When was the Brest fortress built. Memorial Brest Fortress. The Tale of the Fortress-Hero

The defense of the Brest Fortress (lasted from June 22 - June 30, 1941) is one of the very first major battles of the Soviet troops with the Germans during the Great Patriotic War.

Brest was the first Soviet border garrison that covered the central highway leading to Minsk, so immediately after the start of the wars, the Brest Fortress was the first point that the Germans attacked. For a week, Soviet soldiers held back the onslaught of German troops, who had numerical superiority, as well as artillery and aviation support. As a result of the assault at the very end of the siege, the Germans were able to take over the main fortifications, but in other areas the fighting still continued for several weeks, despite the catastrophic shortage of food, medicine and ammunition. The defense of the Brest Fortress was the first battle in which the Soviet troops showed their full readiness to defend the Motherland to the last. The battle has become a kind of symbol, showing that the plan for a swift assault and capture by the Germans of the territory of the USSR may be unsuccessful.

History of the Brest Fortress

The city of Brest was included in the USSR in 1939, at the same time the fortress, located near the city, had already lost its military value and remained only a reminder of past battles. The fortress itself was built in the 19th century as part of a system of fortifications on western borders ah the Russian Empire. By the time the Great Patriotic War began, the fortress could no longer perform its military functions, as it was partially destroyed - it was used mainly to accommodate border detachments, NKVD troops, engineering units, as well as a hospital and various border units. By the time of the German attack, there were about 8,000 military personnel, about 300 families of commanders, as well as medical and service personnel in the Brest Fortress.

Assault on the Brest Fortress

The assault on the fortress began on June 22, 1941 at dawn. The Germans were subjected to powerful artillery fire, first of all, barracks and residential buildings commanders in order to disorient the army and achieve chaos in the ranks of the Soviet troops. After the shelling, the assault began. The main idea of ​​​​the assault was the surprise factor, the German command hoped that an unexpected attack would cause panic and break the will of the military in the fortress to resist. According to the calculations of the German generals, the fortress was to be taken by 12 noon on June 22, but the plans did not materialize.

Only a small part of the soldiers managed to leave the fortress and take up positions outside it, as stipulated in the plans in the event of an attack, the rest remained inside - the fortress was surrounded. Despite the unexpectedness of the attack, as well as the death of a significant part of the Soviet military command, the soldiers showed courage and unbending will in the fight against the German invaders. Despite the fact that the position of the defenders of the Brest Fortress was initially almost hopeless, the Soviet soldiers resisted to the last.

Defense of the Brest Fortress

The Soviet soldiers, who could not leave the fortress, managed to quickly destroy the Germans, who broke into the center of the defensive structures, and then took vantage points for defense - the soldiers occupied the barracks and various buildings that were located along the perimeter of the citadel (the central part of the fortress). This made it possible to effectively organize the defense system. The defense was led by the remaining representatives of the officers and, in some cases, ordinary ordinary soldiers, who were then recognized as heroes for the defense of the Brest Fortress.

On June 22, 8 attacks were made by the enemy, the German troops, contrary to forecasts, suffered significant losses, so it was decided in the evening of the same day to withdraw the groups that had broken into the fortress back to the headquarters of the German troops. A blockade line was created along the perimeter of the fortress, military operations turned from an assault into a siege.

On the morning of June 23, the Germans began a bombardment, after which an attempt was again made to storm the fortress. The groups that broke through inside faced fierce resistance and the assault failed again, turning into protracted battles. By the evening of the same day, the Germans again suffered huge losses.

The next few days, resistance continued, despite the onslaught of German troops, artillery shelling and offers to surrender. The Soviet troops did not have the opportunity to replenish their ranks, so the resistance gradually faded away, and the forces of the soldiers were fading, but, despite this, it was still not possible to take the fortress. Food and water supplies were suspended, and the defenders decided that the women and children must surrender to stay alive, but some of the women refused to leave the fortress.

On June 26, several more attempts were made to break into the fortress, but only small groups succeeded. The Germans managed to capture most of the fortress only by the end of June. On June 29 and 30, a new assault was made, which was combined with shelling and bombing. The main groups of the defenders were captured or destroyed, as a result of which the defense lost its centralization and broke up into several separate centers, which ultimately played a role in the surrender of the fortress.

The results of the defense of the Brest Fortress

The remaining Soviet soldiers continued to resist until the autumn, despite the fact that the fortress was actually taken by the Germans, and the defense was destroyed - small battles continued until the last defender of the fortress was destroyed. As a result of the defense of the Brest Fortress, several thousand people were taken prisoner, the rest died. The battles in Brest became an example of the courage of the Soviet troops and went down in world history.

In February 1942, on one of the sectors of the front in the Orel region, our troops defeated the enemy's 45th infantry division. At the same time, the archive of the division headquarters was captured. While sorting through the documents captured in the German archives, our officers drew attention to one very curious paper. This document was called "Combat report on the occupation of Brest-Litovsk", and in it, day after day, the Nazis talked about the course of the battles for the Brest Fortress.

Against the will of the German staff officers, who, naturally, tried in every possible way to exalt the actions of their troops, all the facts cited in this document spoke of exceptional courage, amazing heroism, and the extraordinary stamina and stubbornness of the defenders of the Brest Fortress. As a forced involuntary recognition of the enemy, the last final words this report.

“A stunning attack on a fortress in which a brave defender sits costs a lot of blood,” wrote enemy staff officers. - This simple truth was proved once again during the capture of the Brest Fortress. The Russians in Brest-Litovsk fought extremely persistently and stubbornly, they showed excellent infantry training and proved a remarkable will to resist.

Such was the recognition of the enemy.

This “Combat report on the occupation of Brest-Litovsk” was translated into Russian, and excerpts from it were published in 1942 in the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper. So, in fact, from the lips of our enemy, the Soviet people for the first time learned some details of the remarkable feat of the heroes of the Brest Fortress. The legend has become a reality.

Two more years have passed. In the summer of 1944, during the powerful offensive of our troops in Belarus, Brest was liberated. On July 28, 1944, Soviet soldiers entered the Brest Fortress for the first time after three years of fascist occupation.

Almost the entire fortress lay in ruins. By the mere sight of these terrible ruins, one could judge the strength and cruelty of the battles that took place here. These piles of ruins were full of severe grandeur, as if the unbroken spirit of the fallen fighters of 1941 still lived in them. The gloomy stones, in some places already overgrown with grass and bushes, beaten and chipped by bullets and shrapnel, seemed to have absorbed the fire and blood of the past battle, and the people wandering among the ruins of the fortress involuntarily came to mind how much these stones had seen and how much they would be able to tell if a miracle happened and they could speak.

And a miracle happened! The stones suddenly spoke! On the surviving walls of fortifications, in the openings of windows and doors, on the vaults of cellars, on the abutments of the bridge, inscriptions left by the defenders of the fortress began to be found. In these inscriptions, sometimes nameless, sometimes signed, sometimes scribbled in pencil, sometimes simply scrawled on the plaster with a bayonet or a bullet, the fighters declared their determination to fight to the death, sent farewell greetings to the Motherland and comrades, spoke of devotion to the people and the party. It was as if the living voices of the unknown heroes of 1941 sounded in the ruins of the fortress, and the soldiers of 1944, with excitement and heartache, listened to these voices, in which there was a proud consciousness of a duty fulfilled, and the bitterness of parting with life, and calm courage in the face of death, and a covenant about revenge.

“There were five of us: Sedov, Grutov I., Bogolyubov, Mikhailov, Selivanov V. We took the first battle on June 22, 1941. We'll die, but we won't leave!" - was written on the bricks of the outer wall near the Terespol Gate.

In the western part of the barracks, in one of the rooms, the following inscription was found: “There were three of us, it was difficult for us, but we did not lose heart and we will die like heroes. July. 1941".

In the center of the fortress courtyard stands a dilapidated church-type building. There really was once a church here, and later, before the war, it was converted into a club of one of the regiments stationed in the fortress. In this club, on the site where the projectionist's booth was located, an inscription was scratched on the plaster: “We were three Muscovites - Ivanov, Stepanchikov, Zhuntyaev, who defended this church, and we swore an oath: we will die, but we will not leave here. July. 1941".

This inscription, along with plaster, was removed from the wall and transferred to the Central Museum. Soviet army in Moscow, where it is now stored. Below, on the same wall, there was another inscription, which, unfortunately, has not been preserved, and we know it only from the stories of soldiers who served in the fortress in the first years after the war and read it many times. This inscription was, as it were, a continuation of the first one: “I was left alone, Stepanchikov and Zhuntyaev died. Germans in the church itself. The last grenade remained, but I will not give myself up alive. Comrades, avenge us!" These words were apparently scratched out by the last of the three Muscovites, Ivanov.

Not only stones spoke. As it turned out, the wives and children of the commanders who died in the battles for the fortress in 1941 lived in Brest and its environs. During the days of the fighting, these women and children, caught in the war in the fortress, were in the cellars of the barracks, sharing all the hardships of defense with their husbands and fathers. Now they shared their memories, told many interesting details of the memorable defense.

And then a surprising and strange contradiction emerged. The German document I was talking about stated that the fortress resisted for nine days and fell by July 1, 1941. Meanwhile, many women recalled that they were captured only on July 10, or even on July 15, and when the Nazis took them outside the fortress, fighting was still going on in certain areas of the defense, there was an intense firefight. The inhabitants of Brest said that until the end of July or even until the first days of August, shooting was heard from the fortress, and the Nazis brought their wounded officers and soldiers from there to the city where their army hospital was located.

Thus, it became clear that the German report about the occupation of Brest-Litovsk contained a deliberate lie and that the headquarters of the 45th enemy division hastened in advance to inform its high command about the fall of the fortress. In fact, the fighting continued for a long time ... In 1950, a researcher at the Moscow Museum, exploring the premises of the western barracks, found another inscription scratched on the wall. This inscription was: “I am dying, but I do not give up. Farewell, Motherland! There was no signature under these words, but at the bottom there was a completely clearly distinguishable date - "July 20, 1941." So we managed to find direct evidence the fact that the fortress continued to resist even on the 29th day of the war, although eyewitnesses stood their ground and assured that the battles had been going on for more than a month. After the war, a partial dismantling of the ruins was carried out in the fortress, and at the same time, the remains of heroes were often found under the stones, their personal documents and weapons were found.

Smirnov S.S. Brest Fortress. M., 1964

BREST FORTRESS

Built almost a century before the start of the Great Patriotic War (the construction of the main fortifications was completed by 1842), the fortress has long lost its strategic importance in the eyes of the military, since it was not considered capable of withstanding the onslaught of modern artillery. As a result, the objects of the complex served, first of all, to accommodate personnel, who, in case of war, had to keep the defense outside the fortress. At the same time, a plan to create a fortified area, taking into account latest achievements in the field of fortification, as of June 22, 1941 was not fully implemented.

At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the garrison of the fortress consisted mainly of units of the 6th and 42nd rifle divisions of the 28th rifle corps of the Red Army. But it has been significantly reduced due to the participation of many military personnel in planned training events.

The German operation to capture the fortress was launched by a powerful artillery preparation, which destroyed a significant part of the buildings, destroyed a large number of garrison soldiers and at first noticeably demoralized the survivors. The enemy quickly gained a foothold on the South and West Islands, and assault troops appeared on the Central Island, but failed to occupy the barracks in the Citadel. In the area of ​​​​the Terespol Gates, the Germans met a desperate counterattack by Soviet soldiers under the general command of the regimental commissar E.M. Fomin. The vanguard units of the 45th division of the Wehrmacht suffered serious losses.

The time gained allowed the Soviet side to organize an orderly defense of the barracks. The Nazis were forced to stay on positions in the building of the army club, from which they could not get out for some time. Fire also stopped attempts to break through enemy reinforcements across the bridge over the Mukhavets in the area of ​​the Kholmsky Gates on the Central Island.

In addition to the central part of the fortress, resistance gradually grew in other parts of the complex of buildings (in particular, under the command of Major P.M. Gavrilov on the northern Kobrin fortification), and dense buildings favored the soldiers of the garrison. Because of it, the enemy could not conduct aimed artillery fire at close range without being in danger of being destroyed himself. With only small arms and a small number artillery pieces and armored vehicles, the defenders of the fortress stopped the advance of the enemy, and later, when the Germans carried out a tactical retreat, they took up the positions left by the enemy.

At the same time, despite the failure of a quick assault, on June 22, the Wehrmacht forces managed to take the entire fortress into a blockade ring. Prior to its establishment, according to some estimates, up to half of the payroll of the units stationed in the complex managed to leave the fortress and occupy the lines prescribed by defensive plans. Taking into account the losses for the first day of defense, as a result, the fortress was defended by about 3.5 thousand people, blocked in its different parts. As a result, each of the large pockets of resistance could only rely on material resources in its immediate vicinity. The command of the joint forces of the defenders was entrusted to Captain I.N. Zubachev, whose deputy was the regimental commissar Fomin.

In the following days of the defense of the fortress, the enemy stubbornly sought to occupy the Central Island, but met with an organized rebuff from the Citadel garrison. Only on June 24 did the Germans manage to finally occupy the Terespol and Volyn fortifications on the Western and Southern Islands. Artillery bombardments of the Citadel alternated with air raids, during one of which a German fighter was shot down by rifle fire. The defenders of the fortress also knocked out at least four enemy tanks. Several deaths are known German tanks on improvised minefields set by the Red Army.

The enemy used incendiary ammunition and tear gas against the garrison (the besiegers had a regiment of heavy chemical mortars at their disposal).

less dangerous for Soviet soldiers and the civilians who were with them (primarily the wives and children of officers), there was a catastrophic lack of food and drink. If the consumption of ammunition could be compensated for by the surviving arsenals of the fortress and captured weapons, then the needs for water, food, medicine and dressings were met at a minimum level. The water supply of the fortress was destroyed, and the manual intake of water from Mukhavets and Bug was practically paralyzed by enemy fire. The situation was further complicated by the incessant intense heat.

On initial stage defense, the idea of ​​breaking through the fortress and connecting with the main forces was abandoned, since the command of the defenders was counting on an early counterattack by the Soviet troops. When these calculations did not materialize, attempts began to break through the blockade, but they all ended in failure due to the overwhelming superiority of the Wehrmacht in manpower and weapons.

By the beginning of July, after a particularly large-scale bombardment and artillery shelling, the enemy managed to capture the fortifications on the Central Island, thereby destroying the main center of resistance. From that moment on, the defense of the fortress lost its integral and coordinated character, and the fight against the Nazis was continued by already scattered groups in different parts of the complex. The actions of these groups and individual fighters acquired more and more features of sabotage activity and continued in some cases until the end of July and even until the beginning of August 1941. Already after the war, in the casemates of the Brest Fortress, an inscription “I am dying, but I do not give up. Farewell Motherland. July 20, 1941"

Most of the surviving defenders of the garrison were captured by the Germans, where even before the end of organized defense, women and children were sent. Commissar Fomin was shot by the Germans, Captain Zubachev died in captivity, Major Gavrilov survived captivity and was transferred to the reserve during the post-war reduction of the army. The defense of the Brest Fortress (after the war it received the title of "fortress-hero") became a symbol of the courage and self-sacrifice of Soviet soldiers in the first, most tragic period of the war.

Astashin N.A. Brest Fortress // Great Patriotic War. Encyclopedia. /Answer. ed. Ak. A.O. Chubaryan. M., 2010.

The starting point of the history of the Brest Fortress is considered to be the construction of the village of Berestye, the founders of which are the tribe of Nadbuzh Slavs. Main historical source ancient Rus'- The Tale of Bygone Years mentions the date...

The starting point of the history of the Brest Fortress is considered to be the construction of the village of Berestye, the founders of which are the tribe of Nadbuzh Slavs. The main historical source of ancient Rus' - "The Tale of Bygone Years" mentions the date associated with this event - 1019. The settlement can be called the Russian "apple of discord: in different times it became the cause of military clashes both between the Russian princes (including those who ruled such large principalities as Kiev, Galicia, Volyn), and the Turov and Lithuanian rulers, even the kings of Poland took part in the strife. The lands on which the town stood changed rulers many times, each of which gave this place its own name: Brest, Brest-Litovsk, the original Berestye and Brest-nad-Bug. During the third division of the once great state of the Commonwealth, the right to own this area passed to Russian Empire– the event dates back to 1795 (earlier divisions of the territory were made in 1772 and 1793).

In the 19th century, the development of a project for the construction of a fortress on this land began, which was finally approved in 1830. Among the "military architects" are such famous names like N. M. Maletsky, A. I. Feldman, who has the rank of colonel, and K. I. Opperman. The future great citadel was named Brest-Litovsk.

The plan provided for the construction of a structure in the same place where the city of Brest-Litovsk was previously located. All buildings that remained from ancient times were eliminated. Only church facilities remained in their places - temples and monasteries, but ionia lost their former significance, and "retrained" into service premises, which the garrison used at its own discretion. Instead of the old settlement, a new urban settlement was erected, bearing the same name as the military facility. The distance to the fortress walls was quite small - no more than 2 km.

Ivan Ivanovich Den (1786-1859) - Russian military engineer, general, participant in the Napoleonic Wars, member of the State Council. Brother of Major General F.I. Den.

I.I. supervised the construction of the fortification. Den, who at that time was in the rank of major general and served in the engineering troops, and at the same time headed the headquarters of the Western Engineering District. But I.F. himself had to oversee the construction. Paskevich, a nobleman and a prince with a high military rank- Field Marshal General

Start earthworks dates back to 1833. And already 3 years later, in 1836, the laying of the walls of the future fortress began. The first stone was erected in its rightful place on June 1, along with it, a chest with coins and a memory board were embedded in the base of the structure. The fortress passed into the category of active objects of the empire in 1842, April 26 is considered a memorable date. The new object was assigned class I.

The fortress included 4 main objects; 3 fairly extensive fortifications (with south side- Volyn, from the east and north - Kobrin, and the west was called Terespol) and, in fact, the central Citadel. The outer line of defense was represented by a bastion front, which consisted of:

• A ten-meter-high fence, which is a huge rampart about 6.4 km long, inside which there were brick casemates covered with a large amount of earth;
• External bypass moat filled with water.
• The fortress occupied an area equal to 400 hectares (42 km).

Panorama of the Brest Fortress

The citadel had the appearance of a natural island, along the perimeter of which there was a closed defensive structure, two floors high and with a total length of 1.8 km. At the same time, this building served as a barracks. The outer walls reached a thickness of 2 meters, the inner ones were slightly thinner - about 1.5 m. The barracks consisted of 500 separate casemates, which could serve as a storehouse for ammunition and food and at the same time accommodate 12,000 soldiers.

Other structures also had a connection with the Citadel - the communication was carried out using bridges and gates:

• Terespolsky;
• Kholmsky;
• Brest;
• Brigidsky.

Address: Republic of Belarus, Brest
Start of construction: 1833
Completion of construction: 1915
Main attractions: sculptural composition "Thirst", main monument, bayonet-obelisk, St. Nicholas garrison church, Kholmsky gate, monument to the heroes of the border
Coordinates: 52°04"57.5"N 23°39"21.7"E

Ancient Brest was founded in the 11th century on a cape formed by the Western Bug and Mukhavets rivers. "The Tale of Bygone Years" calls this settlement Berestye, mentioning it in connection with the struggle of Svyatopolk Vladimirovich and Yaroslav the Wise for the Grand Duke's throne.

Main entrance to the fortress

Occupying a strategic position at the crossroads of two trade routes, Berestye has become a major shopping mall. One of the paths led along the Western Bug to Poland, the Baltic states and Western Europe; and the second - along the rivers Mukhovets, Pripyat and Dnieper connected the city with the Black Sea region and the Middle East. Border Brest became an object of struggle between the powers. For 800 years of its history, the city has been under the rule of the Principality of Turov, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland, and only in 1795, as a result of the third partition of the Commonwealth, it was annexed to Russia.

Ceremonial Square, main monument, obelisk bayonet

During the war with Napoleon, Russian troops recaptured Brest, captured by the French, and dealt a heavy blow to the enemy cavalry units. Having celebrated the victory, the tsarist government decided to build a powerful citadel in Brest.

Like Bobruisk, medieval Brest was demolished, and a modern outpost grew up on the site of the ancient settlement in 6 years - from 1836 to 1842. A fire in 1835 that destroyed 300 buildings accelerated the clearing of the area.

main monument

Fire victims received monetary compensation, loans with money and timber and rebuilt new town 2 km east of the fortress. On April 26, 1842, the Brest Fortress joined the line of first-class citadels guarding the western borders of the Russian Empire.

The device of the Brest Fortress in the XIX century

The main fortification of the citadel, standing on an island between the Bug and Mukhavets rivers, consisted of two two-story barracks with walls about 2 meters thick.

Sculptural composition "Thirst"

500 casemates could accommodate 12,000 fighters with the necessary weapons, ammunition and provisions. Through the embrasures, cut in the niches of the walls, the enemy was fired from cannons and rifles. Four protruding semicircular towers covered the main citadel from fire and allowed flanking fire from throwing guns. A system of drawbridges connected the main fortification with three artificial islands formed by Mukhavets and ditches.

Monument to the Heroes of the Border

Bastion forts with ravelins stood on the islands. Outside, the Brest Fortress was surrounded by a 10-meter earthen rampart, in the thickness of which there were stone casemates. From the ring barracks, the citadel could be entered through four gates; to date, three of them have survived - Kholmsky, Terespolsky and Northern.

Temples were rebuilt for the needs of the garrison. Thus, the Basilian monastery, later known as the White Palace, was used for officer meetings. In 1864 - 1888, engineer-general E. I. Totleben reinforced the fortress with a ring of 9 forts, each of which could accommodate a garrison of 250 people and 20 guns.

Kholm Gate

Brest Fortress in World War I

Since 1913, intensive work has been carried out to prepare the fortress for defense with the involvement of peasants from the surrounding villages and artels coming from the Kaluga and Ryazan provinces. By 1915, the construction of 14 forts, 5 defensive barracks and 21 defensive points was completed. The Brest fortifications were well prepared, but on the very eve of the war, the military reform of General Gurko broke out, during which all infantry divisions disbanded. By the beginning of the First World War, the citadel did not have a combat-ready garrison (it consisted only of militias), therefore supreme command decided to evacuate.

Ruins of the White Palace

Retreating, the Russian army partially burned down the most modern forts. And three years later, the Brest Fortress became famous throughout Europe - it was here, within the walls of the White Palace, that the Brest Peace Treaty was concluded.

Brest Fortress-Hero - a symbol of patriotism and courage

On June 22, 1941, at 4 o'clock in the morning, suddenly and without a declaration of war, Germany attacked Soviet Russia. At 04:15, the Nazi invaders opened artillery fire on the border fortress of Brest, when the Red Army soldiers were still sleeping.

Terespol Gate

Barracks, warehouses began to collapse, the water supply system failed, communication was interrupted. The garrison, taken by surprise, was divided into separate pockets and found itself cut off from the main forces of the Red Army. The Germans surrounded the fortress in a dense ring and bombarded it with heavy shells. 3500 Russian fighters, in conditions of an acute shortage of ammunition, provisions and water, held back the onslaught of the enemy for more than a month. May 8, 1965 for the heroic defense of the citadel in Brest was awarded the title of hero-fortress.

View of the barracks from the Terespol Gate

In 1971, in memory of the feat of the Red Army, a memorial complex " Brest Fortress-Hero". In the center of the complex there is a huge sculpture "Courage" depicting the head of a warrior and a banner. The memorial also includes the Ceremonial Square, tombstones over the graves of heroes, the ruins of the citadel, the Thirst sculpture and the obelisk bayonet. "Thirst", made in the form of a figure of a soldier crawling towards the water, recalls how many soldiers died trying to get precious drops. The enemy knew about the lack of water and fired at the approaches to the river.

The world-famous memorial has become a symbol of the unshakable resilience of the Soviet people during World War II. Brest Fortress awarded honorary title"Hero Fortress", an incredible number of books have been written and many feature films, and the Belarusians themselves called it one of the seven wonders of Belarus.

Myths and facts

The construction of the current symbol of the city - the Brest Fortress - began with the complete destruction of Brest in 1833. After the accession of the Belarusian lands to the Russian Empire, the authorities began to develop a project powerful system structures to protect the new western borders of the state. By order of Emperor Nicholas I, the ancient settlement was moved two kilometers to the east (the center of Brest is now located here). Numerous churches, monasteries, parish schools, taverns and baths, as well as all residential buildings, were dismantled, and residents were given a loan to build new housing.

The fortress was located on 4 islands formed by branches of the Mukhavets and Western Bug rivers, as well as a system of canals. The main defensive node was the Citadel - an island with a two-story closed barracks, the walls of which reach two meters wide and almost two kilometers long. The Citadel was connected to the other three islands by drawbridges. By the end of the 19th century, the complex was surrounded by 32 km of forts. At the beginning of the 20th century, the expansion continued with the construction of the second ring of fortifications, which was not completed due to the outbreak of the First World War.

In 1915-1918, the fortress was occupied, then it passed to the Poles, who placed a political prison there. The next day of World War II, September 2, 1939, Brest was bombed for the first time. The Poles held the citadel for two weeks, despite the fact that the entire city had already been occupied by the German army, whose forces were several times superior. After the capture, the Germans handed over the fortress to the Red Army and Brest became part of the USSR.

At dawn on June 22, 1941, the Brest Fortress received the first blow of the Nazi invaders. The garrison in the initial composition of 9 thousand people kept the defense for more than a month in the complete encirclement of the German army numbering about 17 thousand people. There is evidence that the last centers of resistance were destroyed only at the end of August, before the arrival of Hitler. In order to eliminate the last defenders, an order was given to flood the cellars of the fortress with water from the river. It is also known that Hitler took a stone from the ruins of the bridge and kept it in his office until the end of the war (Defense of the Brest Fortress).

The citadel was practically destroyed. In 1971, the memorial complex "Brest Hero Fortress" was opened on its territory, but in order to perpetuate the feat of the Brest defenders, most of the structures are still preserved in the form of ruins.

What to see

The total area of ​​the Brest Fortress is about 4 sq. km. There is a memorial complex in the eastern part of the Citadel. The sculptural and archaeological ensemble includes surviving structures, preserved ruins, ramparts and modern monuments.

The main passage is an opening in the form of a five-pointed star in a monolithic reinforced concrete mass, which rests on the shaft and the walls of the casemates. On the front side there is a plaque with the text about the assignment of the honorary title of “hero” to the fortress.

From the main entrance, the alley leads across the bridge to the Ceremonial Square, where mass events take place. To the left of the bridge is the sculptural composition "Thirst" - a figure Soviet soldier, which stretches with a helmet to the water. The museum and the ruins of the White Palace adjoin the Ceremonial Square.

The compositional center of the complex is the main monument "Courage" - a bust of a warrior and a bayonet-obelisk. On the reverse side of the monument, the bas-reliefs depict individual episodes of the defense of the fortress. A tribune and a three-tiered necropolis are installed nearby, where the remains of 850 people are buried, and the names of 224 fighters are engraved on memorial plates.

Near the ruins of the former engineering department, the Eternal Flame burns, on which the words are cast: "We fought to the death, glory to the heroes." Nearby is the site of the "hero cities" with capsules filled with the earth of these cities.

The memorial complex "Brest Hero Fortress" is open daily from 9.00 to 18.00, except for the last Tuesday of the month.
Cost: 2200 rubles. ($0.26)
Official site: