February 24, 1915 was taken by the Germans, but on February 27 they were forced out by Russian troops from the First and Second Siberian Corps. Interbellum Poland regained independence after World War I in 1918, and Przasnysz was reintegrated with the reborn state. In August 1920, extremely fierce battles with the Bolshevik 15 Army took place near Przasnysz. For two weeks the city was occupied by the Soviet army. On August 21, Przasnysz was liberated by the 202 Infantry Regiment of the Volunteer Division of Colonel Adam Koc. In the interwar period, Przasnysz was the capital of the poviat in the Warsaw Voivodeship. In the first years of independence, reconstruction from war damage continued. Many public buildings were built: power plant, junior high school and elementary school, agricultural school, city theater, stadium and sports house. The main occupation of the inhabitants of Przasnysz was still agriculture, craft and small trade. In 1938, Przasnysz had 8,000 residents, including approx. 3,000 Jews. World War II In the first days of the German invasion of Poland, which started World War II in September 1939, heavy fighting occurred nearby, between the Mazowiecka Cavalry Brigade under the command of Colonel Jan Karcz and the Germans. Afterwards the town was occupied by Germany and annexed directly into the Third Reich. It was renamed Praschnitz. On September 10, 1939, the Einsatzgruppe V entered the town to commit various crimes against the populace. It immediately carried out mass searches of Polish offices, courts and organizations, arrested dozens of Poles, and expelled 70 Jews. The German police established a prison for Poles in the town, and a special court. In October and November 1939, the Germans executed 11 Poles at the local cemetery. Families of the victims were expelled to the so-called General Government. Local teachers and school principals were among Polish teachers and principals murdered in the Mauthausen concentration camp. 18 Poles from the town and county were murdered by the Russians in the Katyn massacre in 1940, including pre-war starosta Zygmunt Młot-Przepałkowski and the chief of the local police Zygmunt Pampuch. On December 3–4, 1940, the German gendarmerie expelled around 500 Poles, including old, ill and disabled people, who were then held for several days in a camp in Działdowo and afterwards deported in freight trains to the Kraków District of the General Government. A penal "education" forced labour camp was operated in the town from