Defenders and heroes of the Brest Fortress. About the feat of the defenders of the Brest Fortress How many days did the defense of the Brest Fortress last?
Defense of the Brest Fortress - the heroic 28-day defense of the Brest fortress by units of Soviet troops at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, from June 22 to July 20, 1941. Brest was located in the direction of the main attack of the right (southern) wing of the German Army Group Center. The German command set the task of taking the Brest fortress on the move with its 45th Infantry Division, reinforced with tanks, artillery and air support.
Brest Fortress before the war
1939 - the city of Brest became part of the USSR. The Brest Fortress was built in the 19th century and was part of the defensive fortifications of the Russian Empire on its western borders, but in the 20th century it had already lost its military significance. At the start of the war, the Brest Fortress was mainly used to house garrisons of military personnel, as well as families of officers, a hospital and utility rooms. During Germany's treacherous attack on the Soviet Union, about 8 thousand military personnel and about 300 command families lived in the fortress. There were weapons and ammunition in the fortress, but their quantity was not designed for military operations.
Storming of the Brest Fortress
1941, June 22, morning - simultaneously with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the assault on the Brest Fortress began. The barracks and officers' quarters were the first to come under heavy artillery fire and airstrikes. Despite the fact that virtually all the officers were killed, the soldiers quickly managed to find their bearings and create a powerful defense. The surprise factor did not work as the Germans expected and the assault, which according to the plan was supposed to be completed by 12 noon, lasted for several days. 
Even before the start of the war, a decree was issued, according to which, in the event of an attack, military personnel must immediately leave the fortress itself and take positions along its perimeter, but only a few managed to do this - most of the soldiers remained in the fortress. The defenders of the fortress were obviously in a losing position, but even this fact did not allow them to give up their positions and allow the Nazis to quickly capture Brest.
Defense of the Brest Fortress
The soldiers occupied the barracks and various buildings that were located along the perimeter of the citadel, for the most effective organization of the defense of the fortress. On June 22, eight attempts were made to capture the fortress from the German side, but they were repulsed; moreover, the Germans, contrary to all expectations, suffered significant losses. The Germans changed their tactics - instead of storming, they now decided to lay siege to the Brest Fortress. The soldiers who broke through were recalled and placed around the perimeter of the fortress.
June 23, morning - the fortress was bombed, after which the Germans again launched an assault. Some of the German soldiers were able to break through, but were destroyed - the assault failed again, and the Germans were forced to return to siege tactics. Protracted battles began, which did not subside for several days, which greatly exhausted both armies.
On June 26, the Germans made several more attempts to capture the Brest Fortress. Several groups were able to break through. Only by the end of the month were the Germans able to capture most of the fortress. But the groups, scattered and having lost a single line of defense, put up desperate resistance even when the fortress was captured by German troops.
Fall of the fortress
The fortress fell. Many Soviet soldiers were captured. On June 29, the eastern fort fell. But the defense of the Brest Fortress did not end there! From that moment on, she became unorganized. Soviet soldiers, who took refuge in the dungeon, entered into battle with the Germans every day. They managed the almost impossible. A small group of Soviet soldiers, 12 people, under the command of Major Gavrilov, resisted the Nazis until July 12. These heroes held an entire German division in the area of the Brest Fortress for almost a month! But even after Major Gavrilov’s detachment fell, fighting did not stop in the fortress. According to historians, isolated pockets of resistance existed until the beginning of August 1941.
Losses
The losses of the 45th German infantry division (according to German statistics) on June 30, 1941 were 482 killed, including 48 officers, and more than 1000 wounded. The losses are quite significant if we remember that in the same division in 1939 during the attack on Poland there were 158 killed and 360 wounded.
To this figure we should probably add the losses suffered by the Germans in separate skirmishes in July 1941. A significant part of the fortress’s defenders were captured, and about 2,500 people were killed. True, the information provided in German documents about 7,000 prisoners in the Brest Fortress, apparently, includes not only military personnel, but also civilians.
The heroic defense of the Brest Fortress became a bright page in the history of the Great Patriotic War. On June 22, 1941, the command of Nazi troops planned to completely capture the fortress. As a result of the surprise attack, the garrison of the Brest Fortress was cut off from the main units of the Red Army. However, the fascists met fierce resistance from its defenders.
Units of the 6th and 42nd rifle divisions, the 17th border detachment and the 132nd separate battalion of NKVD troops - a total of 3,500 people - held back the enemy's onslaught to the end. Most of the fortress' defenders died.
When the Brest Fortress was liberated by Soviet troops on July 28, 1944, the inscription of its last defender was found on the melted bricks of one of the casemates: “I’m dying, but I’m not giving up!” Farewell, Motherland,” scratched out on July 20, 1941.
Kholm Gate
Many participants in the defense of the Brest Fortress were posthumously awarded orders and medals. On May 8, 1965, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Brest Fortress was awarded the honorary title “Hero Fortress” and the “Gold Star” medal.
In 1971, a memorial appeared here: giant sculptures “Courage” and “Thirst”, a pantheon of glory, Ceremonial Square, preserved ruins and restored barracks of the Brest Fortress.
Construction and device
The construction of the fortress on the site of the center of the old city began in 1833 according to the design of military topographer and engineer Karl Ivanovich Opperman. Initially, temporary earthen fortifications were erected; the first stone of the fortress's foundation was laid on June 1, 1836. The main construction work was completed by April 26, 1842. The fortress consisted of a citadel and three fortifications that protected it with a total area of 4 km² and the length of the main fortress line was 6.4 km.
The Citadel, or Central Fortification, consisted of two two-story red brick barracks, 1.8 km in circumference. The citadel, which had walls two meters thick, had 500 casemates designed for 12 thousand people. The central fortification is located on an island formed by the Bug and two branches of the Mukhavets. Three artificial islands formed by Mukhavets and ditches are connected to this island by drawbridges. There are fortifications on them: Kobrin (formerly Northern, the largest), with 4 curtains and 3 ravelins and caponiers; Terespolskoye, or Western, with 4 extended lunettes; Volynskoye, or Yuzhnoe, with 2 curtains and 2 extended ravelins. In the former “casemate redoubt” there is now the Nativity of the Mother of God Monastery. The fortress is surrounded by a 10-meter earthen rampart with casemates in it. Of the eight gates of the fortress, five have survived - the Kholm Gate (in the south of the citadel), the Terespol Gate (in the southwest of the citadel), the Northern or Alexander Gate (in the north of the Kobrin fortification), the Northwestern (in the northwest of the Kobrin fortification) and the Southern (in south of the Volyn fortification, Hospital Island). The Brigid Gate (in the west of the citadel), the Brest Gate (in the north of the citadel) and the Eastern Gate (the eastern part of the Kobrin fortification) have not survived to this day.
In 1864-1888, according to the design of Eduard Ivanovich Totleben, the fortress was modernized. It was surrounded by a ring of forts 32 km in circumference; the Western and Eastern forts were built on the territory of the Kobrin fortification. In 1876, on the territory of the fortress, according to the design of the architect David Ivanovich Grimm, the St. Nicholas Orthodox Church was built.
Fortress at the beginning of the 20th century
In 1913, construction began on the second ring of fortifications (Dmitry Karbyshev, in particular, took part in its design), which was supposed to have a circumference of 45 km, but it was never completed before the start of the war.
Scheme map of the Brest Fortress and the forts surrounding it, 1912.
With the outbreak of the First World War, the fortress was intensively prepared for defense, but on the night of August 13, 1915 (old style), during a general retreat, it was abandoned and partially blown up by Russian troops. On March 3, 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed in the Citadel, in the so-called White Palace (the former church of the Uniate Basilian monastery, then an officers’ meeting). The fortress was in the hands of the Germans until the end of 1918, and then under the control of the Poles. In 1920 it was taken by the Red Army, but was soon lost again, and in 1921, according to the Treaty of Riga, it was transferred to the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. During the interwar period, the fortress was used as a barracks, military warehouse and political prison (opposition political figures were imprisoned here in the 1930s).
Defense of the Brest Fortress in 1939
The day after the outbreak of World War II, September 2, 1939, the Brest Fortress was bombed by the Germans for the first time: German planes dropped 10 bombs, damaging the White Palace. At that time, the marching battalions of the 35th and 82nd infantry regiments and a number of other rather random units, as well as mobilized reservists awaiting dispatch to their units, were located in the fortress barracks at that time.
The garrison of the city and fortress was subordinate to the Polesie task force of General Franciszek Kleeberg; Retired General Konstantin Plisovsky was appointed head of the garrison on September 11, who formed from the units at his disposal totaling 2000-2500 people a combat-ready detachment consisting of 4 battalions (three infantry and an engineer) with the support of several batteries, two armored trains and a number of Renault tanks FT-17" from the First World War. The defenders of the fortress did not have anti-tank weapons, yet they had to deal with tanks.
By September 13, military families were evacuated from the fortress, bridges and passages were mined, the main gates were blocked by tanks, and infantry trenches were built on the earthen ramparts.
Konstantin Plisovsky
General Heinz Guderian's 19th Armored Corps was advancing on Brest-nad-Bug, moving from East Prussia to meet another German armored division moving from the south. Guderian intended to capture the city of Brest in order to prevent the defenders of the fortress from retreating south and linking up with the main forces of the Polish Task Force Narew. The German units had a 2-fold superiority over the fortress defenders in infantry, 4-fold in tanks, and 6-fold in artillery. On September 14, 1939, 77 tanks of the 10th Panzer Division (units of the reconnaissance battalion and the 8th Tank Regiment) tried to take the city and fortress on the move, but were repulsed by infantry with the support of 12 FT-17 tanks, which were also knocked out. On the same day, German artillery and aircraft began bombing the fortress. The next morning, after fierce street fighting, the Germans captured most of the city. The defenders retreated to the fortress. On the morning of September 16, the Germans (10th Panzer and 20th Motorized Divisions) launched an assault on the fortress, which was repulsed. By evening, the Germans captured the crest of the rampart, but were unable to break through further. Two FT-17s stationed at the gates of the fortress caused great damage to the German tanks. In total, since September 14, 7 German attacks were repulsed, and up to 40% of the personnel of the fortress defenders were lost. During the assault, Guderian's adjutant was mortally wounded. On the night of September 17, the wounded Plisovsky gave the order to leave the fortress and cross the Bug to the south. Along the undamaged bridge, the troops went to the Terespol fortification and from there to Terespol.
On September 22, Brest was transferred by the Germans to the 29th Tank Brigade of the Red Army. Thus, Brest and the Brest Fortress became part of the USSR.
Defense of the Brest Fortress in 1941. On the eve of the war
By June 22, 1941, 8 rifle battalions and 1 reconnaissance battalion, 2 artillery divisions (anti-tank and air defense), some special units of rifle regiments and units of corps units, assemblies of the assigned personnel of the 6th Oryol and 42nd rifle divisions of the 28th rifle were stationed in the fortress corps of the 4th Army, units of the 17th Red Banner Brest Border Detachment, 33rd separate engineer regiment, several units of the 132nd separate battalion of NKVD convoy troops, unit headquarters (division headquarters and 28th Rifle Corps were located in Brest), total 9 - 11 thousand people, not counting family members (300 military families).
The assault on the fortress, the city of Brest and the capture of bridges over the Western Bug and Mukhavets was entrusted to the 45th Infantry Division of Major General Fritz Schlieper (about 17 thousand people) with reinforcement units and in cooperation with units of neighboring formations (including mortar divisions attached The 31st and 34th Infantry Divisions of the 12th Army Corps of the German 4th Army and used by the 45th Infantry Division during the first five minutes of the artillery attack), for a total of up to 20 thousand people. But to be precise, the Brest Fortress was stormed not by the Germans, but by the Austrians. In 1938, after the Anschluss (annexation) of Austria to the Third Reich, the 4th Austrian Division was renamed the 45th Wehrmacht Infantry Division - the same one that crossed the border on June 22, 1941.
Storming the fortress
On June 22, at 3:15 (European time) or 4:15 (Moscow time), hurricane artillery fire was opened on the fortress, taking the garrison by surprise. As a result, warehouses were destroyed, the water supply was damaged, communications were interrupted, and major losses were inflicted on the garrison. At 3:23 the assault began. Up to one and a half thousand infantry from three battalions of the 45th Infantry Division attacked the fortress directly. The surprise of the attack led to the fact that the garrison was unable to provide a single coordinated resistance and was divided into several separate centers. The German assault detachment, advancing through the Terespol fortification, initially did not encounter serious resistance, and after passing the Citadel, advanced groups reached the Kobrin fortification. However, parts of the garrison that found themselves behind German lines launched a counterattack, dismembering and partially destroying the attackers.
The Germans in the Citadel were able to gain a foothold only in certain areas, including the club building dominating the fortress (the former Church of St. Nicholas), the command staff canteen and the barracks area at the Brest Gate. They met strong resistance at Volyn and, especially, at the Kobrin fortification, where it came to bayonet attacks. A small part of the garrison with part of the equipment managed to leave the fortress and connect with their units; by 9 o'clock in the morning the fortress with the 6-8 thousand people remaining in it was surrounded. During the day, the Germans were forced to bring into battle the reserve of the 45th Infantry Division, as well as the 130th Infantry Regiment, originally the corps' reserve, thus bringing the assault force to two regiments.
Defense
On the night of June 23, having withdrawn their troops to the outer ramparts of the fortress, the Germans began shelling, in between offering the garrison to surrender. About 1,900 people surrendered. But, nevertheless, on June 23, the remaining defenders of the fortress managed, having knocked out the Germans from the section of the ring barracks adjacent to the Brest Gate, to unite the two most powerful centers of resistance remaining on the Citadel - the combat group of the 455th Infantry Regiment, led by Lieutenant A. A. Vinogradov and captain I.N. Zubachev, and the combat group of the so-called “House of Officers” (the units concentrated here for the planned breakthrough attempt were led by regimental commissar E.M. Fomin, senior lieutenant Shcherbakov and private Shugurov (responsible secretary of the Komsomol bureau of the 75th separate reconnaissance battalion).
Having met in the basement of the “House of Officers,” the defenders of the Citadel tried to coordinate their actions: a draft order No. 1 was prepared, dated June 24, which proposed the creation of a consolidated combat group and headquarters led by Captain I. N. Zubachev and his deputy, regimental commissar E. M. Fomin, count the remaining personnel. However, the very next day, the Germans broke into the Citadel with a surprise attack. A large group of defenders of the Citadel, led by Lieutenant A. A. Vinogradov, tried to break out of the Fortress through the Kobrin fortification. But this ended in failure: although the breakthrough group, divided into several detachments, managed to break out of the main rampart, its fighters were captured or destroyed by units of the 45th Infantry Division, which occupied the defense along the highway that skirted Brest.
By the evening of June 24, the Germans captured most of the fortress, with the exception of the section of the ring barracks (“House of Officers”) near the Brest (Three Arched) Gate of the Citadel, casemates in the earthen rampart on the opposite bank of Mukhavets (“point 145”) and the so-called Kobrin fortification located “Eastern Fort” (its defense, consisting of 400 soldiers and commanders of the Red Army, was commanded by Major P. M. Gavrilov). On this day, the Germans managed to capture 1,250 defenders of the Fortress.
The last 450 defenders of the Citadel were captured on June 26 after blowing up several compartments of the ring barracks “House of Officers” and point 145, and on June 29, after the Germans dropped an aerial bomb weighing 1800 kg, the Eastern Fort fell. However, the Germans managed to finally clear it only on June 30 (due to the fires that began on June 29). On June 27, the Germans began using 600-mm Karl-Gerät artillery, which fired concrete-piercing shells weighing more than 2 tons and high-explosive shells weighing 1250 kg. The explosion of a 600 mm gun shell created craters 30 meters in diameter and caused horrific injuries to the defenders, including rupture of the lungs of those hiding in the basement of the fortress from the shock waves.
The organized defense of the fortress ended here; There were only isolated pockets of resistance and single fighters who gathered in groups and scattered again and died, or tried to break out of the fortress and go to the partisans in Belovezhskaya Pushcha (some succeeded). Major P. M. Gavrilov was among the last to be captured wounded - on July 23. One of the inscriptions in the fortress reads: “I am dying, but I am not giving up. Goodbye, Motherland. 20/VII-41". According to witnesses, shooting was heard from the fortress until the beginning of August.
P.M.Gavrilov
The total German losses in the Brest Fortress amounted to 5% of the total Wehrmacht losses on the Eastern Front during the first week of the war.
There were reports that the last areas of resistance were destroyed only at the end of August, before A. Hitler and B. Mussolini visited the fortress. It is also known that the stone that A. Hitler took from the ruins of the bridge was discovered in his office after the end of the war.
To eliminate the last pockets of resistance, the German high command gave the order to flood the basements of the fortress with water from the Western Bug River.
Memory of the defenders of the fortress
For the first time, the defense of the Brest Fortress became known from a German headquarters report, captured in the papers of the defeated unit in February 1942 near Orel. At the end of the 1940s, the first articles about the defense of the Brest Fortress appeared in newspapers, based solely on rumors. In 1951, while clearing out the rubble of the barracks at the Brest Gate, order No. 1 was found. In the same year, the artist P. Krivonogov painted the painting “Defenders of the Brest Fortress.”
The credit for restoring the memory of the heroes of the fortress largely belongs to the writer and historian S. S. Smirnov, as well as K. M. Simonov, who supported his initiative. The feat of the heroes of the Brest Fortress was popularized by S. S. Smirnov in the book “Brest Fortress” (1957, expanded edition 1964, Lenin Prize 1965). After this, the theme of the defense of the Brest Fortress became an important symbol of the Victory.
Monument to the defenders of the Brest Fortress
On May 8, 1965, the Brest Fortress was awarded the title of Hero Fortress with the presentation of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal. Since 1971, the fortress has been a memorial complex. On its territory a number of monuments were built in memory of the heroes, and there is a museum of the defense of the Brest Fortress.
Information sources:
http://ru.wikipedia.org
http://www.brest-fortress.by
http://www.calend.ru
I read it today from a colleague poltora_bobra post . I thought, really, how long did the Brest Fortress fight? How to calculate? From June 22 to June 29, 1941 (organized resistance, culminating in the fall of the Eastern Fort), or until the moment when its last defender died or was captured? Judging by information from the Internet, the commander of the 44th Infantry Regiment, Major Gavrilov, could still be not the last defender of the fortress. I don’t know how reliable the stories are that such things could have happened until the beginning of February 1942. But logic and common sense tell me that this is unlikely to be true. Well, the fact that on July 23, 1941, being seriously wounded, Major Gavrilov was captured is well known. He fought as much as he could, as much as his human strength was sufficient, he fought like a hero. His defense of the Brest Fortress was not 7 days, it was a month. Such a score!
By June 22, 1941, the Germans already had experience fighting for this fortress. In September 1939, the Poles defended it from September 14 to 17, after which they abandoned it. They fought well then, competently, they could have fought further, but they chose to leave. Later, on September 22, 1939, Germany handed over Brest and the fortress to the USSR.
The Germans took into account the experience of the battles of September 1939, but, nevertheless, they miscalculated in the “small” - the Poles are not Russians!
“The German command planned to capture the Brest Fortress on the very first day - by 12 o’clock, because the direct assault on the fortress was entrusted to the assault detachments of the 45th division, formed in the mountains of Upper Austria - in Hitler’s homeland and therefore distinguished by special devotion to the Fuhrer. To storm the fortress, the division was strengthened three artillery regiments, nine mortars, heavy mortar batteries and heavy-duty siege guns "Karl" and "Thor".
But it was different here than in Europe. Soldiers and officers ran out of houses and barracks, looked around for a moment, but instead of raising their hands, they pressed themselves against the walls of buildings and, using any cover, began to shoot. Some, riddled with German bullets, remained where they had fought their first and last battle; others, continuing to shoot back, left...
In the first hours, the enemy captured the territory of the fortress, many buildings and fortifications, but those remaining in the hands of Soviet soldiers were so well located that they made it possible to keep large areas under fire. The defenders were confident that they would not have to defend for long - regular units would come up and sweep away the Nazis. But hours and days passed, the position of the defenders worsened: there was almost no food, there was not enough water... Mukhavets is nearby, but how can you get to it! Many fighters crawled for water - and did not return...
The fascists did not take seriously the resistance of disparate groups that did not even have any connection with each other, and expected that very soon the besieged would raise the white flag. But the fortress continued to fight, and soon the Nazis realized that the Russians were not going to give up. And then, with a piercing screech, heavy artillery shells rushed from behind the Bug, and then the Nazis again went on the attack, and again they had to retreat, leaving behind the dead and carrying away the wounded..."
“It was July 23, 1941, that is, on the thirty-second day of the war... On this day, the Nazis brought a major who had just been captured in the fortress to the camp hospital. The captured major was in full commander’s uniform, but all his clothes turned into rags, his face was covered with gunpowder soot and dust and overgrown with a beard. He was wounded, was in an unconscious state and looked extremely emaciated. It was in the full sense of the word a skeleton covered in skin. The extent of exhaustion reached could be judged by the fact that the prisoner was not could even make a swallowing movement: he did not have enough strength for this, and the doctors had to use artificial nutrition to save his life.But the German soldiers who captured him and brought him to the camp told the doctors that this man, in whose body life was already barely glimmering, just an hour ago, when they caught him in one of the casemates of the fortress, he single-handedly fought with them, threw grenades, fired a pistol and killed and wounded several Nazis. They spoke about this with involuntary respect, openly amazed at the strength of spirit of the Soviet commander, and it was clear that only out of respect for his courage the prisoner was left alive. ... for several days German officers came from Brest who wanted to look at the hero who had shown such amazing fortitude and will in the fight against the enemy"
S. Smirnov "Brest Fortress"
Former commander of the 44th Infantry Regiment of the 42nd Infantry Division, retired Major Gavrilov. 1961 Photo from the archive of Alexander Vasilievich Kurpakov
Hero's Tomb
Major Gavrilov performed by Alexander Korshunov. Film "Brest Fortress"
Courage is a great quality of the soul: the people marked by it should be proud of themselves.
N. M. Karamzin
The Brest Fortress was built and put into operation on April 26, 1842. It was located on the western border of the Russian Empire (the territory of modern Belarus) and was built to strengthen the western border of the Russian Empire. Initially, the significance of this defensive line was quite symbolic, but it was in Brest in 1941 that one of the most terrible battles took place, in which the defenders showed all their courage and bravery.
Balance of forces and means
It was this fortress that was destined to be the first to take the blow of the German army. By June 22, 1941, there was only one division in Brest. The main forces were withdrawn shortly before the start of the war to conduct exercises. Initially, the defense of the Brest Fortress was carried out by the following forces:
- 8 rifle battalions,
- 1 artillery battalion,
- 1 anti-tank company,
- 1 reconnaissance company,
- 1 anti-aircraft battery.
In general, Major Gavrilov, who was in charge of the defense of the Brest Fortress, had 8 thousand soldiers, plus medical personnel. The problem for the defenders was that it was in this place that the epicenter of the movement of the German Army “Center” was located, which, in order to implement the Barbarossa plan, planned to quickly destroy all the key strongholds of the USSR on the western sector of the front. The German 45th Army, which consisted of 17 thousand people, was sent for the assault. Consequently, by the beginning of the Battle of Brest, the German army was twice the size of the defenders. According to the plan of the German command, Brest was to be captured without the use of tanks. This was necessary because the German command did not dare to send tanks to this area due to the swampy terrain.
Beginning of the assault
Preparations for the assault began at 4 a.m. 1941. The German army began artillery preparation for the attack, delivering its main attack on the barracks, as well as on that part of the garrison where the officers were located. The defenders were taken by surprise. It was impossible to leave the fortress, since German artillery was firing at the approaches to the fortress itself and its gates. At 4:45 a.m. the assault began.
It should be noted that the defenders of Brest, taken by surprise by a sudden artillery attack, were mostly buried in their barracks. Most of the command was destroyed by the Germans during the artillery preparation for the attack. As a result, the defense of the Brest Fortress at the initial stage took place virtually without command and consisted of holding individual fortifications. Soviet soldiers fought bravely. The Germans captured the fortifications with great difficulty. Most Fierce fighting took place near the Kobrin fortification fortresses
On June 23, the German army again began the day with an artillery bombardment of the fortress, followed by another assault. Brest survived that day too. By the end of June 24, at the cost of colossal human sacrifices, the German army managed to capture the Terespol and Volyn fortifications. Realizing that it was impossible to hold the fortifications any longer, the defenders retreated to the citadel of the fortress at night. As a result, starting from June 25, the defense of the Brest Fortress was concentrated at two points: in the citadel and the eastern fort, which is on the Kobrin fortifications. The defenders of the eastern fort numbered 400 people. They were led by Major Gavrilov. The Germans carried out up to ten assaults every day, but the defenders held out.
Fall of the fortress
On June 26, 1941, the next German offensive was successful. The citadel has fallen. Most of the Soviet soldiers were captured. On June 29, the eastern fort fell. But the defense of the Brest Fortress did not end there! From that time on, it became unorganized, but those Soviet soldiers who took refuge in the dungeon entered into battle with the Germans every day. They managed the almost incredible. A small group of Soviet people, 12 people, commanded by Major Gavrilov, resisted the Germans until July 12. These heroes held an entire German division in the area of the Brest Fortress for almost a month! But even after Major Gavrilov and his detachment fell, fighting continued in the fortress. According to historians, isolated pockets of resistance in this region existed until the beginning of August 1941.
The famous Brest Fortress has become synonymous with unbroken spirit and perseverance. During the Great Patriotic War, the elite forces of the Wehrmacht were forced to spend 8 full days to capture it, instead of the planned 8 hours. What motivated the defenders of the fortress and why this resistance played an important role in the overall picture of the Second World War.
Early in the morning of June 22, 1941, the German offensive began along the entire line of the Soviet border, from the Barents to the Black Sea. One of the many initial targets was the Brest Fortress - a small line in the Barbarossa plan. The Germans took only 8 hours to storm and capture it. Despite the loud name, this fortification, which was once the pride of the Russian Empire, turned into simple barracks and the Germans did not expect to encounter serious resistance there.
But the unexpected and desperate resistance that the Wehrmacht forces met in the fortress entered the history of the Great Patriotic War so vividly that today many believe that the Second World War began precisely with the attack on the Brest Fortress. But it could have happened that this feat would have remained unknown, but chance decreed otherwise.
History of the Brest Fortress
Where the Brest Fortress is located today, there used to be the city of Berestye, which was mentioned for the first time in the Tale of Bygone Years. Historians believe that this city originally grew up around a castle, the history of which is lost in the centuries. Located at the junction of Lithuanian, Polish and Russian lands, it has always played an important strategic role. The city was built on a cape formed by the Western Bug and Mukhovets rivers. In ancient times, rivers were the main communications routes for traders. Therefore, Berestye flourished economically. But the location on the border itself also entailed dangers. The city often moved from one state to another. It was repeatedly besieged and captured by Poles, Lithuanians, German knights, Swedes, Crimean Tatars and troops of the Russian kingdom.
Important fortification
The history of the modern Brest Fortress originates in imperial Russia. It was built by order of Emperor Nicholas I. The fortification was located at an important point - on the shortest land route from Warsaw to Moscow. At the confluence of two rivers - the Western Bug and Mukhavets there was a natural island, which became the site of the Citadel - the main fortification of the fortress. This building was a two-story building that housed 500 casemates. There could be 12 thousand people there at the same time. The two-meter thick walls reliably protected them from any weapons that existed in the 19th century.
Three more islands were created artificially, using the waters of the Mukhovets River and a man-made ditch system. Additional fortifications were located on them: Kobrin, Volyn and Terespol. This arrangement suited the commanders defending the fortress very much, because it reliably protected the Citadel from enemies. It was very difficult to break through to the main fortification, and it was almost impossible to bring battering guns there. The first stone of the fortress was laid on June 1, 1836, and on April 26, 1842, the fortress standard soared above it in a solemn ceremony. At that time it was one of the best defensive structures in the country. Knowledge of the design features of this military fortification will help you understand how the defense of the Brest Fortress took place in 1941.
Time passed and weapons improved. The range of artillery fire was increasing. What was previously impregnable could now be destroyed without even getting close. Therefore, military engineers decided to build an additional line of defense, which was supposed to encircle the fortress at a distance of 9 km from the main fortification. It included artillery batteries, defensive barracks, two dozen strong points and 14 forts.
An unexpected find
February 1942 turned out to be cold. German troops were rushing deep into the Soviet Union. The Red Army soldiers tried to restrain their advance, but most often they had no choice but to continue to retreat deeper into the country. But they were not always defeated. And now, not far from Orel, the 45th Wehrmacht Infantry Division was completely defeated. It was even possible to capture documents from the headquarters archives. Among them they found a “Combat report on the occupation of Brest-Litovsk.”
The careful Germans, day after day, documented the events that took place during the protracted siege in the Brest Fortress. Staff officers had to explain the reasons for the delay. At the same time, as has always been the case in history, they tried their best to extol their own courage and downplay the merits of the enemy. But even in this light, the feat of the unbroken defenders of the Brest Fortress looked so bright that excerpts from this document were published in the Soviet publication “Red Star” to strengthen the spirit of both front-line soldiers and civilians. But history at that time had not yet revealed all its secrets. The Brest Fortress in 1941 suffered much more than the trials that became known from the documents found.
Word to the witnesses
Three years passed after the capture of the Brest Fortress. After heavy fighting, Belarus and, in particular, the Brest Fortress were recaptured from the Nazis. By that time, stories about her had practically become legends and an ode to courage. Therefore, there was immediately increased interest in this object. The powerful fortress lay in ruins. At first glance, traces of destruction from artillery strikes told experienced front-line soldiers what kind of hell the garrison located here had to face at the very beginning of the war.
A detailed overview of the ruins provided an even more complete picture. Literally dozens of messages from participants in the defense of the fortress were written and scrawled on the walls. Many boiled down to the message: “I’m dying, but I’m not giving up.” Some contained dates and surnames. Over time, eyewitnesses of those events were found. German newsreels and photo reports became available. Step by step, historians reconstructed the picture of the events that took place on June 22, 1941 in the battles for the Brest Fortress. The writings on the walls told about things that were not in the official reports. In the documents, the date of the fall of the fortress was July 1, 1941. But one of the inscriptions was dated July 20, 1941. This meant that the resistance, albeit in the form of a guerrilla movement, lasted almost a month.
Defense of the Brest Fortress
By the time the fire of World War II broke out, the Brest Fortress was no longer a strategically important facility. But since it was inappropriate to neglect existing material resources, it was used as a barracks. The fortress turned into a small military town where the families of the commanders lived. Among the civilian population permanently residing in the territory were women, children and the elderly. About 300 families lived outside the walls of the fortress.
Due to military exercises planned for June 22, rifle and artillery units and senior army commanders left the fortress. 10 rifle battalions, 3 artillery regiments, air defense and anti-tank battalions left the territory. Less than half the usual number of people remained - approximately 8.5 thousand people. The national composition of the defenders would be a credit to any UN meeting. There were Belarusians, Ossetians, Ukrainians, Uzbeks, Tatars, Kalmyks, Georgians, Chechens and Russians. In total, among the defenders of the fortress there were representatives of thirty nationalities. 19 thousand well-trained soldiers, who had considerable experience of real battles in Europe, were approaching them.
Soldiers of the 45th Wehrmacht Infantry Division stormed the Brest Fortress. This was a special unit. It was the first to triumphantly enter Paris. Soldiers from this division traveled through Belgium, Holland and fought in Warsaw. They were considered practically the elite of the German army. The Forty-fifth Division always quickly and accurately carried out the tasks assigned to it. The Fuhrer himself singled her out from others. This is a division of the former Austrian army. It was formed in Hitler's homeland - in the district of Linz. Personal devotion to the Fuhrer was carefully cultivated in her. They are expected to win quickly, and they have no doubt about it.
Fully ready for a quick assault
The Germans had a detailed plan of the Brest Fortress. After all, just a few years ago they had already conquered it from Poland. Then Brest was also attacked at the very beginning of the war. The assault on the Brest Fortress in 1939 lasted two weeks. It was then that the Brest Fortress was first subjected to aerial bombing. And on September 22, the whole of Brest was pompously handed over to the Red Army, in honor of which a joint parade of Red Army soldiers and the Wehrmacht was held.
Fortifications: 1 - Citadel; 2 - Kobrin fortification; 3 - Volyn fortification; 4 - Terespol fortification Objects: 1. Defensive barracks; 2. Barbicans; 3. White Palace; 4. Engineering management; 5. Barracks; 6. Club; 7. Dining room; 8. Brest Gate; 9. Kholm Gate; 10. Terespol Gate; 11. Brigid Gate. 12. Border post building; 13. Western Fort; 14. East Fort; 15. Barracks; 16. Residential buildings; 17. North-West Gate; 18. North Gate; 19. East Gate; 20. Powder magazines; 21. Brigid Prison; 22. Hospital; 23. Regimental school; 24. Hospital building; 25. Strengthening; 26. South Gate; 27. Barracks; 28. Garages; 30. Barracks.
Therefore, the advancing soldiers had all the necessary information and a diagram of the Brest Fortress. They knew about the strengths and weaknesses of fortifications, and had a clear plan of action. At dawn on June 22, everyone was in place. We installed mortar batteries and prepared assault troops. At 4:15 the Germans opened artillery fire. Everything was very clearly verified. Every four minutes the line of fire was moved 100 meters forward. The Germans carefully and methodically mowed down everything they could get their hands on. A detailed map of the Brest Fortress served as an invaluable help in this.
The emphasis was placed primarily on surprise. The artillery bombardment was supposed to be short but massive. The enemy needed to be disoriented and not given the opportunity to provide united resistance. During the short attack, nine mortar batteries managed to fire 2,880 shots at the fortress. No one expected any serious resistance from the survivors. After all, in the fortress there were rear guards, repairmen, and families of commanders. As soon as the mortars died down, the assault began.
The attackers passed the South Island quickly. Warehouses were concentrated there, and there was a hospital. The soldiers did not stand on ceremony with bedridden patients - they finished them off with rifle butts. Those who could move independently were killed selectively.
But on the western island, where the Terespol fortification was located, the border guards managed to get their bearings and meet the enemy with dignity. But due to the fact that they were scattered into small groups, it was not possible to restrain the attackers for long. Through the Terespol Gate of the attacked Brest Fortress, the Germans broke into the Citadel. They quickly occupied some of the casemates, the officers' mess and the club.
First failures
At the same time, the newly-minted heroes of the Brest Fortress begin to gather in groups. They take out their weapons and take defensive positions. Now it turns out that the Germans who broke through find themselves in a ring. They are attacked from the rear, and yet undiscovered defenders await ahead. The Red Army soldiers purposefully shot officers among the attacking Germans. The infantrymen, discouraged by such a rebuff, try to retreat, but are then met with fire by the border guards. German losses in this attack amounted to almost half of the detachment. They retreat and settle in the club. This time as besieged.
Artillery cannot help the Nazis. It is impossible to open fire, since the probability of shooting your own people is too great. The Germans are trying to get through to their comrades stuck in the Citadel, but Soviet snipers force them to keep their distance with careful shots. The same snipers block the movement of machine guns, preventing them from being transferred to other positions.
By 7:30 in the morning, the seemingly shot fortress literally comes to life and completely comes to its senses. Defense has already been organized along the entire perimeter. The commanders hastily reorganize the surviving soldiers and place them in positions. Nobody has a complete picture of what is happening. But at this time, the fighters are sure that they just need to hold their positions. Hold out until help comes.
Complete isolation
The Red Army soldiers had no contact with the outside world. Messages sent over the air went unanswered. By noon the city was completely occupied by the Germans. The Brest Fortress on the map of Brest remained the only center of resistance. All escape routes were cut off. But contrary to the expectations of the Nazis, resistance only grew. It was absolutely clear that the attempt to capture the fortress had failed outright. The offensive stalled.
At 13:15, the German command throws the reserve into battle - the 133rd Infantry Regiment. This does not bring results. At 14:30, the commander of the 45th division, Fritz Schlieper, arrives at the German-occupied site of the Kobrin fortification to personally assess the situation. He becomes convinced that his infantry is not able to take the Citadel on its own. Shlieper gives the order at nightfall to withdraw the infantry and resume shelling from heavy guns. The heroic defense of the besieged Brest Fortress is bearing fruit. This is the first retreat of the famous 45th Division since the beginning of the war in Europe.
The Wehrmacht forces could not simply take and leave the fortress as it was. In order to move forward it was necessary to occupy it. The strategists knew this, and it has been proven by history. The defense of the Brest Fortress by the Poles in 1939 and the Russians in 1915 served as a good lesson for the Germans. The fortress blocked important crossings across the Western Bug River and access roads to both tank highways, which were crucial for the transfer of troops and provision of supplies to the advancing army.
According to the plans of the German command, troops aimed at Moscow were to march non-stop through Brest. German generals considered the fortress a serious obstacle, but simply did not consider it as a powerful defensive line. The desperate defense of the Brest Fortress in 1941 made adjustments to the plans of the aggressors. In addition, the defending Red Army soldiers did not just sit in the corners. Time after time they organized counterattacks. Losing people and rolling back to their positions, they rebuilt and went into battle again.
This is how the first day of the war passed. The next day, the Germans gathered the captured people, and, hiding behind women, children and the wounded from the captured hospital, they began to cross the bridge. Thus, the Germans forced the defenders to either let them through or shoot their relatives and friends with their own hands.
Meanwhile, artillery fire resumed. To help the besiegers, two super-heavy guns were delivered - 600 mm self-propelled mortars of the Karl system. These were such exclusive weapons that they even had their own names. In total, only six such mortars were produced throughout history. The two-ton shells fired from these mastodons left craters 10 meters deep. They knocked down the towers at the Terespol Gate. In Europe, the mere appearance of such a “Charles” at the walls of a besieged city meant victory. The Brest Fortress, as long as the defense lasted, did not even give the enemy a reason to think about the possibility of surrender. The defenders continued to fire even when seriously wounded.
The first prisoners
However, at 10 am the Germans take the first break and offer to surrender. This continued during each of the subsequent breaks in the shooting. Insistent offers to surrender were heard from German loudspeakers throughout the entire area. This was supposed to undermine the morale of the Russians. This approach has brought certain results. On this day, about 1,900 people left the fortress with their hands raised. Among them there were a lot of women and children. But there were also military personnel. Mostly reservists who arrived for training camp.
The third day of defense began with artillery shelling, comparable in power to the first day of the war. The Nazis could not help but admit that the Russians were defending themselves courageously. But they did not understand the reasons that forced people to continue to resist. Brest was taken. There is nowhere to wait for help. However, initially no one planned to defend the fortress. In fact, this would even be a direct disobedience to the order, which stated that in the event of hostilities, the fortress was to be abandoned immediately.
The military personnel there simply did not have time to leave the facility. The narrow gate, which was the only exit then, was under targeted fire from the Germans. Those who failed to break through initially expected help from the Red Army. They did not know that German tanks were already in the center of Minsk.
Not all the women left the fortress, having heeded the exhortations to surrender. Many stayed to fight with their husbands. German attack aircraft even reported to the command about the women's battalion. However, there were never female units in the fortress.
Premature report
On the twenty-fourth of June, Hitler was informed about the capture of the Brest-Litovsk Fortress. That day, the stormtroopers managed to capture the Citadel. But the fortress has not yet surrendered. That evening, the surviving commanders gathered in the engineering barracks building. The result of the meeting is Order No. 1 - the only document of the besieged garrison. Because of the assault that had begun, they didn’t even have time to finish writing it. But it is thanks to him that we know the names of the commanders and the numbers of the fighting units.
After the fall of the Citadel, the eastern fort became the main center of resistance in the Brest Fortress. Stormtroopers try to take the Kobrin rampart repeatedly, but the artillerymen of the 98th anti-tank division firmly hold the defense. They knock out a couple of tanks and several armored vehicles. When the enemy destroys the cannons, the soldiers with rifles and grenades go into the casemates.
The Nazis combined assaults and shelling with psychological treatment. With the help of leaflets dropped from airplanes, the Germans call for surrender, promising life and humane treatment. They announce through loudspeakers that both Minsk and Smolensk have already been taken and there is no point in resistance. But the people in the fortress simply do not believe it. They are waiting for help from the Red Army.
The Germans were afraid to enter the casemates - the wounded continued to shoot. But they couldn’t get out either. Then the Germans decided to use flamethrowers. The terrible heat melted brick and metal. These stains can still be seen today on the walls of the casemates.
The Germans issue an ultimatum. It is carried to the surviving soldiers by a fourteen-year-old girl - Valya Zenkina, the daughter of the foreman, who was captured the day before. The ultimatum states that either the Brest Fortress surrenders down to the last defender, or the Germans will wipe the garrison off the face of the earth. But the girl did not return. She chose to stay in the fortress with her people.
Current problems
The period of the first shock passes, and the body begins to demand its own. People understand that they haven’t eaten anything all this time, and the food warehouses burned down during the very first shelling. Even worse, the defenders have nothing to drink. During the first artillery shelling of the fortress, the water supply system was disabled. People suffer from thirst. The fortress was located at the confluence of two rivers, but it was impossible to reach this water. There are German machine guns along the banks of rivers and canals. The attempts of the besieged to get to the water are paid for with their lives.
The basements are overflowing with the wounded and families of command personnel. It is especially difficult for children. The commanders decide to send women and children into captivity. With white flags they go out into the street and go to the exit. These women did not remain in captivity for long. The Germans simply released them, and the women went either to Brest or to the nearest village.
On June 29, the Germans call in aviation. This was the date of the beginning of the end. Bombers drop several 500 kg bombs on the fort, but it survives and continues to snarl with fire. After lunch, another super-powerful bomb (1800 kg) was dropped. This time the casemates were penetrated through. Following this, stormtroopers burst into the fort. They managed to capture about 400 prisoners. Under heavy fire and constant assaults, the fortress held out for 8 days in 1941.
One for all
Major Pyotr Gavrilov, who led the main defense in this area, did not surrender. He took refuge in a hole dug in one of the casemates. The last defender of the Brest Fortress decided to wage his own war. Gavrilov wanted to take refuge in the northwestern corner of the fortress, where there were stables before the war. During the day he buries himself in a pile of manure, and at night he carefully crawls out to the canal to drink water. The major eats the remaining feed in the stable. However, after several days of such a diet, acute pain in the abdomen begins, Gavrilov quickly weakens and begins to fall into oblivion at times. Soon he is captured.
The world will learn much later how many days the defense of the Brest Fortress lasted. As well as the price the defenders had to pay. But the fortress began to become overgrown with legends almost immediately. One of the most popular ones originated from the words of one Jew, Zalman Stavsky, who worked as a violinist in a restaurant. He said that one day, while going to work, he was stopped by a German officer. Zalman was taken to the fortress and led to the entrance to the dungeon around which soldiers gathered, bristling with cocked rifles. Stavsky was ordered to go downstairs and take the Russian fighter out of there. He obeyed, and below he found a half-dead man, whose name remained unknown. Thin and overgrown, he could no longer move independently. Rumor attributed to him the title of the last defender. This happened in April 1942. 10 months have passed since the beginning of the war.
From the shadow of oblivion
A year after the first attack on the fortification, an article was written about this event in Red Star, where details of the soldiers’ protection were revealed. The Moscow Kremlin decided that it could raise the fighting fervor of the population, which had subsided by that time. It was not yet a real memorial article, but only a notification about what kind of heroes those 9 thousand people who came under the bombing were considered. Numbers and some names of the dead soldiers, the names of the fighters, the results of the surrender of the fortress and where the army was moving next were announced. In 1948, 7 years after the end of the battle, an article appeared in Ogonyok, which was more reminiscent of a memorial ode to the fallen people.
In fact, the presence of a complete picture of the defense of the Brest Fortress should be credited to Sergei Smirnov, who at one time set out to restore and organize the records previously stored in the archives. Konstantin Simonov took up the historian’s initiative and a drama, a documentary and a feature film were born under his leadership. Historians conducted research in order to get as much documentary footage as possible and they succeeded - the German soldiers were going to make a propaganda film about the victory, and therefore there was already video material. However, it was not destined to become a symbol of victory, so all the information was stored in archives.
Around the same time, the painting “To the Defenders of the Brest Fortress” was painted, and since the 1960s, poems began to appear where the Brest Fortress is presented as an ordinary city having fun. They were preparing for a skit based on Shakespeare, but did not suspect that another “tragedy” was brewing. Over time, songs have appeared in which, from the heights of the 21st century, a person looks at the hardships of soldiers a century earlier.
It is worth noting that it was not only Germany that carried out propaganda: propaganda speeches, films, posters encouraging action. The Russian Soviet authorities also did this, and therefore these films also had a patriotic character. The poetry glorified courage, the idea of the feat of small military troops in the territory of the fortress, who were trapped. From time to time, notes appeared about the results of the defense of the Brest Fortress, but the emphasis was placed on the decisions of the soldiers in conditions of complete isolation from the command.
Soon, the Brest Fortress, already famous for its defense, had numerous poems, many of which were set to songs and served as screensavers for documentaries during the Great Patriotic War and chronicles of the advance of troops towards Moscow. In addition, there is a cartoon that tells the story of the Soviet people as foolish children (junior grades). In principle, the reason for the appearance of traitors and why there were so many saboteurs in Brest is explained to the viewer. But this is explained by the fact that the people believed the ideas of fascism, while sabotage attacks were not always carried out by traitors.
In 1965, the fortress was awarded the title of “hero”; in the media it was referred to exclusively as the “Brest Hero Fortress”, and by 1971 a memorial complex was formed. In 2004, Vladimir Beshanov published the full chronicle “Brest Fortress”.
History of the complex
The existence of the museum “The Fifth Fort of the Brest Fortress” is owed to the Communist Party, which proposed its creation on the 20th anniversary of the defense of the fortress. Funds had previously been collected by the people, and now all that remained was to get approval to turn the ruins into a cultural monument. The idea originated long before 1971 and, for example, back in 1965 the fortress received the “Hero Star”, and a year later a creative group was formed to design the museum.
She did extensive work, right down to specifying what kind of cladding the obelisk bayonet should have (titanium steel), the main color of the stone (gray) and the required material (concrete). The Council of Ministers agreed to implement the project and in 1971 a memorial complex was opened, where sculptural compositions are correctly and neatly arranged and battle sites are represented. Today they are visited by tourists from many countries around the world.
Location of monuments
The resulting complex has a main entrance, which is a concrete parallelepiped with a carved star. Polished to a shine, it stands on a rampart, on which, from a certain angle, the desolation of the barracks is especially striking. They are not so much abandoned as they are left in the condition in which they were used by the soldiers after the bombing. This contrast especially emphasizes the condition of the castle. On both sides there are casemates of the Eastern part of the fortress, and from the opening the Central part is visible. This is how the story begins that the Brest Fortress will tell the visitor.
A special feature of the Brest Fortress is the panorama. From the elevation you can see the citadel, the Mukhavets River, on the coast of which it is located, as well as the largest monuments. The sculptural composition “Thirst” is impressively made, glorifying the courage of the soldiers left without water. Since the water supply system was destroyed in the first hours of the siege, the soldiers themselves, in need of drinking water, gave it to their families, and used the remainder to cool their guns. It is this difficulty that is meant when they say that the soldiers were ready to kill and walk over corpses for a sip of water.
The White Palace, depicted in the famous painting by Zaitsev, is surprising; in some places it was completely destroyed even before the bombing began. During the Second World War, the building served as a canteen, club and warehouse at the same time. Historically, it was in the palace that the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty was signed, and according to myths, Trotsky left the famous slogan “no war, no peace”, imprinting it above the billiard table. However, the latter is not provable. During the construction of the museum, approximately 130 people were found killed near the palace, and the walls were damaged by potholes.
Together with the palace, the ceremonial area forms a single whole, and if we take into account the barracks, then all these buildings are entirely preserved ruins, untouched by archaeologists. The layout of the Brest Fortress memorial most often denotes the area with numbers, although it is quite extensive. In the center are slabs with the names of the defenders of the Brest Fortress, a list of which was restored, where the remains of more than 800 people are buried, and titles and merits are indicated next to the initials.
Most visited attractions
The Eternal Flame is located near the square, overlooked by the Main Monument. As the diagram shows, the Brest Fortress rings this place, making it a kind of core of the memorial complex. The Memory Post, organized under Soviet rule in 1972, has been serving next to the fire for many years. Young Army soldiers serve here, whose shift lasts 20 minutes and you can often get a shift change. The monument also deserves attention: it was made from reduced parts made from plaster at a local factory. Then they took impressions of them and enlarged them 7 times.
The engineering department is also part of the untouched ruins and is located inside the citadel, and the Mukhavets and Western Bug rivers make an island out of it. There was always a fighter in the Directorate who never stopped transmitting signals via the radio station. This is how the remains of one soldier were found: not far from the equipment, until his last breath, he did not stop trying to contact the command. In addition, during the First World War, the Engineering Directorate was only partially restored and was not a reliable shelter.
The garrison temple became an almost legendary place, which was one of the very last to be captured by enemy troops. Initially, the temple served as an Orthodox church, however, by 1941 there was a regiment club there. Since the building was very advantageous, it became the place for which both sides fought intensely: the club passed from commander to commander and only at the very end of the siege remained with the German soldiers. The temple building was restored several times, and only by 1960 was it included in the complex.
At the very Terespol Gate there is a monument to the “Heroes of the Border...”, created according to the idea of the State Committee in Belarus. A member of the creative committee worked on the design of the monument, and construction cost 800 million rubles. The sculpture depicts three soldiers defending themselves from enemies invisible to the observer, and behind them are children and their mother giving precious water to a wounded soldier.
Underground tales
The attraction of the Brest Fortress are the dungeons, which have an almost mystical aura, and around them there are legends of different origins and content. However, whether they should be called such a big word still needs to be figured out. Many journalists made reports without first checking the information. In fact, many of the dungeons turned out to be manholes, several tens of meters long, not at all “from Poland to Belarus.” The human factor played a role: those who survived mention underground passages as something big, but often the stories cannot be confirmed by facts.
Often, before looking for ancient passages, you need to study the information, thoroughly study the archive and understand the photographs found in newspaper clippings. Why is it important? The fortress was built for certain purposes, and in some places these passages may simply not exist - they were not needed! But certain fortifications are worth paying attention to. The map of the Brest Fortress will help with this.
Fort
When constructing forts, it was taken into account that they should only support the infantry. So, in the minds of the builders, they looked like separate buildings that were well armed. The forts were supposed to protect the areas between themselves where the military were located, thus forming a single chain - a line of defense. In these distances between fortified forts, there was often a road hidden on the sides by an embankment. This mound could serve as walls, but not as a roof - there was nothing for it to support. However, researchers perceived and described it precisely as a dungeon.
The presence of underground passages as such is not only illogical, but also difficult to implement. The financial expenses that the command would incur were absolutely not justified by the benefits of these dungeons. Much more effort would have been spent on construction, but the passages could have been used from time to time. Such dungeons can be used, for example, only when the fortress was defended. Moreover, it was beneficial for the commanders for the fort to remain autonomous and not become part of a chain that provided only a temporary advantage.
There are certified written memoirs of the lieutenant, describing his retreat with the army through the dungeons, stretching in the Brest Fortress, according to him, 300 meters! But the story briefly talked about the matches that the soldiers used to illuminate the path, but the size of the passages described by the lieutenant speaks for itself: it is unlikely that they would have had enough such lighting for such a distance, and even taking into account the return journey.
Old communications in legends
The fortress had storm drains and sewers, which made it a real stronghold from an ordinary pile of buildings with large walls. It is these technical passages that can most correctly be called dungeons, since they are made as a smaller version of the catacombs: a network of narrow passages branched over a long distance can only allow one person of average build to pass through. A soldier with ammunition will not pass through such cracks, much less several people in a row. This is an ancient sewerage system, which, by the way, is located on the diagram of the Brest Fortress. A person could crawl along it to the point of blockage and clear it so that this branch of the highway could be used further.
There is also a gateway that helps maintain the required amount of water in the fortress moat. It was also perceived as a dungeon and took on the image of a fabulously large hole. Numerous other communications can be listed, but the meaning will not change and they can only be considered dungeons conditionally.
Ghosts taking revenge from the dungeons
After the fortification was surrendered to Germany, legends about cruel ghosts avenging their comrades began to be passed on from mouth to mouth. There was a real basis for such myths: the remnants of the regiment hid for a long time in underground communications and shot at the night watchmen. Soon, descriptions of ghosts that never missed began to frighten so much that the Germans wished each other to avoid meeting the Fraumit Automaton, one of the legendary avenging ghosts.
Upon the arrival of Hitler and Benito Mussolini, everyone’s hands were sweating in the Brest Fortress: if, while these two brilliant personalities pass by the caves, ghosts fly out of there, trouble will not be avoided. However, this, to the considerable relief of the soldiers, did not happen. At night, Frau did not stop committing atrocities. She attacked unexpectedly, always swiftly, and just as unexpectedly disappeared into the dungeons, as if she had disappeared into them. From the descriptions of the soldiers it followed that the woman had a dress torn in several places, tangled hair and a dirty face. Because of her hair, by the way, her middle name was “Kudlataya.”
The story had a real basis, since the wives of the commanders also came under siege. They were trained to shoot, and they did it masterfully, without a miss, because the GTO standards had to be passed. In addition, being in good physical shape and being able to handle various types of weapons was an honor, and therefore some woman, blinded by revenge for her loved ones, could well have done this. One way or another, the Fraumit Automaton was not the only legend among German soldiers.
