Defense of the Brest Fortress. Brest Fortress on the eve of the war

Krivonogov, Pyotr Alexandrovich, oil painting “Defenders of the Brest Fortress”, 1951.

The defense of the Brest Fortress in June 1941 is one of the first battles of the Great Patriotic War.

On the eve of the war

By June 22, 1941, the fortress housed 8 rifle and 1 reconnaissance battalions, 2 artillery divisions (anti-tank and air defense), some special forces 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 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 at least 7 thousand people, not counting family members (300 military families).

According to General L.M. Sandalov, “the deployment of Soviet troops in Western Belarus was not initially subordinated to operational considerations, but was determined by the availability of barracks and premises suitable for housing troops. This, in particular, explained the crowded location of half the troops of the 4th Army with with all their warehouses of emergency reserves (NZ) on the very border - in Brest and the Brest Fortress." in the Brest fortified area. Of the troops stationed in the fortress, only one rifle battalion, reinforced by an artillery division, was provided for its defense.

The assault on the fortress, the city of Brest and the capture of bridges across the Western Bug and Mukhavets was entrusted to the 45th Infantry Division (45th Infantry Division) of Major General Fritz Schlieper (about 18 thousand people) with reinforcement units and in cooperation with units of neighboring formations (including including mortar battalions assigned to the 31st and 34th Infantry Divisions of the 12th Army Corps of the 4th German Army and used by the 45th Infantry Division during the first five minutes of the artillery raid), for a total of up to 22 thousand people.

Storming the fortress

In addition to the divisional artillery of the 45th Wehrmacht Infantry Division, nine light and three heavy batteries, a high-power artillery battery (two super-heavy 600-mm Karl self-propelled mortars) and a mortar division were involved in artillery preparation. In addition, the commander of the 12th Army Corps concentrated the fire of two mortar divisions of the 34th and 31st infantry divisions on the fortress. The order to withdraw units of the 42nd Infantry Division from the fortress, given personally by the commander of the 4th Army, Major General A. A. Korobkov, to the chief of staff of the division by telephone in the period from 3 hours 30 minutes to 3 hours 45 minutes, before the start of hostilities, was not managed to complete it.

On June 22 at 3:15 (4:15 Soviet “maternity” 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 (according to the surviving defenders, there was no water in the water supply two days before the assault), communications were interrupted, and serious damage was caused to the garrison. At 3:23 the assault began. Up to one and a half thousand infantry men 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, having passed the Citadel, advanced groups reached the Kobrin fortification. However, parts of the garrison that found themselves behind German lines launched a counterattack, dismembering and almost completely 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's 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.

By 7:00 on June 22, the 42nd and 6th rifle divisions left the fortress and the city of Brest, but many soldiers from these divisions did not manage to get out of the fortress. It was they who continued to fight in it. According to historian R. Aliyev, about 8 thousand people left the fortress, and about 5 thousand remained in it. According to other sources, on June 22, there were only 3 to 4 thousand people in the fortress, since part of the personnel of both divisions was outside the fortress - in summer camps, during exercises, during the construction of the Brest fortified area (sapper battalions, an engineer regiment, one battalion each from each rifle regiment and a division from artillery regiments).

From a combat report on the actions of the 6th Infantry Division:

At 4 o'clock in the morning on June 22, hurricane fire was opened on the barracks, on the exits from the barracks in the central part of the fortress, on the bridges and entrance gates and on the houses of the commanding staff. This raid caused confusion and panic among the Red Army personnel. The command staff, who were attacked in their apartments, were partially destroyed. The surviving commanders could not penetrate the barracks due to the strong barrage placed on the bridge in the central part of the fortress and at the entrance gate. As a result, Red Army soldiers and junior commanders, without control from mid-level commanders, dressed and undressed, in groups and individually, left the fortress, crossing the bypass canal, the Mukhavets River and the rampart of the fortress under artillery, mortar and machine-gun fire. It was not possible to take into account the losses, since scattered units of the 6th Division mixed with scattered units of the 42nd Division, and many could not get to the assembly point because at about 6 o’clock artillery fire was already concentrated on it.

Sandalov L. M. Combat actions of the troops of the 4th Army in the initial period of the Great Patriotic War.

By 9 o'clock in the morning the fortress was surrounded. During the day, the Germans were forced to bring into battle the reserve of the 45th Infantry Division (135pp/2), as well as the 130th Infantry Regiment, which was originally the corps' reserve, thus bringing the assault force to two regiments.

Monument to the defenders of the Brest Fortress and the Eternal Flame

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. However, 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 (chief chemical services of the 455th Infantry Regiment) and Captain I.N. Zubachev (deputy commander of the 44th Infantry Regiment for economic affairs), 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 (military commissar of the 84th rifle regiment), senior lieutenant N. F. Shcherbakov (assistant chief of staff of the 33rd separate engineering regiment) and lieutenant A. K. Shugurov (executive 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 escape beyond the main rampart, almost all of 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, which consisted of 600 soldiers and commanders of the Red Army, was commanded by Major P. M. Gavrilov (commander of the 44th Infantry Regiment). In the area of ​​the Terespol Gate, groups of fighters under the command of Senior Lieutenant A.E. Potapov (in the basements of the barracks of the 333rd Infantry Regiment) and border guards of the 9th Border Outpost under Lieutenant A.M. Kizhevatov (in the building of the border outpost) continued to fight. On this day, the Germans managed to capture 570 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 kilograms, 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).

There remained only isolated pockets of resistance and single fighters who gathered in groups and organized active resistance, or tried to break out of the fortress and go to the partisans in Belovezhskaya Pushcha (many succeeded). In the basements of the barracks of the 333rd regiment at the Terespol Gate, the group of A.E. Potapov and the border guards of A.M. Kizhevatov who joined it continued to fight until June 29. On June 29, they made a desperate attempt to break through to the south, towards the Western Island, in order to then turn to the east, during which most of its participants died or were captured. 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". The resistance of single Soviet soldiers in the casemates of the fortress continued until August 1941, 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.

German troops captured about 3 thousand Soviet military personnel in the fortress (according to the report of the commander of the 45th division, Lieutenant General Schlieper, on June 30, 25 officers, 2877 junior commanders and soldiers were captured), 1877 Soviet military personnel died in the fortress .

The total German losses in the Brest Fortress amounted to 1,197 people, of which 87 Wehrmacht officers on the Eastern Front during the first week of the war.

Lessons Learned:

Short, strong artillery fire on old fortress brick walls, fastened with concrete, deep basements and unobserved shelters does not give an effective result. Long-term aimed fire for destruction and fire of great force are required to thoroughly destroy fortified centers.

Commissioning assault guns, tanks, etc. is very difficult due to the invisibility of many shelters, fortresses and a large number of possible targets and does not give the expected results due to the thickness of the walls of the structures. In particular, a heavy mortar is not suitable for such purposes.

An excellent means of causing moral shock to those in shelters is to drop large caliber bombs.

An attack on a fortress in which a brave defender sits costs a lot of blood. This simple truth was once again proven during the capture of Brest-Litovsk. Heavy artillery is also a powerful stunning means of moral influence.

The Russians in Brest-Litovsk fought exceptionally stubbornly and persistently. They showed excellent infantry training and proved a remarkable will to fight.

Combat report from the commander of the 45th division, Lieutenant General Shlieper, on the occupation of the Brest-Litovsk fortress, July 8, 1941.

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 sorting through 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.

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.

Difficulties of the study

Restoring the course of events in the Brest Fortress in June 1941 is greatly hampered by the almost complete absence of documents from the Soviet side. The main sources of information are the testimonies of the surviving defenders of the fortress, received in large numbers after a significant period of time after the end of the war. There is reason to believe that these testimonies contain a lot of unreliable information, including deliberately distorted information for one reason or another. For example, for many key witnesses, the dates and circumstances of captivity do not correspond to the data recorded in the German prisoners of war cards. For the most part, the date of capture in German documents is earlier than the date reported by the witness himself in post-war testimony. In this regard, there are doubts about the reliability of the information contained in such testimony.

In art

Feature films

"Immortal Garrison" (1956);

“Battle for Moscow”, film one “Aggression” (one of the storylines) (USSR, 1985);

“State Border”, fifth film “The Year forty-one” (USSR, 1986);

“I am a Russian soldier” - based on the book by Boris Vasiliev “Not on the lists” (Russia, 1995);

“Brest Fortress” (Belarus-Russia, 2010).

Documentaries

“Heroes of Brest” - a documentary film about the heroic defense of the Brest Fortress at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War (TSSDF Studio, 1957);

“Dear Hero Fathers” - an amateur documentary about the 1st All-Union rally of the winners of the youth march to places of military glory in the Brest Fortress (1965);

“Brest Fortress” - a documentary trilogy about the defense of the fortress in 1941 (VoenTV, 2006);

“Brest Fortress” (Russia, 2007).

"Brest. Serf heroes." (NTV, 2010).

“Berastseiskaya fortress: dzve abarons” (Belsat, 2009)

Fiction

Vasiliev B.L. Was not included in the lists. - M.: Children's literature, 1986. - 224 p.

Oshaev Kh. D. Brest is a fiery nut. - M.: Book, 1990. - 141 p.

Smirnov S.S. Brest Fortress. - M.: Young Guard, 1965. - 496 p.

Songs

“There is no death for the heroes of Brest” - song by Eduard Khil.

“The Brest Trumpeter” - music by Vladimir Rubin, lyrics by Boris Dubrovin.

“Dedicated to the heroes of Brest” - words and music by Alexander Krivonosov.

Interesting facts

According to Boris Vasiliev’s book “Not on the Lists,” the last known defender of the fortress surrendered on April 12, 1942. S. Smirnov in the book “Brest Fortress” also, referring to eyewitness accounts, names April 1942.

On August 22, 2016, Vesti Israel reported that the last surviving participant in the defense of the Brest Fortress, Boris Faershtein, died in Ashdod.

Since February 1941, Germany began transferring troops to the borders of the Soviet Union. At the beginning of June, there were almost continuous reports from the operational departments of the western border districts and armies, indicating that the concentration of German troops near the borders of the USSR was completed. In a number of areas, the enemy began dismantling the wire fences he had previously set up and clearing strips of mines on the ground, clearly preparing passages for his troops to the Soviet border. Large German tank groups were withdrawn to their original areas. Everything pointed to the imminent start of war.

At half past twelve on the night of June 22, 1941, a directive signed by the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR S.K. Timoshenko and the Chief of the General Staff G.K. Zhukov was sent to the command of the Leningrad, Baltic Special, Western Special, Kiev Special and Odessa Military Districts. It said that during June 22-23 a surprise attack by German troops on the fronts of these districts was possible. It was also indicated that the attack could begin with provocative actions, so the task of the Soviet troops was not to succumb to any provocations. However, the need for districts to be in full combat readiness to meet a possible surprise attack from the enemy was further emphasized. The directive obliged the commanders of the troops: a) during the night of June 22, secretly occupy firing points of fortified areas on the state border; b) before dawn, disperse all aviation, including military aviation, to field airfields, carefully camouflage it; c) put all units on combat readiness; keep troops dispersed and camouflaged; d) bring air defense to combat readiness without additional increase in assigned personnel. Prepare all measures to darken cities and objects. However, the western military districts did not have time to fully implement this order.

The Great Patriotic War began on June 22, 1941 with the invasion of army groups "North", "Center" and "South" in three strategic directions, aimed at Leningrad, Moscow, Kyiv, with the task of dissecting, encircling and destroying the troops of the Soviet border districts and get on the line Arkhangelsk - Astrakhan. Already at 4.10 am, the Western and Baltic special districts reported to the General Staff about the start of hostilities by German troops.

The main striking force of Germany, as during the invasion in the west, was four powerful armored groups. Two of them, the 2nd and 3rd, were included in Army Group Center, designed to be the main offensive front, and one each was included in Army Groups North and South. At the forefront of the main attack, the activities of the armored groups were supported by the power of the 4th and 9th field armies, and from the air by the aviation of the 2nd Air Fleet. In total, Army Group Center (commanded by Field Marshal von Bock) consisted of 820 thousand people, 1,800 tanks, 14,300 guns and mortars and 1,680 combat aircraft. The idea of ​​the commander of Army Group Center, which was advancing in the eastern strategic direction, was to deliver two converging attacks with tank groups on the flanks of Soviet troops in Belarus in the general direction of Minsk, to encircle the main forces of the Western Special Military District (from June 22 - Western front) and destroy them with field armies. In the future, the German command planned to send mobile troops to the Smolensk area to prevent the approach of strategic reserves and their occupation of defense at a new line.

Hitler's command hoped that by delivering a surprise attack with concentrated masses of tanks, infantry and aircraft it would be possible to stun the Soviet troops, crush the defenses and achieve decisive strategic success in the first days of the war. The command of Army Group Center concentrated the bulk of troops and military equipment in the first operational echelon, which included 28 divisions, including 22 infantry, 4 tank, 1 cavalry, 1 security. A high operational density of troops was created in the defense breakthrough areas (the average operational density was about 10 km per division, and in the direction of the main attack - up to 5-6 km). This allowed the enemy to achieve significant superiority in forces and means over Soviet troops in the direction of the main attack. The superiority in manpower was 6.5 times, in the number of tanks - 1.8 times, in the number of guns and mortars - 3.3 times.

The troops of the Western Special Military District located in the border zone took on the blow of this armada. The Soviet border guards were the first to engage in battle with the advanced units of the enemy.

The Brest Fortress was a whole complex of defensive structures. The central one is the Citadel - a pentagonal closed two-story defensive barracks with a perimeter of 1.8 km, with walls almost two meters thick, with loopholes, embrasures, and casemates. The central fortification is located on an island formed by the Bug and two branches of the Mukhavets. Three artificial islands are connected to this island by bridges, formed by Mukhavets and ditches, on which there were the Terespol fortification with the Terespol Gate and a bridge over the Western Bug, Volynskoye - with the Kholm Gate and a drawbridge over Mukhavets, Kobrinskoye - with the Brest and Brigitsky gates and bridges across Mukhavets .

Defenders of the Brest Fortress. Soldiers of the 44th Infantry Regiment of the 42nd Infantry Division. 1941 Photo from BELTA archive

On the day of Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union, 7 rifle battalions and 1 reconnaissance battalion, 2 artillery divisions, some special forces of rifle regiments and units of corps units, assemblies of the assigned personnel of the 6th Oryol Red Banner and 42nd rifle divisions of the 28th rifle corps were stationed in the Brest Fortress 4th Army, units of the 17th Red Banner Brest Border Detachment, 33rd Separate Engineer Regiment, part of the 132nd Battalion of NKVD Troops, unit headquarters (division headquarters and 28th Rifle Corps were located in Brest). The units were not deployed in a combat manner and did not occupy positions on the border lines. Some units or their subdivisions were in camps, training grounds, and during the construction of fortified areas. At the time of the attack, there were from 7 to 8 thousand Soviet soldiers in the fortress, and 300 military families lived here.

From the first minutes of the war, Brest and the fortress were subjected to massive air bombing and artillery shelling. The Brest Fortress was stormed by the German 45th Infantry Division (about 17 thousand soldiers and officers) in cooperation with the 31st and 34th Infantry Divisions of the 12th Army Corps of the 4th German Army, as well as 2 tank divisions of the 2nd Tank Guderian's group, with the active support of aviation and reinforcement units armed with heavy artillery systems. The enemy's goal was, using the surprise of the attack, to capture the Citadel and force the Soviet garrison to surrender.

Before the assault began, the enemy conducted a hurricane of targeted artillery fire on the fortress for half an hour, moving a barrage of artillery fire every 4 minutes 100 m deep into the fortress. Next came the enemy's shock assault groups, which, according to the plans of the German command, were to capture the fortifications by 12 noon on June 22. As a result of shelling and fires, most of the warehouses and equipment, many other objects were destroyed or destroyed, the water supply stopped working, and communications were interrupted. A significant part of the soldiers and commanders were put out of action, and the fortress garrison was divided into separate groups.

In the first minutes of the war, border guards at the Terespol fortification, Red Army soldiers and cadets of the regimental schools of the 84th and 125th rifle regiments located near the border, at the Volyn and Kobrin fortifications, entered into battle with the enemy. Their stubborn resistance allowed approximately half of the personnel to leave the fortress on the morning of June 22, withdraw several guns and light tanks to the areas where their units were concentrated, and evacuate the first wounded. There were 3.5-4 thousand Soviet soldiers left in the fortress. The enemy had almost 10-fold superiority in forces.

Germans at the Terespol Gate of the Brest Fortress. June, 1941. Photo from BELTA archive

On the first day of fighting, by 9 a.m. the fortress was surrounded. The advanced units of the 45th German division tried to capture the fortress on the move. Through the bridge at the Terespol Gate, enemy assault groups broke into the Citadel and captured the building of the regimental club (former church), which dominated other buildings, where artillery fire spotters immediately settled. At the same time, the enemy developed an offensive in the direction of the Kholm and Brest Gates, hoping to connect there with groups advancing from the Volyn and Kobrin fortifications. This plan was thwarted. At the Kholm Gate, soldiers of the 3rd battalion and headquarters units of the 84th Infantry Regiment entered into battle with the enemy; at the Brest Gate, soldiers of the 455th Infantry Regiment, the 37th Separate Signal Battalion, and the 33rd Separate Engineer Regiment went into a counterattack. The enemy was crushed and overthrown by bayonet attacks.

The retreating Nazis were met with heavy fire by Soviet soldiers at the Terespol Gate, which by that time had been recaptured from the enemy. Border guards of the 9th border outpost and headquarters units of the 3rd border commandant's office - the 132nd NKVD battalion, soldiers of the 333rd and 44th rifle regiments, and the 31st separate motor vehicle battalion - were entrenched here. They held the bridge across the Western Bug under targeted rifle and machine-gun fire and prevented the enemy from establishing a pontoon crossing across the river to the Kobrin fortification. Only a few of the German machine gunners who broke into the Citadel managed to take refuge in the club building and the nearby command staff canteen building. The enemy here was destroyed on the second day. Subsequently, these buildings changed hands several times.

Almost simultaneously, fierce battles broke out throughout the fortress. From the very beginning, they acquired the character of a defense of its individual fortifications without a single headquarters and command, without communication and almost without interaction between the defenders of different fortifications. The defenders were led by commanders and political workers, in some cases by ordinary soldiers who took command. In the shortest possible time, they rallied their forces and organized a rebuff to the Nazi invaders.

By the evening of June 22, the enemy entrenched himself in part of the defensive barracks between the Kholm and Terespol gates (later used it as a bridgehead in the Citadel), and captured several sections of the barracks at the Brest Gate. However, the enemy's calculation of surprise did not materialize; Through defensive battles and counterattacks, Soviet soldiers pinned down the enemy's forces and inflicted heavy losses on them.

Late in the evening, the German command decided to pull back its infantry from the fortifications, create a blockade line behind the outer ramparts, and begin the assault on the fortress again on the morning of June 23 with artillery shelling and bombing. The fighting in the fortress took on a fierce, protracted character, which the enemy did not expect. On the territory of each fortification, the Nazi invaders met stubborn heroic resistance from Soviet soldiers.

On the territory of the border Terespol fortification, the defense was held by soldiers of the driver course of the Belarusian border district under the command of the head of the course, senior lieutenant F.M. Melnikov and the course teacher, lieutenant Zhdanov, the transport company of the 17th border detachment, led by the commander, senior lieutenant A.S. Cherny, together with the soldiers cavalry courses, a sapper platoon, reinforced squads of the 9th border outpost, a veterinary hospital, and training camps for athletes. They managed to clear most of the territory of the fortification from the enemy who had broken through, but due to a lack of ammunition and large losses in personnel, they could not hold it. On the night of June 25, the remnants of the groups of Melnikov, who died in battle, and Cherny crossed the Western Bug and joined the defenders of the Citadel and the Kobrin fortification.

At the beginning of hostilities, the Volyn fortification housed the hospitals of the 4th Army and the 28th Rifle Corps, the 95th medical battalion of the 6th Rifle Division, and there was a small part of the regimental school for junior commanders of the 84th Rifle Regiment, detachments of the 9th th border posts. Within the hospital, the defense was organized by battalion commissar N.S. Bogateev and military doctor 2nd rank S.S. Babkin (both died). German machine gunners who burst into hospital buildings brutally dealt with the sick and wounded. The defense of the Volyn fortification is full of examples of the dedication of soldiers and medical personnel who fought to the end in the ruins of buildings. While covering the wounded, nurses V.P. Khoretskaya and E.I. Rovnyagina died. Having captured the sick, wounded, medical staff, and children, on June 23 the Nazis used them as a human barrier, driving the submachine gunners ahead of the attacking Kholm gates. "Shoot, don't spare us!" - Soviet patriots shouted. By the end of the week, the focal defense at the fortification faded. Some fighters joined the ranks of the Citadel’s defenders; a few managed to break out of the enemy ring.

The course of defense required the unification of all the forces of the fortress defenders. On June 24, a meeting of commanders and political workers was held in the Citadel, where the issue of creating a consolidated combat group, forming units from soldiers of different units, and approving their commanders who stood out during the fighting were decided. Order No. 1 was given, according to which the command of the group was entrusted to Captain Zubachev, and regimental commissar Fomin was appointed his deputy. In practice, they were able to lead the defense only in the Citadel. Although the command of the combined group failed to unite the leadership of the battles throughout the fortress, the headquarters played a big role in intensifying the fighting.

Germans in the Brest Fortress. 1941 Photo from BELTA archive

By decision of the command of the combined group, attempts were made to break through the encirclement. On June 26, a detachment of 120 people led by Lieutenant Vinogradov went on a breakthrough. 13 soldiers managed to break through the eastern boundary of the fortress, but they were captured by the enemy. Other attempts at a massive breakthrough from the besieged fortress were also unsuccessful; only individual small groups were able to break through. The remaining small garrison of Soviet troops continued to fight with extraordinary tenacity and tenacity.

The Nazis methodically attacked the fortress for a whole week. Soviet soldiers had to fight off 6-8 attacks a day. There were women and children next to the fighters. They helped the wounded, brought ammunition, and took part in hostilities. The Nazis used tanks, flamethrowers, gases, set fire to and rolled barrels of flammable mixtures from the outer shafts.

Being completely surrounded, without water and food, and with an acute shortage of ammunition and medicine, the garrison courageously fought the enemy. In the first 9 days of fighting alone, the defenders of the fortress disabled about 1.5 thousand enemy soldiers and officers. By the end of June, the enemy captured most of the fortress; on June 29 and 30, the Nazis launched a continuous two-day assault on the fortress using powerful aerial bombs. On June 29, Andrei Mitrofanovich Kizhevatov died while covering the breakthrough group with several fighters. In the Citadel on June 30, the Nazis captured the seriously wounded and shell-shocked Captain Zubachev and Regimental Commissar Fomin, whom the Nazis shot near the Kholm Gate. On June 30, after a long shelling and bombing, which ended in a fierce attack, the Nazis captured most of the structures of the Eastern Fort and captured the wounded.

As a result of bloody battles and losses, the defense of the fortress broke up into a number of isolated centers of resistance. Until July 12, a small group of fighters led by Pyotr Mikhailovich Gavrilov continued to fight in the Eastern Fort, until he, seriously wounded, together with the secretary of the Komsomol bureau of the 98th separate anti-tank artillery division, deputy political instructor G.D. Derevyanko, was captured on July 23 .

But even after the 20th of July, Soviet soldiers continued to fight in the fortress. The last days of the struggle are covered in legends. These days include the inscriptions left on the walls of the fortress by its defenders: “We will die, but we will not leave the fortress,” “I am dying, but I am not giving up. Farewell, Motherland. 07.20.41.” Not a single banner of the military units fighting in the fortress fell to the enemy.

Inscriptions on the walls of the Brest Fortress. Photo from BELTA archive

The enemy was forced to note the steadfastness and heroism of the fortress’s defenders. In July, the commander of the 45th German Infantry Division, General Schlipper, in his “Report on the Occupation of Brest-Litovsk” reported: “The Russians in Brest-Litovsk fought extremely stubbornly and persistently. They showed excellent infantry training and proved a remarkable will to resist.”

The defenders of the fortress - soldiers of more than 30 nationalities of the USSR - fully fulfilled their duty to their Motherland and performed one of the greatest feats of the Soviet people in the history of the Great Patriotic War. The exceptional heroism of the fortress defenders was highly appreciated. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to Major Gavrilov and Lieutenant Kizhevatov. About 200 defense participants were awarded orders and medals.

There is no greater victory than victory over yourself! The main thing is not to fall on your knees before the enemy.
D. M. Karbyshev

The defense of the Brest Fortress is a sign to the Third Reich about its future fate; it showed that at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War the Germans had already lost. They made a strategic mistake, which sealed the doom for the entire project of the Third Reich.

You should have listened to your great ancestor, Otto von Bismarck, who said: “Even the most favorable outcome of the war will never lead to the disintegration of the main strength of Russia, which is based on millions of Russians themselves... These latter, even if they are dismembered by international treatises, will also quickly reconnect with each other, like particles of a cut piece of mercury. This is the indestructible state of the Russian nation...”

By World War II, fortresses were no longer a serious obstacle to a modern army armed with powerful artillery systems, aviation, asphyxiating gases, and flamethrowers. By the way, one of the designers of the improvement of the fortifications of the Brest Fortress in 1913 was Staff Captain Dmitry Karbyshev, an unbending Hero of the Great War, whom the Nazis turned into an ice block on February 18, 1945. The fate of people is amazing - Karbyshev in a German concentration camp met with another hero, Major Pyotr Gavrilov, who from June 22 to July 23 led the defense of the defenders of the fortress and was also taken prisoner, seriously wounded. According to the description of the doctor Voronovich who treated him, he was captured seriously wounded. He was in full commander's uniform, but it had turned into rags. Covered in soot and dust, extremely emaciated (skeleton covered with skin), he could not even swallow; doctors fed him an artificial formula to save him. The German soldiers who captured him said that this barely alive man, when he was caught in one of the casemates, took the fight alone, fired a pistol, threw grenades, killed and wounded several people before he was seriously wounded. Gavrilov survived the Nazi concentration camps, was released in May 1945, and reinstated in the army at his previous rank. After the country began to learn about the feat of the defenders of the Brest Fortress, Pyotr Mikhailovich Gavrilov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1957.

Defense

The fortress housed approximately 7-8 thousand soldiers from different units: 8 rifle battalions, reconnaissance and artillery regiments, two artillery divisions (anti-tank and air defense), units of the 17th Red Banner Brest Border Detachment, 33rd Separate Engineer Regiment, part 132nd battalion of NKVD convoy troops and some other units.

They were attacked by the 45th German Infantry Division (numbering about 17 thousand people) with the help of units of the neighboring 31st and 34th Infantry Divisions; it was supposed to capture the fortress by 12 o'clock on June 22nd. At 3.15 am, the Wehrmacht opened artillery fire, as a result of the artillery strike the garrison suffered heavy losses, warehouses and water supply were destroyed, and communications were interrupted. At 3.45 the assault began, the garrison was unable to provide coordinated resistance and was immediately dismembered into several parts. Strong resistance was shown at the Volyn and Kobrin fortifications. Ours organized several counterattacks. By the evening of the 24th, the Wehrmacht suppressed resistance at the Volyn and Terespol fortifications, leaving two large centers of resistance - in the Kobrin fortification and the Citadel. In the Kobrin fortification, the defense was held at the Eastern Fort by up to 400 people, led by Major Gavrilov, they repelled up to 7-8 Wehrmacht attacks per day. On June 26, the last defender of the Citadel died, and on June 30, after a general assault, the Eastern Fort fell. Major Gavrilov with the last 12 soldiers, having 4 machine guns, disappeared into the casemates.

The Last Defenders

After this, individual fighters and small pockets of resistance resisted. We don’t know exactly how long they held out: for example, in the barracks of the 132nd separate battalion of convoy troops of the NKVD of the USSR they found an inscription dated July 20: “I’m dying, but I’m not giving up! Farewell, Motherland." On July 23, Major Gavrilov was captured in battle. One of the main problems for the defenders of the fortress was the lack of water; while at first there was ammunition and canned food, the Germans blocked access to the river almost immediately.

The resistance continued even after Gavrilov’s capture; the Germans were afraid to approach the dungeons of the fortress; shadows appeared from there at night, machine gun fire sounded, and grenades exploded. According to local residents, shooting was heard until August, and according to German sources, the last defenders were killed only in September, when Kyiv and Smolensk had already fallen, and the Wehrmacht was preparing to storm Moscow.

Writer and researcher Sergei Smirnov did a great job, largely thanks to him, the Union learned about the feat of the defenders of the fortress, and about who became the last defender. Smirnov found amazing news - the story of the Jewish musician Stavsky (he will be shot by the Nazis). Sergeant Major Durasov, who was wounded in Brest, captured and left to work at the hospital, spoke about him. In April 1942, the violinist was about 2 hours late when he arrived and told an amazing story. On the way to the hospital, the Germans stopped him and took him to the fortress, where a hole was punched among the ruins that went underground. There was a group of German soldiers standing around. Stavsky was ordered to go down and offer the Russian fighter to surrender. In response, they promise him life, the violinist went down, and an exhausted man came out to him. He said that he had long ago run out of food and ammunition and would go out to see with his own eyes the powerlessness of the Germans in Russia. The German officer then told the soldiers: “This man is a real hero. Learn from him how to defend your land...” It was April 1942, the further fate and name of the hero remained unknown, like many hundreds, thousands of unknown heroes about whom the German war machine broke down.

The feat of the defenders of the Brest Fortress shows that the Russians can be killed, although it is very difficult, but they cannot be defeated, they cannot be broken...

Sources:
Heroic defense // Sat. memories of the defense of the Brest Fortress in June-July 1941. Mn., 1966.
Smirnov S. Brest Fortress. M. 2000.
Smirnov S.S. Stories about unknown heroes. M., 1985.
http://www.fire-of-war.ru/Brest-fortress/Gavrilov.htm

The defense of the Brest Fortress (defense of Brest) is one of the very first battles between the Soviet and fascist armies during the Great Patriotic War.
The defense of the Brest Fortress lasted from June 22 to June 30, 1941.
Brest was one of the border garrisons on the territory of the USSR, it covered even the central highway leading to Minsk, which is why Brest was one of the first cities to be attacked after the German attack. The Soviet army held back the enemy's onslaught for a week, despite the numerical superiority of the Germans, as well as support from artillery and aviation. As a result of a long siege, the Germans were still able to capture the main fortifications of the Brest Fortress and destroy them, but in other areas the struggle continued for quite a long time - small groups remaining after the raid resisted the enemy with all their might. The defense of the Brest Fortress became a very important battle in which Soviet troops were able to show their readiness to defend themselves to the last drop of blood, despite the enemy's advantages. The defense of Brest went down in history as one of the bloodiest sieges, and at the same time, as one of the greatest battles that showed all the courage of the Soviet army.
Brest Fortress on the eve of the war
The city of Brest became part of the Soviet Union shortly before the start of the war - in 1939. By that time, the fortress had already lost its military significance due to the destruction that had begun, and remained as one of the reminders of past battles. 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 ceased to have military significance. By the time the war began, the Brest Fortress was mainly used to house garrisons of military personnel, as well as a number of families of the military command, a hospital and utility rooms. By the time of Germany’s treacherous attack on the USSR, about 8,000 military personnel and about 300 command families lived in the fortress. There were weapons and supplies in the fortress, but their quantity was not designed for military operations.
Storming of the Brest Fortress
The assault on the Brest Fortress began on the morning of June 22, 1941, simultaneously with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. The barracks and residential buildings of the command were the first to be subjected to powerful artillery fire and air strikes, since the Germans wanted, first of all, to completely destroy the entire command staff located in the fortress and thereby create confusion in the army and disorient it. Despite the fact that almost all the officers were killed, the surviving soldiers were able to quickly find their bearings and create a powerful defense. The surprise factor did not work as Hitler expected and the assault, which according to plans was supposed to end by 12 noon, lasted for several days.


Even before the start of the war, the Soviet command issued a decree 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 in a deliberately losing position, but even this fact did not allow them to give up their positions and allow the Germans to quickly and unconditionally take possession of Brest.
The progress of the defense of the Brest Fortress
Soviet soldiers, who, contrary to plans, were unable to quickly leave the fortress, were nevertheless able to quickly organize a defense and within a few hours drive the Germans out of the territory of the fortress, who managed to get into its citadel (central part). The soldiers also occupied barracks and various buildings located along the perimeter of the citadel in order to most effectively organize the defense of the fortress and be able to repel enemy attacks from all flanks. Despite the absence of a commanding staff, very quickly volunteers were found from among ordinary soldiers who took command and directed the operation.


On June 22, the Germans made 8 attempts to break into the fortress, but they did not yield results; moreover, the German army, contrary to all forecasts, suffered significant losses. The German command decided to change tactics - instead of an assault, a siege of the Brest Fortress was now planned. The troops that broke through were recalled and sorted around the perimeter of the fortress in order to begin a long siege and cut off the Soviet troops' path to exit, as well as disrupt the supply of food and weapons.


On the morning of June 23, the bombardment of the fortress began, after which an assault was attempted again. Some groups of the German army broke through, but encountered fierce resistance and were destroyed - the assault failed again, and the Germans had to return to siege tactics. Extensive battles began, which did not subside for several days and greatly exhausted both armies.
The fighting continued for the next few days. Despite the onslaught of the German army, as well as shelling and bombing, Soviet soldiers held the line, although they lacked weapons and food. A few days later, the supply of drinking water was stopped, and then the defenders decided to release women and children from the fortress so that they would surrender to the Germans and remain alive, but some of the women refused to leave the fortress and continued to fight.


On June 26, the Germans made several more attempts to break into the Brest Fortress; they succeeded partially - several groups broke through. Only towards the end of the month was the German army able to capture most of the fortress, killing Soviet soldiers, but the scattered groups that had lost a single line of defense still continued to put up desperate resistance even when the fortress was taken by the Germans.
The significance and results of the defense of the Brest Fortress
The resistance of individual groups of soldiers continued until the fall, until all these groups were destroyed by the Germans and the last defender of the Brest Fortress died. During the defense of the Brest Fortress, Soviet troops suffered colossal losses, however, at the same time, the army showed genuine courage, thereby showing that the war for the Germans would not be as easy as Hitler had hoped. The defenders were recognized as war heroes.

Soviet soldiers proved to the whole world that courage and duty to their country and people can withstand any invasion!

In June 1941 - one of the most heroic pages in the military history of our Motherland. It was here that the Red Army first demonstrated to the whole world that it was invincible.

Storm

By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, several rifle battalions, anti-tank and air defense divisions, a total of about 7,000 military personnel, were stationed in the Brest Fortress.

The assault on the Brest Fortress began early in the morning of June 22, it was carried out by units of the 45th German Infantry Division numbering at least 18 thousand soldiers under the command of Nazi General Fritz Schlieper.

After a powerful preliminary artillery preparation, during which more than 7 thousand artillery ammunition was expended, the attack began. They did not have time to carry out the order of the Red Army command to withdraw units of the rifle division from the fortress.

The defenders of the Brest Fortress were essentially taken by surprise, stunning them with hurricane artillery fire. In the first minutes of the unexpected attack, significant damage was caused to the fortress and its garrison, and part of the command staff was destroyed.

The garrison was broken into several parts, beheaded, and therefore could not provide a single coordinated resistance. Already in the afternoon of June 22, the first German assault troops were able to capture the Northern Gate of the Brest Fortress.

However, soon the defenders of the Brest Fortress were able to provide serious resistance to the enemy, launching a counteroffensive. Part of the Nazi division was successfully dismembered and destroyed, incl. in bayonet attacks.

However, certain sections of the fortress remained under German control, and fierce fighting continued throughout the night. By the morning of June 23, part of our rifle battalions managed to leave the fortress, the rest continued to fight the Nazis.

The Germans did not expect such tough resistance; until now they had not had to face such resistance in occupied Europe, which was quickly surrendering under the pressure of German weapons, so they retreated.

Going on defense

Deprived of command, the soldiers of the Red Army began to independently unite into small combat groups, choose their commanders and continue the defense of the Brest Fortress.

The House of Officers became the defense headquarters, from where Captain Zubachev, Commissar Fomin and their comrades tried to coordinate the actions of scattered combat detachments of the Red Army. However, on June 24, the Germans occupied almost the entire citadel.

The fighting continued until June 29. As a result, most of the defenders of the fortress died or were captured. To stop resistance, the Nazis dropped more than 20 aerial bombs weighing 500 kg each on the Brest Fortress, and fires started.

However, the surviving soldiers did not give up, they continued active resistance, the defense of the Brest Fortress continued, despite the significantly superior forces of the attacking enemy.

According to historians, some of our soldiers resisted the German army in the casemates of the fortress until August 1941. As a result, the German command ordered the basements of the casemates to be flooded.