The Brest fortress - one of the most powerful for its time - was not ready for a sudden attack by the Nazi troops: the main defense forces were concentrated in remote forts. Despite the suddenness of the attack, the enemy got the fortress with a lot of blood.
WESTERN BORDER SHIELD
The Brest Fortress was built after Brest-Litovsk was ceded to the Russian Empire and there was a need to secure the border extended to the west.
In ancient times, the surroundings of the future Brest Fortress were inhabited by the tribes of the Nadbuzh Slavs. It was they who founded the settlement of Berestye here, the first mention of which is contained in the "Tale of Bygone Years" for 1019, in that part of it that tells about the rivalry between Prince Turov and the great Kiev Svyatopolk Vladimirovich with his brother - Novgorod prince Yaroslav the Wise - for the Grand Duke Kiev throne.
The oldest part of the fortress - detinets, the inner city fortress - was probably built in Berestye in the 21st century. Archaeological excavations have shown that there are remains of ancient settlement XI-XIII centuries
The main occupation of the townspeople was trade: two trade routes passed through Berestye: the first went from Galician Rus and Volhynia to Poland and further to Western Europe, and the second - to Kyiv, the Black Sea and the Middle East lands.
The border location of the city had its drawback: the power here changed quite often. At different times, Kyiv, Galician, Polish, Volyn and Lithuanian rulers took possession of Berestye.
In 1795, after the Third Partition of the Commonwealth between Prussia, Austria and Russia, the city, which at that time was called Brest-Litovsk, became part of the Russian Empire. Then there was a need to protect the western border of the state.
In 1833, work began on the construction of the Brest-Litovsk fortress. For its construction, it was decided to demolish the old city, build a new one and enclose it with fortress walls. The center was a citadel with walls two meters thick, for a garrison of 12 thousand people. The whole fortress was completely ready in 1842.
Time passed, and the fortress gradually grew, became more powerful: in the second half of the 19th century. forts were built, and in 1864, under the leadership of military engineer E. Totleben, its full-fledged reconstruction had already begun. The Brest-Litovsk fortress received additional buildings designed to store ammunition, as well as two defensive structures - redoubts. In the future, the construction of separate forts continued, located at a distance of 3-4 km from each other.
The next reconstruction of the fortress began in 1913, and a year later, in July 1914, the First World War began. The work had to be carried out in an accelerated mode without breaks for the weekend, and by the beginning of October 1914, the Brest-Litovsk fortress was completely ready.
However, already on the night of August 13, 1915, the Russian garrison, retreating, left the fortress, partially destroying it. On the same day, the city and the fortress were occupied by troops and Austro-.
Later, after the Bolsheviks came to power in Brest-Litovsk, negotiations were held in several stages with the Germans, and on March 3, 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was concluded in the fortress - a separate peace treaty, which meant defeat and exit from the First World War.
During the Soviet-Polish war of 1919-1921. On February 9, 1919, the Poles occupied Brest-Litovsk. On August 1, 1920, during the rapid offensive of the Tukhachevsky Red Army, the fortress was captured almost without resistance, but very soon, due to a serious defeat near Warsaw, the Red Army retreated under the onslaught of Pilsudski's troops, and already on August 19, Brest-Litovsk again went to the Poles. Later, under the terms of the Riga Peace Treaty of 1921, he withdrew along with the fortress.
On September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland, and the very next day the Brest-Litovsk fortress was subjected to an air raid. Until mid-September, the Polish military held a heroic defense, resisting many times the enemy forces, but on the night of August 17, it was decided to leave it. The fortress was occupied by German troops, who on September 22, in accordance with the protocols to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, transferred the city to the Red Army in accordance with an earlier agreement, and it was included in the Belarusian USSR.
UNDER THE FIRST SHOCK
History knows no examples of such a heroic defense, which the garrison of the Brest Fortress showed to the world, on June 22, 1941, which took the first blow from the German army, which until then had not known such resistance.
On June 22, 1941, about 9 thousand people turned up in the Brest Fortress, including military personnel and members of their families. The Germans, preparing an invasion of the USSR, deployed an entire infantry division of 17,000 soldiers on the border opposite Brest.
The command of the fortress had a plan of action in case of an attack by enemy troops. This plan provided for the deployment of the main forces on the forts around the fortress, but not the battle around the citadel itself. Events developed rapidly, and the defenders of the Brest Fortress did not have time to deploy forces.
German troops began an operation to capture the fortress at night, delivering a powerful artillery strike and immediately going on the offensive. The connection between the divisions of the fortress was broken, and the garrison could no longer provide coordinated resistance. Resistance concentrated in several areas. So, the Germans faced desperate resistance in the Volyn and Kobrin fortifications. When the defenders of the fortress rushed into a bayonet attack, the Germans were forced to randomly retreat.
But the forces were unequal, the fortifications fell one by one, and only a few of their defenders reached the citadel. Few remained in the fortifications, but they continued to fight; the last battle in the Kobrin fortification took place on July 23 - a month after the start of the Great Patriotic War.
The last frontier for the German forces was the citadel. The enemy troops met fierce resistance from individual groups of the defenders of the fortress, and as a result of counterattacks, when hand-to-hand combat decided the outcome of the battle, the German assault group was for the most part defeated.
ATTRACTIONS
Historical:
■ The ruins of the White Palace of the citadel (second half of the 18th century).
■ Engineering Department (1836).
■ St. Nicholas Garrison Cathedral (1851-1876).
■ Bypass channel.
Memorial:
■ Square of ceremonials.
■ Obelisk bayonet (1971).
■ Main monument.
■ sculptural composition "Thirst".
■ sculptural composition “To Heroes of the Border, Women and Children Who Stepped into Immortality with Their Courage”.
■ Eternal flame.
■ In 1913, the legendary Hero of the Soviet Union Dmitry Karbyshev (1880-1945), who died in the German concentration camp Mauthausen, took part in the design of the second ring of fortifications of the Brest Fortress.
■ In Germany, after the capture of the Brest-Litovsk fortress on August 13, 1915, a commemorative medal was minted. Two images were applied to it: a portrait of Field Marshal von Mackensen, who commanded the operation to capture the fortress, and a soldier standing against the backdrop of a burning fortification.
■ On March 3, 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed in the White Palace of the fortress. There is a widespread legend that on the wall of the billiard room of the White Palace, the head of the Soviet delegation, Leon Trotsky, inscribed the famous slogan "No war, no peace."
The Slavic settlement Berestye appeared on the island at the confluence of the Western Bug and Mukhavets about 1000 years ago. Many scholars believe that the name "Berestye" came from one of the species of elm wood - birch bark, the wood of which was very much appreciated in the old days as a good material for making sledges, arcs, etc. However, there is another opinion that this name came from birch bark - birch bark, which played important role in the economy of the ancient Slavs. The geographical location of the Berestye settlement was not accidental, since in those days it was the large rivers that were the main means of communication. On them, on rowing and sailing ships, merchants transported their goods, all business relations between the principalities were carried out through them. Ancient Rus', in which the first cities of Belarus passed the initial path of their development. Due to its advantageous geographical location the settlement was repeatedly subjected to devastating raids by cruel conquerors. He was robbed and put to the sword by princes Kievan Rus , Tatar-Mongol hordes, knights of the Teutonic Order, Lithuanian and Polish feudal lords. And therefore, the inhabitants of Berestye, later Brest, more than once had to erect powerful earthen and wooden fortifications and engage in mortal battles with enemy hordes. Brest began to strengthen under the Volyn prince Vladimir. In 1276-1289, a high stone tower and a pentagonal castle were erected in the city, which existed until 1831, and then were dismantled for the construction of new fortifications. In 1319, Brest became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for several centuries, and then of the Commonwealth. With the growth of the city, its main part was moved to a second, larger island, where a trading square with religious buildings was formed. Then the city expanded its borders to the neighboring banks of the Mukhavets and Western Bug rivers. In the XIV century, the knights of the Teutonic Order rushed to the east to seize the East Slavic lands and conquer the peoples who lived on them. They captured Prussia and part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and in 1379 they burned and plundered Brest, but they failed to take the fortress. In 1500, the city suffered from the raid of the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray, but then it was built again and even expanded. In 1554, Brest received its coat of arms, on the red field of which a stone tower was depicted. The basis of the city was the castle, the walls of which with five watchtowers towered over the waters of Mukhavets and the Western Bug. Inside the castle there were buildings of city government, a church, a monastery, a market and houses of wealthy citizens. Outside the walls of the castle, suburbs began, where small artisans, philistines and the urban poor lived. Severe trials fell on the lot of Brest during the war between Russia and the Commonwealth. In 1657, the troops of the Swedish king Charles X, who took advantage of this war, captured the Brest castle and devastated the city. Once again the Swedish army, this time of King Charles XII, captured and sacked the city in 1706 - during the Great Northern War. When in 1795 Brest and the lands adjacent to it became part of Russia, the military-strategic importance of the city increased even more, and the question arose of turning it into an invincible outpost of the state. In 1796, General Engineer of the Russian Army Troops K I Opperman developed an instruction “To view the new border with Prussia and Austria” and a plan for it, according to which it was supposed to build 9 powerful first-line fortresses, including the fortress of Brest-Litovsk. Soon a number of projects were drawn up for the construction of these fortresses, but the invasion of Napoleon's armies delayed the implementation of these plans for a long time. The question of fortifying Brest was returned only in 1829. In 1830, the Construction Committee was formed, headed by Maletsky, and an engineering team led by Captain Wilman. During the construction of fortifications, it was decided to move many city buildings to new places, but even during the preparation for construction, a fire broke out that destroyed more than 500 houses. This natural disaster accelerated the clearing of the territory on which future fortresses were to be built. In a solemn atmosphere, on June 1, 1836, the first stone of the future fortress was laid, at the base of which a board and a box of coins were walled up. For several years, thousands of Russian soldiers and peasants sent here by the government did a great job: manually dug up and moved hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of land, they poured huge earthen ramparts and dug canals. In the spring of 1842, the work was completed, and a military flag was hoisted over the Brest Fortress. On four islands formed by the Western Bug and Mukhavets rivers and artificial bypass channels, there are Kobrin, Volyn and Terespol bridgeheads and the central part of the fortress - the Citadel. Under the huge earthen ramparts that protected the bridgeheads, there were stone casemates and storage facilities. The citadel is a closed massive two-story barracks built of dark red brick. The length of the building along the outer circumference of the central island was 1.8 kilometers; in its walls, the thickness of which was almost 2 meters, loopholes and loopholes were made for firing from guns and small arms. The barracks of the Citadel accommodated 12,000 soldiers. With the advent of new artillery systems in the armies of European countries, it became necessary to carry out additional defensive work to strengthen the Brest Fortress. In the 1860s, at the suggestion of General E.I. Totleben, a well-known Russian fortification engineer, the main earthen rampart is being strengthened in the fortress, redoubts are being built on the Kobrin fortification, traverses are being poured, new powder magazines are being built. The fortification of the Brest Fortress was also carried out later: before the First World War, for example, it was decided to build a second line of 9 powerful forts 6–7 kilometers from the Citadel. The history of the construction of the fortress is also connected with the name of the talented Russian military engineer D.M. Karbyshev, who served as a captain in the Brest Fortress from August 1911 to November 1914. Under his leadership, work was carried out to strengthen the 7th fort on the left bank of the Western Bug, the construction of fort "I" and other structures. During the First World War, reserve units for the front were formed in the Brest Fortress and warehouses were located. When in 1915 German troops approached Brest during the offensive on the Eastern Front, the Russian command evacuated the garrison of the fortress; most of the warehouses were also taken out, and some fortifications were blown up. Until the end of the war, the occupants were in charge of the fortress, and in 1918 the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed in the building of the former White Palace. In 1921, Poland, with the support of the Entente countries, achieved the rejection of the western regions of Ukraine and Belarus, and until September 1939, units of the Polish army were stationed in the Brest Fortress. After the annexation of Western Belarus to the Soviet state, the Brest Fortress, which had already lost its former military significance by that time, housed several units of the Red Army. In the spring of 1941, the 6th Oryol Red Banner and 42nd Rifle Divisions remained here. At the beginning of the summer, the regiments of these formations, as well as artillery and tank units, left for the camps. Only separate disparate units and economic services remained in the fortress. At dawn on June 22, 1941, thousands of air bombs, mines and shells hit the city and the fortress. The surroundings were lit up by flashes of fire, the earth trembled, the one and a half meter walls of the Citadel's guardroom swayed, glass flew out, the iron bindings of the windows curled up like dry leaves ... The Nazis were sure that after a while Russian soldiers and officers would come out to meet them with their hands raised, because it’s no longer times happened in many European cities. 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 reinforced with three artillery regiments , nine mortars, heavy mortar batteries and super-powerful Karl and Thor siege guns. But here it was different than in Europe. The soldiers and officers ran out of the houses and barracks, looked around for a moment, but instead of raising their hands, pressed against the walls of the buildings and, using any cover, began to shoot. Some, riddled with German bullets, remained where they took 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 the remaining in the hands of the Soviet fighters were so well located that they made it possible to keep significant areas under fire. The defenders were sure that they would not have to defend themselves for a long time - the regular units were about to 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 can you really get to him! Many fighters crawled for water - and did not return ... The Nazis did not take seriously the resistance of scattered groups that did not even have connections with each other, and expected that very soon the besieged would raise a white flag. But the fortress continued to fight, and soon the Nazis realized that the Russians were not going to surrender. And then, with a piercing squeal, shells of heavy artillery rushed from behind the Bug, and then the Nazis went on the attack again, and again they had to retreat, leaving the dead and carrying away the wounded. Every day the Nazis intensified the onslaught, but their losses were so great that the army commander ordered to stop the assault on the fortress. Aviation was thrown into the battle and additional artillery was brought up. It seemed that after the shelling and bombing from the air, not a single person could survive in the fortress. But as soon as the Nazis launched another attack, they were again met by rifle and machine-gun fire. A few days after the start of the war, the Germans threw armored vehicles and tanks at the fortress, but when they approached, bundles of grenades flew at them. Several cars caught fire, but the rest continued to move. And suddenly - an explosion, followed by a second, a third ... It was anti-tank mines that were imperceptibly placed by the defenders of the fortress. The surviving tanks crawled back, and Nazi aircraft again appeared over the fortress. In a rage, the Nazi pilots began to drop barrels of fuel from aircraft in the fortress, a sea of \u200b\u200bfire raged, and it became hell. It seemed that the fire would finally destroy all life, but when the flame went out and the Nazis went on the attack again, they were met by bullets and bayonets from the defenders of the fortress. On the seventeenth day of the assault, the Germans announced the capture of the fortress, but this was not so. For about a month, the Brest Fortress was defended - a handful of Soviet fighters against almost a whole corps of Nazis. The Nazis entered the fortress only after there were only seriously wounded, unconscious soldiers and officers left. Even the enemies with involuntary respect later spoke about the stamina and courage of the defenders of the Brest Fortress. In particular, Otto Skorzeny later writes in his book “Special Mission”: “The Russians in the central fortress of the city continued to offer desperate resistance. We captured all the external defenses, but I had to crawl through, because the enemy snipers hit without a miss. The Russians rejected all offers of capitulation and an end to futile resistance. Several attempts to sneak up and seize the fortress by storm ended in failure. The dead soldiers in grey-green uniforms that littered the space in front of the fortress were eloquent evidence of this. The Russians fought to the last minute and to the last man.
Address: Republic of Belarus, Brest
Start of construction: 1833
Completion of construction: 1915
Main attractions: sculptural composition "Thirst", main monument, bayonet-obelisk, St. Nicholas garrison church, Kholmsky gate, monument to the heroes of the border
Coordinates: 52°04"57.5"N 23°39"21.7"E
Ancient Brest was founded in the 11th century on a cape formed by the Western Bug and Mukhavets rivers. "The Tale of Bygone Years" calls this settlement Berestye, mentioning it in connection with the struggle of Svyatopolk Vladimirovich and Yaroslav the Wise for the grand throne.
Main entrance to the fortress
Occupying a strategic position at the crossroads of two trade routes, Berestye has become a major shopping mall. One of the routes led along the Western Bug to Poland, the Baltic states and Western Europe; and the second - along the rivers Mukhovets, Pripyat and Dnieper connected the city with the Black Sea region and the Middle East. Border Brest became an object of struggle between the powers. For 800 years of its history, the city has been under the rule of the Principality of Turov, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland, and only in 1795, as a result of the third partition of the Commonwealth, it was annexed to Russia.
Ceremonial Square, main monument, obelisk bayonet
During the war with Napoleon, Russian troops recaptured Brest, captured by the French, and dealt a heavy blow to the enemy cavalry units. Having celebrated the victory, the tsarist government decided to build a powerful citadel in Brest.
Like Bobruisk, medieval Brest was demolished, and a modern outpost grew up on the site of the ancient settlement in 6 years - from 1836 to 1842. A fire in 1835 that destroyed 300 buildings accelerated the clearing of the area.
main monument
Fire victims received monetary compensation, loans with money and timber, and built a new city 2 km east of the fortress. On April 26, 1842, the Brest Fortress joined the line of first-class citadels guarding the western borders of the Russian Empire.
The device of the Brest Fortress in the XIX century
The main fortification of the citadel, standing on an island between the Bug and Mukhavets rivers, consisted of two two-story barracks with walls about 2 meters thick.
Sculptural composition "Thirst"
500 casemates could accommodate 12,000 fighters with the necessary weapons, ammunition and provisions. Through the embrasures, cut in the niches of the walls, the enemy was fired from cannons and rifles. Four protruding semicircular towers covered the main citadel from fire and allowed flanking fire from throwing guns. A system of drawbridges connected the main fortification with three artificial islands formed by Mukhavets and ditches.
Monument to the Heroes of the Border
Bastion forts with ravelins stood on the islands. Outside, the Brest Fortress was surrounded by a 10-meter earthen rampart, in the thickness of which there were stone casemates. From the ring barracks, the citadel could be entered through four gates; to date, three of them have survived - Kholmsky, Terespolsky and Northern.
Temples were rebuilt for the needs of the garrison. Thus, the Basilian monastery, later known as the White Palace, was used for officer meetings. In 1864 - 1888, engineer-general E. I. Totleben reinforced the fortress with a ring of 9 forts, each of which could accommodate a garrison of 250 people and 20 guns.
Kholm Gate
Brest Fortress in World War I
Since 1913, intensive work has been carried out to prepare the fortress for defense with the involvement of peasants from the surrounding villages and artels coming from the Kaluga and Ryazan provinces. By 1915, the construction of 14 forts, 5 defensive barracks and 21 defensive points was completed. The Brest fortifications were well prepared, but on the very eve of the war, the military reform of General Gurko broke out, during which all infantry divisions were disbanded. By the beginning of the First World War, the citadel did not have a combat-ready garrison (it consisted only of militias), so the supreme command decided to evacuate.
Ruins of the White Palace
Retreating, the Russian army partially burned down the most modern forts. And three years later, the Brest Fortress became famous throughout Europe - it was here, within the walls of the White Palace, that the Brest Peace Treaty was concluded.
Brest Fortress-Hero - a symbol of patriotism and courage
On June 22, 1941, at 4 o'clock in the morning, Germany suddenly attacked Soviet Russia without declaring war. At 04:15, the Nazi invaders opened artillery fire on the border fortress of Brest, when the Red Army soldiers were still sleeping.
Terespol Gate
Barracks, warehouses began to collapse, the water supply system failed, communication was interrupted. The garrison, taken by surprise, was divided into separate pockets and found itself cut off from the main forces of the Red Army. The Germans surrounded the fortress in a dense ring and bombarded it with heavy shells. 3500 Russian fighters, in conditions of an acute shortage of ammunition, provisions and water, held back the onslaught of the enemy for more than a month. May 8, 1965 for the heroic defense of the citadel in Brest was awarded the title of hero-fortress.
View of the barracks from the Terespol Gate
In 1971, in memory of the feat of the Red Army, a memorial complex " Brest Fortress-Hero". In the center of the complex there is a huge sculpture "Courage" depicting the head of a warrior and a banner. The memorial also includes the Ceremonial Square, tombstones over the graves of heroes, the ruins of the citadel, the Thirst sculpture and the obelisk bayonet. "Thirst", made in the form of a figure of a soldier crawling towards the water, recalls how many soldiers died trying to get precious drops. The enemy knew about the lack of water and fired at the approaches to the river.
Brest Fortress - this phrase evokes in any person an association about the heroic defenders who fought against the treacherously attacked fascist invaders in the early summer of 1941. How long did her defense last? Official sources speak of eight days, unofficial sources say that the fighters defended it until August 1941.
The history of this world famous symbol of the heroism of Soviet soldiers began long before the events that glorified it.
The appearance of a medieval fortress
The first mention of the fortress is found in the literary monument "The Tale of Bygone Years" in the eleventh century. Berestye - that was the name of the settlement of those times - was located between two rivers - the Western Bug and Mukhavets. In those days, the main trade routes passed mainly along the waterways. There was also the most successful place - along the Bug it was possible to sail to the European part - Lithuania, Poland and beyond, and along the Mukhavets - through the steppes to the Middle East.
It is practically impossible to restore the original appearance of the medieval fortress - very rare museum documents have been preserved on how the fortress looked originally. For many centuries, it passed from the power of one state into the possession of another, its appearance underwent changes, the fortress was overgrown with buildings. But, despite the changes inspired by the demands of the times, the fortress managed to maintain its charm of the Middle Ages for a very long time.
Military history of the fortress
The fortress became the final Russian possession only at the end of the eighteenth century. Prior to that, it was owned by Lithuanians, Poles, it was also under the jurisdiction of the Principality of Turov.
IN Russian Empire the fortress was not given strategic importance until the nineties of the eighteenth century. It was then that the supreme ranks of the Russian army, concerned about strengthening the frontiers, drew attention to its successful location. But they did not manage to realize their plans for perestroika and its strengthening soon.
To every Russian as the year of the invasion of Napoleonic troops. It was then that the military history of the fortress began. The Russian troops successfully repulsed the attack of the cavalrymen, preventing the enemy from strengthening in Brest. That military episode impressed the tsarist government, which decided to build a powerful defensive structure on the site of ancient buildings.
In 1825 Emperor Nicholas I ascended the throne. He considered the strengthening of the western borders of the Russian Empire one of the main priorities of his state activity. In 1829, General K.I. Opermann created a project for the Brest-Litovsk fortress, and in 1830 he already laid down on the emperor's table for approval.
Fire in the old fortress
The fire that arose on the old fortress in 1835 accelerated the construction of a new building, and already on June 1, 1836, the commander-in-chief of the army, Prince I.F. Paskevich laid the first stone for the construction. The work was completed in April 1842. The fortress was a citadel, the thickness of the walls of which was about two meters, fortified with a fortress wall, the length of which was 6.4 km. Five hundred casemates located there could accommodate more than 12 thousand people. It was located on the island and communicated with the main land through drawbridges. At the time of opening, it was the most powerful and modern building in Russia.
The military managed to convince the emperor that it was not advisable to place the civilian population in the fortress. Therefore, the cadet corps settled there. The residents of the old fortress who had previously suffered from the fire were given money and recommended to settle in another place, a couple of kilometers from it. Thus, the fire clearly played into the hands of all the participants - the government resolved the issue of relocating residents, the residents received compensation for arranging a new life, and the military received a well-fortified fortress.
In peacetime, the rhythm of life in Brest was very measured. There were several churches, services were held, officer meetings were held in the White Palace, which previously served as a monastery.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the fortress was no longer a model of advanced military thought. Only a third of the weapons that the military had were of a modern design. To the beginning, the defense of the fortress was crippled, oddly enough, by the military reform - it withdrew the infantry from the citadel, and the militias became the defenders of the fortress. The fortress began to be urgently reconstructed - thousands of civilians were involved in this construction. In the spring of 1915, the Russian borders received one of the most powerful defensive structures.
But by decision of the command, already in August 1915, valuable property was taken out, the fortress was partially blown up and left by Russian troops.
Humiliating Brest Peace
The next significant event that took place here dates back to March 3, 1918. The humiliating one was signed precisely in Brest, which passed into the possession of the Germans first, and then the Poles. The latter, with the outbreak of the Soviet-Polish war in 1919, set up a camp for Russian prisoners of war in it.
In 1920, Brest was conquered, but then again passed to the Poles. Brest was finally annexed to Poland for several decades after the conclusion of the Peace of Riga in 1921.
The Poles used the fortress for its intended purpose - as a barracks, there were also military depots. A political prison was also located there, in which political figures opposed to the current government were kept.
On September 2, 1939, the Germans launched an attack on the fortress and recaptured it from Poland. And on September 22, 1939, the fortress was handed over to the Soviet side. In honor of this, a joint parade of German and Soviet troops. That day can be considered the date of entry of Brest into the USSR.
The most dramatic history of the fortress
On the day of the German attack on Soviet Union the garrison consisted of 9 thousand fighters, not counting the families of military personnel. June 22 opened the most dramatic page in the history of the fortress. The garrison woke up from heavy fire, which the Germans opened at 4.15 in the morning. By noon German command planned to capture Brest and move on. But the defenders, taken by surprise, managed to mobilize. And although it was not possible to organize a general command in this fiery chaos, the fighters began to resist, interacting in small groups. On the Volyn and Kobrin fortifications, even bayonet battles began.
Two days later, the Germans managed to capture the Volyn and Terespol fortifications, and their garrisons went under the protection of the Citadel. Every day, the defenders repulsed several attacks, heavy fire was fired at them, interrupted by the Nazis only to invite the remaining defenders to surrender. On June 26, the Citadel finally fell, three days later - the Eastern Fort. But the resistance did not end there - single fighters and small groups continued to put up fierce resistance, trying to break into the partisan detachments.
The solitary resistance of the Soviet soldiers continued until August. This is evidenced by the inscriptions on the stones left by the soldiers of the Soviet Army. In order to clear the fortress from the last fighting soldiers, the Wehrmacht was forced to flood the cellars of buildings.
The results of this fierce and heroic resistance were large-scale losses on both sides: the Germans lost about 1,200 people, of which more than a hundred were officers. Soviet army lost about 7000 prisoners, 1877 - killed.
The Brest Fortress has long become a symbol of the resilience of our soldiers and officers during the Great Patriotic War. In this fortress, the Nazi troops for the first time received a real hard rebuff.
The capture of the Brest Fortress was one of the first tasks of the Nazis in accordance with the Barbarossa plan. They hoped to do this within a few hours, not expecting to meet serious resistance there.
However, the repulse of the Red Army units in the Brest Fortress knocked down all their plans, and the Wehrmacht troops were forced to capture this fortification for several days, losing a lot of manpower and military equipment.
Fortress in Brest on the map
The city of Berestye, on the site of which the Brest Fortress stands today, is mentioned in The Tale of Bygone Years. It was a rich city, but it was located at the junction of lands, so it often changed hands between Russians, Poles and Lithuanians.
The Brest Fortress was built at the direction of the Russian Emperor Nicholas I on the island where the Western Bug and Mukhavets rivers merge. Here is the most direct and shortest route from Warsaw to Moscow.
The fortress was a two-story building with powerful thick walls and five hundred casemates. More than 12,000 people could be in it at once. And the walls withstood any weapon that existed in the 19th century.
Around natural island, where the Brest Fortress stands, several artificial islands were created with additional fortifications to protect the citadel from enemy troops.
The fortress was built in the early 40s of the XIX century
Over time, military engineers came to the conclusion that the Brest fortress needed a third line of defense in order to protect the citadel at a distance of almost 10 km. So an artillery battery, barracks, strongholds and forts were built here.
An extraordinary find
At the beginning of 1942, in the most terrible times of the Great Patriotic War, the Nazis advanced deep into the USSR, and the Red Army tried to stop them. Under Orel, a Wehrmacht division was defeated and its archive was confiscated.
A report with attached documents was found in the captured archive, in which a German officer reported on the capture of the Brest Fortress. This is how the first information about what actually happened in Brest in June 1941 appeared.
By the time the Nazis attacked the USSR, this fortress, in fact, was a military town where Soviet border guards lived with their families. The premises in it were used as barracks.
Military exercises were planned for June 22, so various army units arrived at the Brest fortress. And Brest was stormed by an elite infantry division of the Wehrmacht, which had already passed half of Europe.
The Germans had a plan for the Brest Fortress. Because once they already took it from the Poles, and with the use of aerial bombardment, they knew all its strengths and weak spots. Therefore, they started traditionally - with shelling, and then an assault followed.
German attack aircraft quickly reached the citadel through the Terespol fortification, occupied a canteen, a club, and some casemates. Our soldiers and officers took up defensive positions, and the first detachments of attack aircraft were surrounded.
The next day, the second offensive of the Nazis began. And our military managed to organize the defense and were sure that it was only necessary to hold positions, waiting for reinforcements. They could no longer communicate with the outside world.
An attempt by the Germans to immediately capture the Brest Fortress failed, they withdrew their troops and, after dark, resumed shelling. Significantly, the Wehrmacht retreated for the first time since the outbreak of World War II.
