerains. It was not until the 16th century that the local economy began to recover from the previous wars. In 1540 the sewer system was built. In 1549 the remaining streets were paved and the city hall was refurbished. Most of the houses surrounding the town square were rebuilt in a pure Renaissance style.

In 1617 the first census was organised in the County of Glatz. The city itself had approximately 1,300 houses and over 7,000 inhabitants. However, two years after the census took place the Thirty Years' War started. Between 1619 and 1649 the fortress was besieged several times. Although the fortress was never captured, the city itself was largely destroyed. Over 900 out of 1,300 buildings were destroyed by fire and artillery and the population dropped by more than a half. After the war the Austrian authorities put an end to all local self-government, and the County of Glatz existed in name only. The city was gradually converted into a small garrison town attached to the ever-growing fortress.

Historical population of Kłodzko 1620: 6,500, 1734: 4,400, 1807: 4,549, 1809: 4,887, 1816: 5,510, 1825: 6,187, 1834: 6,644, 1840: 7,654, 1843: 7,777, 1849: 8,222, 1858: 13,052, 1871: 11,545, 1880: 13,701, 1885: 13,588, 1894: 13,501, 1900: 15,015, 1905: 16,052, 1910: 17,121, 1912: 17,284, 2003: 30,100

Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia annexed Glatz during the 18th century Silesian Wars, although Austrian influence is still evident in the architecture and culture of the region. The construction of the fortress was continued and the town had to bear the costs of the fortress expansion. In 1760 the town was captured by Austrian forces in the Siege of Glatz, but was subsequently returned to Prussia.

Unlike most of Prussian Silesia, Glatz resisted French bombardment during the War of the Fourth Coalition. In 1826, Fryderyk Chopin travelled through the town. During the 19th-century Polish national liberation fights, Polish publicist, Polish historian Wojciech Kętrzyński and Polish priest were imprisoned in the fortress.

Germany
Glatz became part of the German Empire in 1871 during the Prussian-led unification of Germany. The restrictions in the city's growth were not withdrawn until 1877, after which the town began another period of rapid modernisation and expansion. Some of the forts were demolished, several new bridges were built, and new investments started to arrive in Glatz. The town was connected to the rest of Germany by a railway. In 1864 the gas works were built and in 1880 an electric plant was opened. The buildings along the main streets were rebuilt in Neo-Gothic and Neo-Renaissance style while the city walls with all their gates were demolished. In 1884–1885 a new synagogue was built on the Grünestraße [Green Street], designed by the Breslau architect Albert Grau.

The end of the 19th century saw the Kłodzko Valley turned into one of the most popular tourist regions. Many hotels, sanatoria, and spa were opened to the public in the nearby towns of Bad Reinerz (Duszniki Zdrój), Habelschwerdt (Bystrzyca Kłodzka), Bad Altheide (Polanica Zdrój), and Bad Landeck (Lądek-Zdrój). The area of the former county became a popular place among the rich bourgeoisie of Breslau (Wrocław), Berlin, Vienna, and Kraków. In 1910 the city had 17,121 inhabitants: 13,629 Roman Catholics, 3,324 Protestants (mostly members of the Evangelical State Church of Prussia's older Provinces), and 150 Jews. During the Kristallnacht (9 November 1938), the synagogue was destroyed by an arson attack of Nazis. Most of the Jews emigrated and by 1939 there were only 25 of them left.

In September 1938 Glatz was severely damaged by "the flooding of the century", but the damage done was quickly repaired.

Czech claims
The Kłodzko Valley region on the Eastern Neisse River was the focus of several attempts to reincorporate the area into Czechoslovakia after the First World War even though it had a German majority. From the Czech perspective, Kłodzko and Kłodzko Land are culturally and traditionally a part of Bohemia, although the region has been a part of Lower Silesia since its conquest by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1763. These efforts to incorporate Kłodzko into Czechoslovakia would continue into the period after World War II.

World War II
During World War II, the fortress was changed into a prison administered by the Reich Ministry of Justice and Wehrmacht. It housed prisoners of various nationalities, including Allied prisoners of war. In 1941–1942, many prisoners were sent to forced labour in various locations in German-occupied Poland, Czechoslovakia and Austria, and in 1942–1943, six FStGA field penal battalions (1, 7, 10, 13, 16, 20) were established in the town and afterwards relocated to the Eastern Front. In November 1942 and January 1943, the town was the site of a German trial of 39 members of the Związek Orła Białego Polish resistance organization, 18 of which were sentenced to death. 198 prisoners were deported from the prison to various Nazi concentration camps, chiefly Gross-Rosen. Presumably only two men, a Pole and a Russian, managed to escape from the prison (on 23 September 1944). Beginning in 1944, the casemates housed the AEG arms factory evacuated from Łódź, in which some 1,500 Poles were subjected to slave labour. The stronghold was turned into a subcamp of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp. The Germans also established and operated eight forced labour subcamps of the Stalag VIII-B/344 POW camp in the town.

In January and February 1945, many prisoners from other locations, including Katowice, Racibórz, Brzeg and Nysa, were brought to the local prison either during death marches or transports, and many were then sent further west to Bautzen.

The town itself was not damaged by the war and was taken over by the Soviet Red Army without a major battle on 9 May 1945. However, all the bridges, except the Gothic stone bridge of 1390, were destroyed.

Modern Poland
After the capitulation of Nazi Germany in 1945, the town became part of Poland under border changes promulgated at the Potsdam Conference, which transferred most of Silesia to Poland. The German inhabitants of the town were expelled in accordance to the Potsdam Agreement. The town was repopulated by Poles, some of whom were Polish refugees from former eastern Polish territories annexed by the Soviet Union, from where they had been displaced by Soviet authorities in accordance to new borders decreed at Yalta Conference, while most came from war-devastated central Poland. In May 1945 Czechoslovakia tried to annex the area on behalf of Czech minority (living especially in the western part of the land, called "Czech Corner") and historical claims, but under pressure from the Soviet Union the Czech minority was expelled to Czechoslovakia.

On August 20, 1946, the town was struck by a large tornado, rated by the European Severe Storms Laboratory (ESSL) to have been F2–F4 intensity on the Fujita scale. The ESSL documented the path length of the tornado at 10 km with a maximum width of 1000 m and noted, "to less information to" assign a solid rating for the tornado.

In the 1950s and 1960s much of the town centre was damaged by landslides. It turned out that throughout the city's history, generations of Kłodzko's merchants had developed an extensive net of underground basements and tunnels. They were used for storage and, in times of trouble, as a safe shelter from artillery fire. With time the tunnels were forgotten, especially after the original German population was deported, and during the years after World War II many of them started to collapse, along with the houses above. Since the 1970s the tunnels were conserved and the destruction of the city was stopped. Another disaster happened in 1997, when the city was damaged by flooding even greater than that of 1938. However, the town quickly recovered.

On 28 June 1972 the Catholic parishes of Kłodzko were redeployed from the traditional Hradec Králové diocese (est. 1664; Ecclesiastical province of Bohemia) into the Archdiocese of Wrocław. From 1975 to 1998 Kłodzko was administratively part of the former Wałbrzych Voivodeship.

Currently, Kłodzko is one of centres of culture, commerce and tourism in Lower Silesia.

Climate
The climate is semicontinental although officially it is considered as oceanic (Köppen: Cfb), near of the humid continental (Dfb), considered as such by the isotherm of 0 °C. Located in western Poland where there is the clash of marine air masses and the interior of Siberia, they collide and generate a highly variable climate, although the patterns of the west are predominant.

Tourist attractions

 * Gothic bridge – often called a "Charles Bridge in miniature" due to its resemblance to one of the most notable historical monuments of Prague. The bridge survived a flood in 1997. The legend is that the bridge is made from eggs components.
 * City tunnels – parts of the tunnels constructed under the city since the 13th century are open for the public
 * The Church of Assumption – one of the most notable examples of Gothic architecture in Poland, constructed by the Order of Saint John in the 14th century
 * Baroque Church of Our Lady of the Rosary and the Franciscan monastery
 * The fortress – a unique stronghold on a high rock overlooking the city, first erected on this spot in the 9th century. During the reign of King Frederick the Great, it was one of the largest fortresses in Prussia.
 * Town hall, built in 1890, but the older Gothic-Renaissance tower has been preserved
 * Marian Column – located at the market square, or the town square. It depicts the Blessed Virgin Mary and was constructed after a plague in 1625. This is a common sight in many other cities and towns that once belonged to the Habsburg monarchy.
 * Marian Column – located at the market square, or the town square. It depicts the Blessed Virgin Mary and was constructed after a plague in 1625. This is a common sight in many other cities and towns that once belonged to the Habsburg monarchy.

Education
Educational establishments in Kłodzko include:
 * a branch of the Wrocław-based "Edukacja" College of Management
 * the Bolesław Chrobry Lyceum (secondary school)
 * Kłodzko's School of Enterprise (secondary school)

Notable residents

 * Michael Friedrich von Althann (1680–1734), bishop and politician
 * Gustav Adolf von Götzen (1866–1910), explorer
 * Wilhelm Hemprich (1796–1825), scientist
 * Emma Ihrer (1857–1911), politician
 * Łukasz Krawczuk (born 1989), male sprinter
 * Annelies Kupper (1906–1987), opera singer
 * Friedrich Wilhelm von Lindeiner-Wildau (1880–1963), Luftwaffe officer
 * Gabriela Muskała (born 1969), actress
 * Weronika Nowakowska (born 1986), female biathlete
 * David Origanus (1558–1628), mathematician
 * Ernest of Pardubice (1297–1364), the first Archbishop of Prague
 * Johann Christoph Pezel (1639–1694), composer
 * Mirosław Pękala (born 1961), former Polish international footballer
 * Oswald Rathmann (1891–?), cyclist
 * Otto Reche (1879–1966), scientist
 * Friedrich Wilhelm Riemer (1774–1845), secretary of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 * Friedrich Wilhelm Sander (1885–1938), engineer
 * Albrecht Schubert (1886–1966), Wehrmacht general
 * Renée Sintenis (1888–1965), artist
 * Maciej Soboń (born 1979), retired footballer
 * Eduard Tauwitz (1812–1894), composer
 * Sophie Charlotte Elisabeth Ursinus (1760–1836), serial killer
 * Bogdan Zdrojewski (born 1957), politician

Surroundings

 * Stołowe Mountains (Table Mountains) with Stołowe Mountains National Park
 * Spa resorts in Polanica-Zdrój, Duszniki-Zdrój, Kudowa-Zdrój & Lądek-Zdrój
 * Medieval town of Niemcza
 * Cistercian monastery at Henryków
 * Wojsławice Arboretum
 * Gola Dzierżoniowska Castle

Twin towns – sister cities
Kłodzko is twinned with:

 * 🇩🇪 Bensheim, Germany
 * 🇫🇷 Carvin, France
 * 🇧🇪 Fléron, Belgium
 * 🇵🇱 Limanowa, Poland
 * 🇨🇿 Náchod, Czech Republic
 * 🇷🇴 Rădăuți, Romania
 * 🇨🇿 Rychnov nad Kněžnou, Czech Republic

title: Kłodzko


text:
Bielawa

Bielawa (Langenbielau; Bielawa) is a town in southwestern Poland. Since 1999, it has been situated in Dzierżoniów County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of the Wałbrzych Voivodeship. As of January 1, 2023, it has a population of 28 344.

Bielawa lies in the central part of Lower Silesia, along the Bielawica stream in the Owl Mountains region. The town covers an area in excess of 36 km2.

Bielawa lies at an altitude range of 280 and 964 m above sea level, in the Owl Mountains. The town is a year-round tourist destination; its outdoor attractions include four major hiking trails of varying difficulty in an 80 km2 park, as well as cycling trails and ski lifts.

History
The oldest known mention of Bielawa dates back to 1288, when it was part of fragmented Piast-ruled Poland. Its name is of Polish origin and is derived from the word biela, bila, current Polish biała ("white").

In 1720 the first brick house was built in the village and in 1741 it was captured and afterwards annexed by Prussia. In 1805 Christian Dierig founded a weaving company (Christian Dierig AG). During the Napoleonic Wars, the village was occupied by France. In 1844 it was the site of the Weavers' Uprising, brutally crushed by the Prussians. From 1871 to 1945 it was part of Germany. In 1891 the Dzierżoniów–Bielawa railway line opened. In 1924 Bielawa obtained town rights. During World War II the Germans established the FAL Langenbielau II subcamp of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp in the town. In 1945 it was captured by the Soviets and eventually reintegrated with Poland. Greeks, refugees of the Greek Civil War, settled in Bielawa in the 1950s.

Main sights
There are numerous historical buildings in Bielawa. At its center is the 19th-century Neo-Gothic Church of the Assumption with a 101 m tall tower, the third tallest in Poland. Other buildings include a late-Renaissance palace originally built as a fortified manor house; the Church of the Corpus Christi, erected in 1743; and numerous 18th-century Baroque houses that were restored in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is also a home to a number of medieval penitential crosses.

Twin towns - sister cities
Bielawa is twinned with:

 * 🇨🇦 Chatham-Kent, Canada
 * 🇵🇱 Ciechanów, Poland
 * 🇨🇿 Hronov, Czech Republic
 * 🇨🇿 Kostelec nad Orlicí, Czech Republic
 * 🇩🇪 Lingen, Germany

Surroundings

 * Gola Dzierżoniowska Castle
 * Medieval town of Niemcza
 * Cistercian monastery at Henryków

Notable people

 * Jeremiah Dencke (1725−1795), composer
 * Ferdinand Gottlieb Flechtner (1811–1867), German industrialist
 * Adolph Franz (1842–1916), German politician
 * Friedrich Dierig (1845–1931), German industrialist
 * Arthur Philipp Flechtner (1858–1936), Prussian General
 * Karl Franz (1881–1967), German politician
 * Georg Muschner (1885–1971), German cinematographer
 * Walter Möse (1920–1944), Wehrmacht Oberfeldwebel
 * Waltraut Engelberg (born 1929), author and wife of Ernst Engelberg
 * Johann Alexander Wisniewsky (1929–2012), German industrialist
 * Horst Weigang (born 1940), German athlete
 * Eleni Tzoka (born 1956), Polish singer
 * Aleksandra Kwasniewska (born 1978), Polish singer
 * Robert Skibniewski (born 1983), Polish basketball player
 * Jarosław Kuźniar (born 1979), Polish journalist and TV presenter
 * Janusz Góra (born 1963), Polish footballer
 * Art Binkowski (born 1975), Polish-Canadian boxer
 * Jarosław Jach (born 1994), Polish footballer

title: Bielawa


text:
Dzierżoniów

Dzierżoniów (Rychbach; Reichenbach im Eulengebirge ) is a town located at the foot of the Owl Mountains in southwestern Poland, within the Lower Silesian Voivodeship (from 1975 to 1998 in the former Wałbrzych Voivodeship). It is the seat of Dzierżoniów County, and of Gmina Dzierżoniów (although it is not part of the territory of the latter, since the town forms a separate urban gmina).

Established in the 13th century, Dzierżoniów is a historical Lower Silesian town that covers an area of 20.1 km², and as of December 2021 it has a population of 32,346. It is named after Polish priest and scientist Jan Dzierżon.

Unique and architecturally rich, Dzierżoniów features a central market square with elegant tenements and a town hall as well as few museums and restaurants. The Old Town is a venue for several annual events and fairs.

History
In its early history until 1945, the town was known as Reichenbach; composed of the German words reich (rich, strong) and Bach (stream), it refers to the current of the Piława River. The name was rendered in Polish as Rychbach. To differentiate between other places named Reichenbach, the Lower Silesian town became known in German as Reichenbach im Eulengebirge, or "Reichenbach in the Owl Mountains".

Middle Ages
In the early Middle Ages, the area was inhabited by the tribe of Silesians. After short periods of Great Moravian and Czech rule, in the 10th century the region became part of the emerging Polish state.

Reichenbach was first mentioned in a document dating to 13 February 1258. The parish Church of St. George was also noted early on. The town was part of various Piast-ruled duchies of fragmented Poland. The coat of arms, depicting Saint George slaying a dragon, was used by 1290 at the latest. The town passed successively from the Bishopric of Wrocław, to the Duchy of Ziębice, and to the Duchy of Świdnica-Jawor. The Knights Hospitaller built a school and hospital in the town in 1338. In 1392 the town became part of the Kingdom of Bohemia. It was plundered by the Hussites during the 15th-century Hussite Wars.

Early modern era
The Habsburg monarchy of Austria inherited the Bohemian throne in 1526 and became the town's new lords. Reichenbach developed into a trading center, especially for textiles and linen, during the 16th century. The town suffered during the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). After the First Silesian War in 1742, most of Silesia, including Reichenbach, became part of the Kingdom of Prussia. In 1762 during the Seven Years' War, the region between Reichenbach and Schweidnitz (Świdnica) was the setting for the Battle of Burkersdorf between Prussia and Austria. It also saw the frustration of an Austrian attempt to relieve the Prussian Siege of Schweidnitz. In 1790 representatives from Austria, Prussia, the Dutch Republic, and Poland met at Reichenbach to discuss the Ottoman wars in Europe. In 1800, the town was visited by future president of the United States John Quincy Adams.

19th and 20th century
In 1813, Tsar Alexander I of Russia met with King Frederick William III of Prussia here to organize the War of the Sixth Coalition. From 1816 to 1945 Reichenbach contained the district office for Landkreis Reichenbach (Reichenbach district). Until 1820 the town was the seat of a Prussian district president. In the 19th century, the town became one of the leading centers of textile production in Silesia. In 1848 the Silesian Weavers' Rebellion took place here. Reichenbach was connected to a rail network in 1855. It became part of the Prussian-led German Empire in 1871.

During World War II, in 1944, the Germans established the FAL Reichenbach subcamp of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp, mainly for Jewish women from the Netherlands. Beside the Rychbach subcamp there were another two in nearby towns. These camps were set up to provide slave labour for German industries where mainly Jewish inmates were worked to death. When the town was liberated by the Red Army on 8 May 1945, about 20,000 Jewish inmates had survived the camp, many of whom were Polish Jews. They did not want to go back to their hometowns because of the decimation of their Jewish communities and the fear of antisemitic violence. They were later joined by Polish Jews repatriated from the Soviet Union, and others who had survived in hiding in Poland or returned from concentration camps in Germany.

At its peak, there were 17,800 Jews in Dzierżoniów in November 1946 of the 50,000-Jew commune in Dzierżoniów County (incl. Bielawa, Pieszyce, Piława Górna, etc.) led by Jakub Egit from 1945 to 1948. One of the town's synagogues survived the war and has been restored.

Reichenbach was transferred from Germany to Poland in 1945 after World War II. Many of its German inhabitants had fled earlier in 1945 before the war's end, while most of those who had stayed were subsequently expelled. The void was filled by Poles moving in, some of whom from the eastern part of the country that had been annexed by the Soviet Union.

In the period immediately following World War II, the town was known by different names. The municipal office, the local office and the railway administration all used different names for it: Rychbach (its traditional Polish name), Reichenbach and Drobniszew. In one of the Polish Ministerial decrees of 1945, another name was used: Rychonek. In 1946 the town was renamed Dzierżoniów after the apiarist Jan Dzierżon; ironically, Germany also viewed Dzierżon as one of their own, and in 1936, as part of a Nazi effort to remove Slavic-sounding place names, his birthplace, Lowkowitz (now Łowkowice), was renamed Bienendorf ("Bee village") in his honor.

The textile and electromechanical industry developed after the war. In 1945, the first radio receiver production company in post-war Poland, Zakłady Radiowe Diora, was founded in Dzierżoniów. Greeks, refugees of the Greek Civil War, settled in Dzierżoniów in the 1950s.

Sports
Football team Lechia Dzierżoniów and handball team are based in Dzierżoniów. Football players Krzysztof Piątek, Patryk Klimala, Jarosław Jach, Paweł Sibik all played in Lechia Dzierżoniów in the early stages of their careers, while handball players Paweł Piwko, Jan Czuwara, Dawid Dawydzik played in Żagiew Dzierżoniów in the early stages of their careers.

The annual Tewzadze Open chess tournament is held in Dzierżoniów, to commemorate Georgian-Polish military officer Valerian Tevzadze.

Notable people

 * Hans-Jürgen von Arnim (1889–1962), German general
 * Valerian Tevzadze (1894–1987), Georgian-Polish military officer
 * Tzila Dagan (1946–2004), Israeli singer
 * Herbert Giersch (1921–2010), German economist
 * Jacek Mickiewicz (born 1970), cyclist
 * Piotr Wilczewski (born 1978), boxer
 * Paweł Piwko (born 1982), handballer
 * Krzysztof Piątek (born 1995), footballer
 * Jan Czuwara (born 1995), handballer
 * Neomy Storch (born 1954), Australian Academic

Twin towns – sister cities
Dzierżoniów is twinned with:

 * 🇩🇪 Bischofsheim, Germany (1990)
 * Crewe, United Kingdom (2005)
 * 🇭🇺 Hajdúszoboszló, Hungary (2015)
 * 🇵🇱 Kluczbork, Poland (2007)
 * 🇨🇿 Lanškroun, Czech Republic (1999)
 * Nantwich, United Kingdom (2005)

title: Dzierżoniów


text:
Battle of Italy

Battle of Italy may refer to:
 * The Italian campaign of the War of the Second Coalition in the French Revolutionary Wars, leading up to the Battle of Marengo
 * The Allied invasion of Italy in 1943 in World War II

title: Battle of Italy