"Komsomolka" checked whether residents of the city know the history of the Memorial.

In schools, sseas, colleges and universities there are special courses "Great Patriotic War". Belarusfilm periodically removes the film about the war, every year there are hundreds of articles, videos and transmissions about the war. One of the main symbols of the war in Belarus. Bresthouses on the Soviet Street we asked a simple question: "How much did it last?".

A man in a dark jacket slyly asked a counter question:

- Officially or how?

- For example, officially.

- There are no official documents as it lasts. And if on unofficial, then until April 1942. Watch the film "I am Russian Soldier." And everyone will learn.

"Officially, how much did she keep, or unofficially?" - asked a counter question. Photo: Dmitry Bosak

Vika service college student and her friends students of Polytechnic College Ira and Ilya on my question only shrugged:

"Five days, probably, Ilya suggested.

- Yes, what are you? More, - Ira objected.

"Yes, well, calm down, five days," Ilya snorted.

- Maybe you know the name of the last defender of the fortress?

Five days last fortress! - Ilya believes. Photo: Dmitry Bosak

- What do you know about the fortress?

"Oh, we have a very streets named after the heroes of the Brest Fortress," girls are quickly told. - This is the street of Akimochka, the faith of Koruzhia, Gavrilova, Naganov ... Everything, no longer know.

"No, not five, more," his friend of Vika says. Photo: Dmitry Bosak

Mom from a carriage near the cinema "Belarus" called for helping his girlfriends:

- Girls, maybe, who knows?

"Oh, we don't need to ask any questions, we have already forgotten everything in the maternity decree," moms laugh. - Well, about a month somewhere. Only you do not need to photograph ...

Marina and Lisa, Students Brow them. Pushkin in the specialty "Tourism", looked at and reported:

- Twenty two days or how much there? Oh, we do not know at all.

- Oh, I do not remember anything from school about the fortress ... - Tourist students make a female student. Photo: Dmitry Bosak

- Maybe you still know something about the fortress?

- I don't remember anything else from school. Remember that not Brest is a hero city, but a hero fortress.

A woman in a dark coat recalled, recalled:

"Oh, guys ... One soldier was there when our Minsk took, the fortress held everything. Just do not take pictures!

Dmitry in the Black Cap quickly issued:

- The fortress lasted 90 days. I remember the film of the 90s about the defender of the Brest Fortress. There he came out all the semi. Very heroic film, I liked it. For me, the fortress is an example of military valor. And she seems to me, should never be forgotten. And it is without pathos.

The fortress is an example of military valve. Without Paphos, you say, "convinces Dmitry. Photo: Dmitry Bosak

Galina Stepanovna and Elena went to the store, having heard our question, thought:

"Yes, four months," Elena suggested.

"And I think that one month," says Galina Stepanovna. - I'm going to the fortress as history. Often there I go, because in the church in the territory I go.

"And we simply treat the fortress to the fortress," say Galina Stepanovna and Elena. Photo: Dmitry Bosak

Sergey in a gray jacket replied immediately:

- The fortress lasted almost a month. My uncle in war lived in Pushkinskaya. So he climbed a tree and looked back in July that the planes were dive. In his eyes almost a motorcyclist shot down. Oh, many stories. I still had a relative there, which on the day of the bombing came running from the fortress home in some confers. He was ordinary.

"The fortress was accurate for sure a month, my uncle was still in July, as airplanes were picked over her," Sergey is convinced. Photo: Dmitry Bosak

Egor and Andrey suggested:

- She kept the fire for about two months. The fortress was still a wall that detained the offensive, and for a considerable time. And the Soviet troops could be prepared for protection, "says Egor.

"The fortress became a wall that detained the offensive," said Egor. Photo: Dmitry Bosak

- I will agree. In general, the fortress for me has no importance. I am not a patriot of my country, "said Andrei.

- I am not a patriot of my country. Fortress and fortress - Andrei shrugs. Photo: Dmitry Bosak

- Are you Belarusian?

- I'm Belarusian, but not rooted.

Tatiana, Medic Student:

- Oh, I do not know how much it lasts, I'm not local. From Vitebsk herself. And in Brest came to visit. Well, how much did it last? Three months probably ...

"I'm not local, I arrived from Vitebsk," Tatiana robeth. Photo: Dmitry Bosak

Krivonogov, Peter Alexandrovich, painting by oil "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, there were 8 rifle and 1 reconnaissance battalions, 2 artillery divisions (VET and air defense), some special forces of rifle regiments and divisions of cabinet parts, fees of the assignment composition of the 6th Orlovskaya and 42th rifle The buildings of the 4th Army, the division of the 17th Red Burst Brest Border Council, the 33rd separate engineering regiment, several divisions of the 132rd separate battalion of the Konvoy Troops of the NKVD, headquarters (division headquarters and the 28th rifle corps were located in Brest), total At least 7 thousand people, not counting family members (300 families of servicemen).

According to General L. M. Sandalova, "The dislocation of Soviet troops in Western Belarus first was not subordinate to operational considerations, but was determined by the presence of a barracks and premises suitable for the placement of troops. This, in particular, explained the crowded location of the 4th Army Half All of their warehouses of inviolable reserves (NZ) at the very border - in the Brest and Brest Fortress. "According to the 1941 cover plan, the 28th rifle case in the 42nd and 6th rifle divisions was to organize defense on a wide front on the prepared positions In the Brest fortified area. From the number of troops, located in the fortress, only one rifle battalion enhanced by art drawing was envisaged for its defense.

The storming of the fortress, the city of Brest and the capture of bridges through the Western Bug and the Mukhaver was charged with the 45th Infantry Division (45th PD) of Major General Fritz Schlieper (about 18 thousand people) with parts of amplification and in cooperation with parts of neighboring compounds (including including Morty Divisions, Distressed 31st and 34th Infantry Divisions of the 12th Army Corps of the 4th German Army and the 45th PD used during the first five minutes of artillery raid), a total of up to 22 thousand people.

Storming the fortress

In addition to the divisional artillery of the 45th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht for artillery training, nine lungs and three heavy batteries were brought, the battery of high-power artillery (two super-phase 600-mm self-propelled Mortira "Karl") and the Mortira Division. In addition, the commander of the 12th Army Corps focused on the fortress the fire of two divisions Mortira 34th and 31st infantry divisions. The order on the pin from the fortress of parts of the 42nd rifle division, given by personally by the commander of the 4th army of Major General A. A. Kontrokov headquarters of the division headquarters by phone from 3 hours 30 minutes to 3 hours 45 minutes, before the start of hostilities managed to perform.

On June 22 at 3:15 (4:15, a hurricane artillery fire was opened in the fortress to the Soviet "decretal" time), which found the garrison. As a result, warehouses were destroyed, the water supply was damaged (from the words of the surviving defenders, the water in the water supply was absent two days before the assault), the connection was interrupted, a serious damage of garrison was deployed. At 3:23 started assault. Directly on the fortress came to one and a half thousand people of infantry from the three battalions of the 45th Infantry Division. The surprise of the attack led to the fact that the single coordinated resistance of the garrison could not have been able and was divided into several separate foci. The Netsev's assault detachment, coming through Terespol fortification, originally did not meet serious resistance and, having passed the Citadel, the advanced groups came to Kobrin fortification. However, the part of the garrison, which was in the rear of the Germans passed into a counterattack, dismembering and almost completely destroying the attackers.

The Germans in the Citadel could consolidate only in some sections, including the dominant Club Building ( former church St. Nicholas), a table of team composition and a portion of the barracks at the Brest gate. They met strong resistance on Volyn and, especially on 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, however, the many military personnel of these divisions could not get out of the fortress. They were continued to fight in her. According to the historian R. Aliyev, about 8 thousand people came out of the fortress, and about 5 thousand left it remained. According to other data, on June 22, there were only 3 to 4 thousand people in the fortress, since part of the personnel of both divisions was out of the fortress - in summer camps, on the exercises, on the construction of Brest Strong (Saporny battalions, engineering regiment, one battalion From each rifle shelf and in the division from artillery regiments).

From the 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 outputs from the barracks in the central part of the fortress, on the bridges and the entrance gates and the homes of the superior composition. This raid was confused and caused panic among the Red Army composition. The team composition, which was attacked in his apartments, was partially destroyed. The surviving commanders could not penetrate the barracks due to severe barrier fire set on the bridge in the central part of the fortress and at the entrance gate. As a result, redarmeys and younger commanders without managing middle commanders, dressed and spread, groups and one, came out of the fortress, overcoming the waterfront channel, the Mukhaver River and the Fortress Tree under artillery, mortar and machine-gun fire. The loss took into account there was no possibility, since the scattered parts of the 6th division were mixed with the fragmented parts of the 42nd division, and many could not get into the prefabricated place because at about 6 hours it was already focused by artillery fire.

Sandals L. M. Martialctions 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 introduce the reserve of the 45th Infantry Division (135PP / 2), as well as the 130th infantry regiment, originally reserved the body, thus bringing a grouping of storming up to two regiments.

Monument to defenders of the Brest Fortress and the Eternal Flame

Defense

On the night of June 23, removing the troops on the external trees of the fortress, the Germans began to act as a garrison in the interruptions. Forked about 1900 people. Nevertheless, on June 23, the remaining defenders of the fortress were able, knocking the Germans from the rings of the ring barrack adjacent to the Brest gates, to combine the two most powerful resistance from the resistance sites - the combat group of the 455th rifle regiment, headed by Lieutenant A. A. Vinogradov (chief Him service of the 455th Rifle Regiment) and Captain I. N. Zubachev (Deputy Commander of the 44th Rifle Regiment on the Economic Part), and the combat group of the so-called "home of officers" - divisions focused here for the planned breakthrough attempt, were led by the Regiment Commissioner E . M. Fomin (Military Commissar of the 84th Rifle Regiment), Senior Lieutenant N. F. Shcherbakov (Assistant Headquarters of the 33rd Separate Engineering Regiment) and Lieutenant A. K. Sugurov (Responsible Secretary of the Komsomol Bureau of the 75th Separate Intelligence Battalion ).

Having met in the basement of the "House of Officers", the defenders of the Citadel tried to coordinate their actions: the draft Order No. 1 was prepared on June 24, in which it was proposed to create a consolidated combat group and headquarters led by Captain I. N. Zubachev and his deputy regimental commissioner E. M. Fominy, calculate the remaining personnel. However, the next day the Sudden attack the Germans broke into the Citadel. A large group of defenders of the citadel led by Lieutenant A. A. Vinogradov tried to break through from the fortress through the Kobrin fortification. But this ended in failure: although a breakthrough group divided into several detachments was able to break out for the main shaft, its fighters were almost all captured or destroyed by the units of the 45th Infantry Division, which was engaged in the defense at the rude Brest Highway.

By evening, on June 24, the Germans mastered the most part of the fortress, with the exception of the part of the ring barracks ("House of Officers") near the Brest (Trirachkaya) gate of the citadel, the caasemates in the Earth Shaft on the opposite bank of the Mohaver ("Paragraph 145") and located on Kobrin Strengthening the so-called "Eastern Fort" - his defense, consisting of 600 fighters and commanders Red ArmyCommanded Major P. M. Gavrilov (commander of the 44th Rifle Regiment). In the area of \u200b\u200bthe Terespol gate, a group of fighters under the command of Senior Lieutenant A. E. Potapov (in the basements of the Kazarram 333th Rifle Region) and border guards of the 9th border appendix of Lieutenant A. M. Kizhevatova (in the building of the border outpost). On this day, the Germans managed to repent 570 defenders of the fortress. The last 450 defenders of the citadel were captured on June 26 after undermining several compartments of the ring barracks of the "House of Officers" and paragraph 145, and on June 29, after discharge by the German bombs of 1800 kilograms, the East Fort fell. However, finally cleaned it to the Germans managed only on June 30 (because of the fires started on June 29).

There remained only insulated foci of resistance and single fighters, which were collected in groups and organize active resistance, or trying to break out of the fortress and go to partisans in Belovezhskaya Pushcha (Many it succeeded). In the basements of the barracks of the 333rd regiment at the Terespol gate, the group A. E. Potapova and the border guards of A. M. Kizhevatov, who joined it, continued to fight until June 29. On June 29, they undertook a desperate attempt to break through the south, towards the Western Island, so that then turning to the east, during which the majority of his participants died or was captured. Major P. M. Gavrilov was captured by the wounded among the last on July 23. One of the inscriptions in the fortress reads: "I'm dying, but I do not give up! Goodbye homeland. 20 / VII-41. " The resistance of single Soviet soldiers in the kazemates of the fortress continued until August 1941, before visiting the fortress A. Hitler and B. Mussolini. It is also known that the stone, which A. Hitler took from the ruins of the bridge, was discovered in his office after the end of the war. To eliminate the last foci of resistance, the German High Command gave an order to flood the basements of the fortress with water from the West Bug river.

By the German troops in the fortress were captured by about 3 thousand Soviet soldiers (on the report of the commander of the 45th division of Lieutenant-General Shliper, on June 30, 25 officers were captured, 2877 younger commanders and fighters), 1877 Soviet soldiers died in the fortress .

The total losses of the Germans in the Brest Fortress amounted to 1197 people, of which 87 of the Wehrmacht officer on the Eastern Front for the first week of war.

Extracted experience:

Short strong artogony on old fortress brick walls, bonded concrete, deep basements and unobservable asylums does not give an effective result. Long targeted fire for destruction and fire great powerTo thoroughly destroy the fortified foci.

Commissioning assault guns, tanks, and others. It is very difficult due to the non-durability of many shelters, fortresses and large number Possible goals and does not give the expected results due to the thickness of the walls of the structures. In particular, such goals are not adapted by a heavy mortar.

An excellent tool for moral shocks in shelters is to drop a large-caliber bombs.

The attack on the fortress in which the courageous defender sits, there is a lot of blood. This simple truth is once again proved by taking Brest Litovsk. Heavy artillery also includes strong stunning means of moral exposure.

Russians in Brest-Litovsk fought extremely stubbornly and persistently. They showed an excellent infantry learning and proved a wonderful will to fight.

Commander Commander of the 45th division of Lieutenant Lieutenant Schlipers about the lesson of Brest-Litovsk, July 8, 1941

Memory of defenders of the fortress

For the first time on the defense of the Brest Fortress, it became known from the staffing German report captured in the papers of the defeated part in February 1942 under an eagle. In the late 1940s, the first articles about the defense of the Brest Fortress, based exclusively on rumors appeared in the newspapers. In 1951, when parsing the barracks of the barracks, the Brest gate was found by order No. 1. In the same year, the artist P. Krivonogov wrote a picture of "Defenders of the Brest Fortress".

The merit of the memory restoration of the heroes of the fortress largely belongs to the writer and historian S. S. Smirnov, as well as supporting his initiative KM Simonov. The feat of the heroes of the Brest Fortress was popularized by S. S. Smirnov in the book " Brest Fortress"(1957, an expanded edition of 1964, Lenin Award 1965). After that, the topic of defense of the Brest Fortress has become an important symbol of victory.

On May 8, 1965, the Brest fortress was awarded the title fortress hero with the presentation of the Order of Lenin and the medal "Golden Star". Since 1971, the fortress has been a memorial complex. A number of monuments were built on her territory. Heroes, the Museum of Defense of the Brest Fortress.

Difficulties of research

The restoration of the course of events in the Brest fortress in June 1941 is very difficult difficult to the absence of documents of the Soviet side. The main sources of information are evidence of the surviving defenders of the fortress, obtained in their mass after a significant time after the end of the war. There is reason to believe that these evidence contains many unreliable, including consciously distorted, for one reason or another, information. For example, many key witnesses of the date and circumstances of the capture do not correspond to the data registered in the German warfare maps. For the most part, the date of captivity in the German documents has been indicated earlier than the date communicated by the witness itself in post-war testimony. In this regard, there are doubts about the accuracy of the information contained in such indications.

In art

Art films

"Immortal garrison" (1956);

"Battle for Moscow", the film is the first "aggression" (one of scene lines) (USSR, 1985);

"State Border", the film Fifth "Year of Forty First" (USSR, 1986);

"I am Russian Soldier" - according to Boris Vasiliev's book "" in the lists did not mean "(Russia, 1995);

"Brest Fortress" (Belarus-Russia, 2010).

Documentaries

"Heroes of Brest" - a documentary on the heroic defense of the Brest Fortress at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War (CSDF Studio, 1957);

"Dear Heroes Fathers" - amateur documentary about the 1st All-Union Textile Winners of Youth Widgets in the Places of Combat Fame in the Brest Fortress (1965);

"Brest Fortress" - Documentary trilogy on the defense of the fortress in 1941 (Militaryvatvs, 2006);

"Brest Fortress" (Russia, 2007).

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

"Barastess Kapapasts: Dzvwe Abarona" (BelSAT, 2009)

Fiction

Vasilyev B. L. in the lists did not mean. - M.: Children's literature, 1986. - 224 p.

Oshaev H. D. Brest - Fiery nut. - M.: Book, 1990. - 141 p.

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

Songs

"For the heroes of the Brest of Death No," Eduard Heil's Song.

"Brest Trubach" - music of Vladimir Rubin, the words of Boris Dubrovina.

"The heroes of Brest are dedicated" - words and music of Alexander Krivonosov.

Interesting Facts

According to Boris Vasiliev's book, "there was no listed", the last famous defender of the fortress surrendered on April 12, 1942. S. Smirnov in the book "Brest Fortress" also, referring to eyewitness stories, calls April 1942.

On August 22, 2016, "Moving Israel" reported that in Ashdod, the last of the Brest Fortress Boris Faerstein was died in Ashdod.

Suddenly attack on Soviet UnionThe fascist command was calculated in a few months to reach Moscow. However, the German generals met resistance, barely stepped over the border of the USSR. For the capture of the first outpost, the Germans took a few hours, but the defenders of the Brest Fortress were held six days to restrain the power of the huge fascist army.

Siege of 1941 became d

for the Brest Fortress historical, but she was attacked before and before. The fortress was erected by the architect Opperman in 1833 as a military construction. The war got to it only by 1915 - then she was blown up during the retreat of the Nikolaev troops. In 1918, after the signing of which took place in the citadel of the fortress, she remained under German control for some time, and by the end of the 1918 he turned out to be in the hands of the Poles, which owned it until 1939.

Real hostilities overtook the Brest Fortress in the 1939th. The second day of World War II began for the garrison of the fortress from the bombing. German aviation dropped ten bombs on the citadel, damaging the main building of the fortress - the Citadel, or the White Palace. Then the fortress stood a few random military and reserve parts. The first defense of the Brest Fortress was organized by General Plerovsky, which from his scattered troops managed to collect a combat effective detachment of 2500 people and evacuate officer families in time. Against the Armored Armored Corps of General Geinz Plerovsky was able to oppose only ancient armored train, a few of the same tanks and a couple of batteries. Then the defense of the Brest Fortress lasted three full days

From September 14 to September 17, while the enemy was stronger than the defenders almost six times. On the night of the seventeenth of September, the wounded Plerovsky took away the remnants of his squad to the south, towards Terespol. After that, on September 22, the Germans handed over Brest and the Brest Fortress to the Soviet Union.

The protection of the Brest Fortress of the 1941th lay on the shoulders of nine Soviet battalions, two artillery divisions and several separate units. In total, this was about eleven thousand people, excluding three hundred officers. Stormed the fortress Infantry Division of Major Major Schlieper, which was reinforced with additional parts. In general, General Schlipier was subordinate to about twenty thousand soldiers.

The attack began early in the morning. Because of the suddenness of the attack, the commanders did not have time to coordinate the actions of the garrison of the fortress, so the defenders were immediately broken into several detachments. The Germans immediately managed to capture the citadel, but they could not strengthen in it and could not - the invaders attacked the remaining Soviet parts behind, and the citadel was partially released. On the second day of defense, the Germans offered

the surrender to which 1900 people agreed. The remaining defenders united under the beginning of Captain Zubachev. The enemy forces, however, were immeasurably higher, and the defense of the Brest Fortress was short. On June 24, the fascists managed to capture 1250 fighters, another 450 people were captured on June 26. The last stronghold of the defenders, East Fort, was crushed on June 29, when the Germans dropped a 1800-kilogram bomb on it. This day is considered to be the end of defense, but the Germans cleaned up the Brest Fortress until June 30, and the last defenders were destroyed only by the end of August. Only a little managed to go to Belovezhskaya Pushcha to the partisans.

The fortress was released in the 1944th, and in the 1971th it was mothballed and turned into a museum. At the same time, a memorial was erected, thanks to which the defense of the Brest Fortress and the courage of her defenders will be remembered forever.

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 the Hitler's troops planned to fully master the fortress. As a result of a sudden attack, the garrison of the Brest Fortress turned out to be cut off from the main parts of the Red Army. However, the fascists met fierce rebuffing her defenders.

The divisions of the 6th and 42nd Rifle divisions, the 17th border detachment and the 132nd separate battalion of the NKVD troops are only 3500 people - to the end were held on the end of the enemy. Most of the defenders of the fortress were killed.

When July 28, 1944, the Brest Fortress was released soviet troops, on the molten bricks one of the caasemates was found the inscription of her last defender: "Dying, but not surrender! Farewell, Motherland, "scratched on July 20, 1941.

Holm gate.

Many participants in the defense of the Brest Fortress were posthumously awarded orders and medals. On May 8, 1965, the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the Brest Fortress was awarded the honorary title "Fortress-hero" and the "Golden Star" medal.

In 1971, a memorial appeared here: the gigantic sculptures of "courage" and "thirst", Pantheon of Glory, the area of \u200b\u200bceremonials, canned ruins and the restored barracks of the Brest Fortress.

Construction and device

The construction of the fortress on the site of the center of the Old Town began in 1833 on the project of a military topograph and an engineer of Karl Ivanovich Opperman. Initially, temporary earthworks were erected, the first stone in the foundation of the fortress was laid on June 1, 1836. Maintenance construction works were completed by April 26, 1842. The fortress consisted of citadel and three fortified fortifications with a total area of \u200b\u200b4 km² and the length of the main fortress line 6.4 km.

Citadel, or central fortification, was two two-storey barracks from red brick 1.8 km in a circle. The citadel, which had the walls of the two-meter thickness, numbered 500 caases, designed for 12 thousand people. The central fortification is located on the island formed by the Bug and the two sleeves of the Mohaver. Three artificial islands formed by the Mughaver and Ravami are associated with this island lifting bridges. They are strengthening: Kobrinskoe (previously Northern, the largest), with 4 curtains and 3d rates and mapping; Terespol, or western, with 4-reached louds; Volyn, or South, with 2 curtains and 2nd rates. In the former "CANOMED REDUCH" now there is a christmas-a-tree monastery. The fortress is enclosed with a 10-meter earthen shaft with caasemates in it. Of the eight gates of the fortress, five are preserved - the Kholmth Gate (in the south of the Citadel), the Terris Gate (in the south-west of the Citadel), Northern or Alexandrovsky (in the north of Kobrin fortification), the North-Western (in the north-west of Kobrin fortification) and the southern (on south of 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) are not preserved to this day.

In 1864-1888, the project Eduard Ivanovich Totleben the fortress was modernized. It was charged with a rings of forts 32 km in a circle, Western and East Forts were built on the territory of Kobrin fortification. In 1876, Holy Nikolaevsky was built on the territory of the fortress on the project of architect David Ivanovich Grimma orthodox church.

Fortress at the beginning of the XX century

In 1913, the construction of the second rings of fortifications was launched (in its design, in particular, Dmitry Karbyshev took part, which should have to have 45 km in a circle, but before the beginning of the war it was never completed.

Map diagram of the Brest Fortress and the surrounding forts, 1912.

With the beginning of the First World War, the fortress was strongly preparing for defense, but on the night of August 13, 1915 (according to the old style) during the general retreat was left and partially blown up with Russian troops. March 3, 1918 in the Citadel, in the so-called White Palace (the former Church of the Uniate Basilian Monastery, then the Officer Assembly) was signed Brest Mir. The fortress was in the hands of the Germans until the end of 1918, and then under the control of Poles. In 1920, he was taken by the Red Army, but soon she was again lost, and in 1921, in the Riga world, he went to the II speech by the compulciety. In the interwar period, the fortress was used as a barracks, a military warehouse and a political prison (in the 1930s, opposition political figures were concluded).

Defense of the Brest Fortress in 1939

The day after the start of World War II, on September 2, 1939, the Brest fortress was first subjected to bombing from the Germans: German aircraft dropped 10 bombs, damaging the White Palace. In the barracks of the fortress at this time there were marching battalions of the 35th and 82th infantry regiments and a number of other, sufficiently random parts, as well as mobilized reservists who were expected to be sent to their parts.

The garrison of the city and the fortress was subordinate to the operational group "Polesie" of General Franciseca Melberg; The head of the garrison of September 11 was appointed retired General Konstantin Pleisovsky, who formed from the divisions of the total number 2000-2500 from the divisions in its disposal of the total number of 4 battalions (three infantry and engineering) with the support of several batteries, two armored traders and some tanks "Renault FT-17 "times of the First World War. There was no anti-tank weapon in the defenders of the fortress, meanwhile they had to deal with tanks.
By September 13, the families of military personnel, bridges and aisles were evacuated from the fortress, the main gates are blocked by tanks, tanks for infantry are arranged on earth raids.

Konstantin Plerovsky

The 19th Brest-Nad-Bug, the 19th armored corps of General Geinz Guderian, who moved from Eastern Prussia to a meeting with another German tank division, which was moving from the south. Guderian intended to seize the city of Brest, so as not to give the defenders of the fortress to retreat south and connect with the main forces of the Polish Operational Group Narev. German parts had superiority over the defenders of the fortress in the infantry 2 times, in tanks - 4 times, in artillery - 6 times. On September 14, 1939, 77 tanks of the 10th tank division (divisions of the intelligence battalion and the 8th tank regiment) tried to take the city and fortress with the go, but were reproached by infantry with the support of 12 ft-17 tanks, which were shot down. On the same day, German artillery and aviation began the bombing of the fortress. The next morning, after the fierce street battles, the Germans mastered mostly the city. Defenders retreated into the fortress. On the morning of September 16, the Germans (10th tank and 20th motorized divisions) began storming the fortress, which was repulsed. By evening, the Germans mastered the ridge of the shaft, but could not break through the way. Big Damage german tanks Applied two FT-17 fortresses supplied at the gate. From September 14, 7 German attacks were chosen, while up to 40% of the personnel of the defenders of the fortress were lost. At the storm, the Adjutant Guderian was mortally injured. On the night of September 17, the wounded Pleissky gave an order to leave the fortress and go through the Bug south. According to the intact bridge, the troops went into Terespol fortification and from there to Terespol.

On September 22, Brest was transferred by the Germans of the 29th Tank Brigade of the Red Army. Thus, Brest and the Brest Fortress came into the USSR.

Defense of the Brest Fortress in 1941. On the eve of the war

By June 22, 1941, 8 rifle and 1 reconnaissance battalion, 2 artillery divisions (PTOs and air defense) were stationed in the fortress, some special forces of rifle regiments and divisions of cabinet parts, fees of the attachment of the 6th Orlovskaya and 42th rifle divisions of the 28th Rifle The buildings of the 4th Army, the division of the 17th Red Brest Brest Brest Detachment, the 33rd separate engineering regiment, several divisions of the 132rd separate battalion of the Konvoy Troops of the NKVD, headquarters of parts (division headquarters and the 28th rifle corps were located in Brest), total 9 - 11 thousand people, not counting family members (300 families of servicemen).

The storming of the fortress, the city of Brest and the capture of bridges through the Western Bug and the Mukhaver was charged with the 4th Major Major Major Division (about 17 thousand people) with increasing parts and interacting with parts of neighboring compounds (including those including morty divisions The 31st and 34th Infantry Divisions of the 12th Army Corps of the 4th German Army and the 45th PD used during the first five minutes of artillery laid), a total of up to 20 thousand people. But if you are accurate, then the Brest Fortress was not stormed by the Germans, but Austrians. In 1938, after anchlus (accession) of Austria to the third Reihu, the 4th Austrian division was renamed the 45th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht - the most that the border has passed on June 22, 1941.

Storming the fortress

June 22 at 3:15 (by European time) or 4:15 (Moscow) across the fortress a hurricane artillery fire was opened, which found the garrison surprise. As a result, warehouses were destroyed, the water supply was damaged, the connection was interrupted, large losses of garrison were applied. At 3:23 started assault. Directly on the fortress came to one and a half thousand infantry from the three battalions of the 45th Infantry Division. The surprise of the attack led to the fact that the single coordinated resistance of the garrison could not have been able and was divided into several separate foci. The nuclear detachment of the Germans, which occurred through Terespol fortification, initially did not meet serious resistance, and passing the citadel, the advanced groups entered the Kobrin fortification. However, the part of the garrison, which was in the rear of the Germans passed into the counterattack, dismembering and partially destroying the attackers.

The Germans in the Citadel could consolidate only in some sections, including the club building dominant over the fortress (the former Church of St. Nicholas), a table of command staff and a barrack area at the Brest gate. They met strong resistance on Volyn and, especially on Kobrin fortification, where it came to bayonet attacks. A small part of the garrison with a part of the equipment managed to leave the fortress and connect with its parts; By 9 o'clock in the morning, the fortress with the 6 - 8 thousand people remained in it was surrounded. During the day, the Germans were forced to enter the reserve of the 45th Infantry Division, as well as the 130th Infantry Regiment, originally reserved the body, thus bringing a group of storming up to two regiments.

Defense

At night, on June 23, removing the troops on the external trees of the fortress, the Germans began to the art print, in the interruptions offering a garrison to surrender. Forked about 1900 people. But, nevertheless, on June 23, the remaining defenders of the fortress managed, knocking the Germans from the rings of the ring barrack adjacent to the Brest gates, combine the two most powerful resistance from the resistance sites - the combat group of the 455th rifle regiment, headed by Lieutenant A. A. Vinogradov Both Captain I. N. Zubachev, and the combat group of the so-called "home of officers" (divisions that focused here for the planned breakthrough attempt were led by the regimental commissioner E. M. Fomin, Senior Lieutenant Shcherbakov and Private Schugurov (responsible secretary of the Komsomol Bureau of the 75th separate intelligence battalion).

Having met in the basement of the "House of Officers", the defenders of the Citadel tried to coordinate their actions: the draft order No. 1 was prepared on June 24, in which it was proposed to create a consolidated combat group and headquarters led by Captain I. N. Zubachev and his deputy regimental commissioner E. M. Fominy, calculate the remaining personnel. However, the next day the Sudden attack the Germans broke into the Citadel. A large group of defenders of the citadel led by Lieutenant A. A. Vinogradov tried to break through from the fortress through the Kobrin fortification. But this ended in failure: although a breakthrough group divided into several detachments managed to break out for the main shaft, its fighters were captured or destroyed by the divisions of the 45th Infantry Division, which was engaged in the defense of the Brest Highway.

In the evening, on June 24, the Germans mastered the most part of the fortress, with the exception of the part of the ring barrack ("House of Officers") near the Brest (three-year) gates of the citadel, the camicasets in the Earth Shaft on the opposite bank of the Mohaver ("Paragraph 145") and located on Kobrin Strengthening the so-called "Eastern Fort" (his defense, which consisted of 400 fighters and commanders of the Red Army commanded Major P. M. Gavrilov. On this day, the Germans managed to repel 1250 defenders of the fortress.

The last 450 defenders of the citadel were captured on June 26 after undermining several compartments of the ring barrack "home of officers" and paragraph 145, and on June 29, after discharge by the German bombs of 1800 kg, the East Fort fell. However, finally cleaned it to the Germans managed only on June 30 (because of the fires started on June 29). On June 27, the Germans began to use 600-mm Karl-Gerät caliber artillery, which arrived with concrete shells weighing more than 2 tons and a fugasic weight of 1250 kg. After breaking the shell of 600-mm guns, a funnel with a diameter of 30 meters was formed and terrifying injuries defenders were applied, including the break of the lungs in those who were hiding in basement Fortresses, from shock waves.

Organized fortress defense on it ended; There were only insulated foci of resistance and single fighters that were gathering into groups and again scattered and died, or trying to break out of the fortress and go to the partisans in Belovezhskaya Pushcha (some it was possible). Major P. M. Gavrilov was captured by the wounded among the last on July 23. One of the inscriptions in the fortress is reading: "I'm dying, but I do not give up. Goodbye homeland. 20 / VII-41. " According to witnesses, shooting was heard from the fortress until the beginning of August.

P.M. Gavrilov

The total losses of the Germans in the Brest Fortress accounted for up to 5% of the total losses of the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front for the first week of war.

There were reports that the last areas of resistance were destroyed only at the end of August, before visiting the fortress A. Hitler and B. Mussolini. It is also known that the stone, which A. Hitler took from the ruins of the bridge was discovered in his office after the end of the war.

To eliminate the last foci of resistance, the German High Command gave an order to flood the basements of the fortress with water from the West Bug river.

Memory of defenders of the fortress

For the first time on the defense of the Brest Fortress, it became known from the staffing German report captured in the papers of the defeated part in February 1942 under an eagle. In the late 1940s, the first articles about the defense of the Brest Fortress, based exclusively on rumors appeared in the newspapers. In 1951, when parsing the barracks of the barracks, the Brest gate was found by order No. 1. In the same year, the artist P. Krivonogov wrote a picture of "Defenders of the Brest Fortress".

The merit of the memory restoration of the heroes of the fortress largely belongs to the writer and historian S. S. Smirnov, as well as supporting his initiative KM Simonov. The feat of the Heroes of the Brest Fortress was popularized by S. S. Smirnov in the book "Brest Fortress" (1957, an expanded edition of 1964, Lenin Prize 1965). After that, the topic of defense of the Brest Fortress has become an important symbol of victory.

Monument to defenders of the Brest Fortress

On May 8, 1965, the Brest fortress was awarded the title fortress hero with the presentation of the Order of Lenin and the medal "Golden Star". Since 1971, the fortress has been a memorial complex. A number of monuments were built on her territory. Heroes, the Museum of Defense of the Brest Fortress.

Information sources:

http://ru.wikipedia.org.

http://www.brest-fortress.BY.

http://www.calend.ru.