During the Nazi invasion of Poland on September 19, 1939, a skirmish occurred near the village of Majdan Wielki, close to the city of Tomaszów Lubelski.

"[1] Then, the beating halted with an order from a Wehrmacht officer, informing the POWs that they would be executed in retaliation for the murder and mutilation of a German soldier.

However, they were released when a Wehrmacht medical commission determined that the fallen soldier's eye injuries were solely caused by the gunshot.

[1] On April 22, 1940, in the presence of representatives from the Polish Red Cross and the German occupying authorities, the bodies of the victims were exhumed.

Among them, twenty-six POWs were identified, and subsequently, all 42 bodies were interred in a common grave at the war cemetery in Majdan Wielki.