EntranceHistory of the Brest Fortress. Heroes of the Brest Fortress
In February 1942, on one of the front sectors in the Orel region, our troops defeated the enemy’s 45th Infantry Division. At the same time, the archives of the division headquarters were captured. While sorting through the documents captured in the German archives, our officers noticed one very interesting paper. This document was called “Combat Report on the Occupation of Brest-Litovsk,” and in it, day after day, the Nazis talked about the progress of the battles for the Brest Fortress.
Contrary to the will of the German staff officers, who, naturally, tried in every possible way to extol the actions of their troops, all the facts presented in this document spoke of exceptional courage, amazing heroism, and extraordinary stamina and tenacity of the defenders of the Brest Fortress. The last concluding words of this report sounded like a forced involuntary recognition of the enemy.
“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 proven once again during the capture of the Brest Fortress. The Russians in Brest-Litovsk fought exceptionally persistently and tenaciously, they showed excellent infantry training and proved a remarkable will to resist.”
This was the enemy's confession.
This “Combat Report on the Occupation of Brest-Litovsk” was translated into Russian, and excerpts from it were published in 1942 in the newspaper “Red Star”. Thus, actually 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 reality.
Two more years passed. In the summer of 1944, during a powerful offensive by 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. Just by the appearance 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 stern grandeur, as if the unbroken spirit of the fallen fighters of 1941 still lived in them. The gloomy stones, in places already overgrown with grass and bushes, beaten and gouged 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 and how much they could tell if a miracle happened and they were able to speak.
And a miracle happened! The stones suddenly started talking! Inscriptions left by the defenders of the fortress began to be found on the surviving walls of the fortress buildings, in the openings of windows and doors, on the vaults of the basements, and on the abutments of the bridge. In these inscriptions, sometimes anonymous, sometimes signed, sometimes scribbled hastily in pencil, sometimes simply scratched on the plaster with a bayonet or a bullet, the soldiers declared their determination to fight to the death, sent farewell greetings to the Motherland and comrades, and spoke of devotion to the people and the party. In the ruins of the fortress, the living voices of the unknown heroes of 1941 seemed to sound, and the soldiers of 1944 listened with excitement and heartache to these voices, in which there was a proud consciousness of duty performed, 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 will die, but we will not 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 will die as heroes. July. 1941".
In the center of the fortress courtyard there is a dilapidated church-type building. There really was once a church here, and later, before the war, it was converted into a club for 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 took an oath: we will die, but we will not leave here. July. 1941".
This inscription, along with the plaster, was removed from the wall and moved to the Central Museum of the Soviet Army in Moscow, where it is now kept. 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 who read it many times. This inscription was, as it were, a continuation of the first: “I was left alone, Stepanchikov and Zhuntyaev died. The Germans are in the church itself. There's only one grenade left, but I won't go down alive. Comrades, avenge us!” These words were apparently scratched out by the last of the three Muscovites - Ivanov.
It wasn't just the stones that 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 fighting, these women and children, caught in the fortress by the war, were in the basements of the barracks, sharing all the hardships of defense with their husbands and fathers. Now they shared their memories and told many interesting details of the memorable defense.
And then an amazing 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 15, and when the Nazis took them outside the fortress, fighting was still going on in certain areas of the defense, and there was intense firefight. Residents 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 on the occupation of Brest-Litovsk contained a deliberate lie and that the headquarters of the enemy 45th division hastened to inform its high command in advance about the fall of the fortress. In fact, the fighting continued for a long time... In 1950, a researcher at the Moscow museum, while exploring the premises of the Western barracks, found another inscription scratched on the wall. The inscription was: “I’m dying, but I’m not giving up. Farewell, Motherland! There was no signature under these words, but at the bottom there was a very clearly visible date - “July 20, 1941.” Thus, it was possible to find direct evidence that the fortress continued to resist on the 29th day of the war, although eyewitnesses stood their ground and assured that the fighting lasted for more than a month. After the war, the ruins in the fortress were partially dismantled, and at the same time, the remains of heroes were often found under the stones, their personal documents and weapons were discovered.
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 had 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 facilities of the complex served, first of all, to accommodate personnel who, in the event of war, were supposed to hold the defense outside the fortress. At the same time, the plan to create a fortified area, which took into account the latest achievements in the field of fortification, was not fully implemented as of June 22, 1941.
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 decreased significantly 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 barrage, which destroyed a significant part of the buildings, killed a large number of garrison soldiers and initially 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 Gate, the Germans met a desperate counterattack by Soviet soldiers under the overall command of regimental commissar E.M. Fomina. The vanguard units of the 45th Wehrmacht Division suffered serious losses.
The time gained allowed the Soviet side to organize an orderly defense of the barracks. The Nazis were forced to remain in their occupied positions in the army club building, from where they could not get out for some time. Attempts to break through enemy reinforcements across the bridge over Mukhavets in the area of the Kholm Gate on the Central Island were also stopped by fire.
In addition to the central part of the fortress, resistance gradually grew in other parts of the building complex (in particular, under the command of Major P.M. Gavrilov at the northern Kobrin fortification), and the dense buildings favored the garrison fighters. Because of it, the enemy could not conduct targeted artillery fire at close range without running the risk of being destroyed himself. Having only small arms and a small number of artillery pieces and armored vehicles, the defenders of the fortress stopped the enemy’s advance, and later, when the Germans carried out a tactical retreat, they occupied the positions abandoned by the enemy.
At the same time, despite the failure of the quick assault, on June 22, the Wehrmacht forces managed to take the entire fortress into the blockade ring. Before its establishment, up to half of the payroll of the units stationed in the complex managed to leave the fortress and occupy the lines prescribed by the defensive plans, according to some estimates. Taking into account the losses during the first day of defense, in the end the fortress was defended by about 3.5 thousand people, blocked in its different parts. As a consequence, each of the large centers of resistance could only rely on material resources in its immediate vicinity. The command of the combined forces of the defenders was entrusted to Captain I.N. Zubachev, whose deputy was Regimental Commissar Fomin.
In the subsequent days of the defense of the fortress, the enemy stubbornly tried to occupy the Central Island, but met organized resistance 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 shelling 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 destroyed at least four enemy tanks. It is known about the death of several more German tanks on improvised minefields installed 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).
No less dangerous for Soviet soldiers and the civilians with them (primarily the wives and children of officers) was the catastrophic shortage of food and drink. If the consumption of ammunition could be compensated by the surviving arsenals of the fortress and captured weapons, then the needs for water, food, medicine and dressings were satisfied at a minimum level. The fortress's water supply was destroyed, and manual water intake from Mukhavets and Bug was practically paralyzed by enemy fire. The situation was further complicated by the persistent intense heat.
At the initial stage of the defense, the idea of breaking through the fortress and joining the main forces was abandoned, since the command of the defenders was counting on a quick counterattack by the Soviet troops. When these calculations did not come true, attempts began to break the blockade, but they all ended in failure due to the overwhelming superiority of the Wehrmacht units 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 holistic and coordinated character, and the fight against the Nazis was continued by already disparate 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 the beginning of August 1941. After the war, in the casemates of the Brest Fortress, the inscription “I am dying, but I do not give up. Goodbye Motherland. July 20, 1941"
Most of the surviving defenders of the garrison were captured by the Germans, where women and children were sent even before the end of organized defense. Commissioner 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 “hero fortress”) 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. /Ans. ed. Ak. A.O. Chubaryan. M., 2010.
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 the air defense to combat readiness without additional increases 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, Kiev, 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 German 45th Infantry Division (about 17 thousand soldiers and officers) stormed the Brest Fortress 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 mass 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.
The defense of the Brest Fortress (lasted from June 22 – June 30, 1941) was one of the very first major battles between Soviet troops and German troops during the Great Patriotic War.
Brest was the first Soviet border garrison, which 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 air support. As a result of the assault at the very end of the siege, the Germans were able to capture the main fortifications, but in other areas the battle still continued for several weeks, despite catastrophic shortages of food, medicine and ammunition. The defense of the Brest Fortress was the first battle in which Soviet troops showed their full readiness to defend their Motherland to the last. The battle became a kind of symbol showing that the plan for a rapid assault and seizure of the territory of the USSR by the Germans could be unsuccessful.
History of the Brest Fortress
The city of Brest was incorporated into the USSR in 1939, at the same time the fortress located not far from the city had already lost its military significance 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 the western borders of the Russian Empire. By the time the Great Patriotic War began, the fortress could no longer fulfill its military functions, as it was partially destroyed - it was used mainly to house border detachments, NKVD troops, engineering units, as well as a hospital and various border units. By the time of the German attack, about 8,000 military personnel, about 300 families of commanding officers, as well as medical and service personnel were located in the Brest Fortress.
Storming of the Brest Fortress
The assault on the fortress began on June 22, 1941 at dawn. The Germans primarily targeted the barracks and residential buildings of the command staff with powerful artillery fire in order to disorient the army and cause chaos in the ranks of the Soviet troops. After the shelling, the assault began. The main idea of the assault was the factor of surprise; 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 supposed 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 positions outside it, as stipulated in the plans in the event of an attack; the rest remained inside - the fortress was surrounded. Despite the surprise 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, Soviet soldiers resisted to the last.
Defense of the Brest Fortress
The Soviet soldiers, who were unable to leave the fortress, managed to quickly destroy the Germans who broke through to the center of the defensive structures, and then take advantageous positions for defense - the soldiers occupied 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 officers and, in some cases, ordinary soldiers, who were then recognized as heroes for the defense of the Brest Fortress.
On June 22, 8 attacks were carried out by the enemy; German troops, contrary to forecasts, suffered significant losses, so it was decided in the evening of the same day to recall the groups that broke 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 another attempt was made to storm the fortress. The groups that broke through encountered fierce resistance and the assault failed again, turning into protracted fighting. By the evening of the same day, the Germans again suffered huge losses.
For 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 strength of the soldiers melted away, 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 in order to survive, but some of the women refused to leave the fortress.
On June 26, several more attempts were made to break into the fortress; only a small number of 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 carried out, which was combined with artillery shelling and bombing. The main groups of 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.
Results of the defense of the Brest Fortress
The remaining Soviet soldiers continued to resist until the fall, despite the fact that the fortress was actually taken by the Germans and the defenses were 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 captured and the rest died. The battles in Brest became an example of the courage of Soviet troops and entered world history.
After the start of the Great Patriotic War, the garrison of the Brest Fortress heroically held back the onslaught of the 45th German Infantry Division, which was supported by artillery and aviation, for a week.
After a general assault on June 29–30, the Germans managed to capture the main fortifications. But the defenders of the fortress continued to fight courageously for almost three more weeks in certain areas in conditions of lack of water, food, ammunition and medicine. The defense of the Brest Fortress became the first, but eloquent lesson that showed the Germans what awaited them in the future.
Fighting in the Brest Fortress
The defense of an old fortress that had lost its military significance near the city of Brest, incorporated into the USSR in 1939, is an undoubted example of perseverance and courage. The Brest Fortress was built in the 19th century as part of a system of fortifications created on the western borders of the Russian Empire. By the time Germany attacked the Soviet Union, it could no longer carry out serious defensive tasks and its central part, consisting of the citadel and three adjacent main fortifications, was used to house a border detachment, border covering units, NKVD troops, engineering units, a hospital and auxiliary units. At the time of the attack, there were about 8 thousand military personnel in the fortress, up to 300 families of command personnel, a number of persons undergoing military training, medical personnel and personnel of economic services - in all, in all likelihood, more than 10 thousand people.
At dawn on June 22, 1941, the fortress, primarily the barracks and residential buildings of the command staff, was subjected to powerful artillery fire, after which the fortifications were attacked by German assault troops. The assault on the fortress was led by battalions of the 45th Infantry Division.
The German command hoped that the surprise of the attack and powerful artillery preparation would disorganize the troops stationed in the fortress and break their will to resist. According to calculations, the assault on the fortress should have ended by 12 noon. However, the German staff officers miscalculated.
Despite the surprise, significant losses and the death of a large number of commanders, the garrison personnel showed courage and tenacity, unexpected for the Germans. The position of the fortress defenders was hopeless.
Only part of the personnel managed to leave the fortress (according to the plans, in the event of a threat of hostilities, the troops were to take positions outside it), after which the fortress was completely surrounded.
They managed to destroy the detachments that broke into the central part of the fortress (the citadel) and took up defense in strong defensive barracks located along the perimeter of the citadel, as well as in various buildings, ruins, basements and casemates both in the citadel and on the territory of the adjacent fortifications. The defenders were led by commanders and political workers, in some cases by ordinary soldiers who took command.
During June 22, the defenders of the fortress repelled 8 enemy attacks. The German troops suffered unexpectedly high losses, so by the evening all the groups that had broken through to the territory of the fortress were recalled, a blockade line was created behind the outer ramparts, and military operations began to take on the character of a siege. On the morning of June 23, after artillery shelling and aerial bombardment, the enemy continued to attempt an assault. The fighting in the fortress took on a fierce, protracted character, which the Germans did not expect. By the evening of June 23, their losses amounted to more than 300 people killed alone, which was almost double the losses of the 45th Infantry Division during the entire Polish campaign.
In the following days, the defenders of the fortress continued to resist steadfastly, ignoring the calls for surrender transmitted through radio installations and the promises of the envoys. However, their strength gradually dwindled. The Germans brought up siege artillery. Using flamethrowers, barrels of flammable mixtures, powerful explosive charges, and, according to some sources, poisonous or asphyxiating gases, they gradually suppressed pockets of resistance. The defenders experienced a shortage of ammunition and food. The water supply was destroyed, and it was impossible to get to the water in the bypass channels, because... the Germans opened fire on everyone who came into view.
A few days later, the defenders of the fortress decided that the women and children who were among them should leave the fortress and surrender to the mercy of the victors. But still, some women remained in the fortress until the last days of hostilities. After June 26, several attempts were made to break out of the besieged fortress, but only a few small groups were able to break through.
By the end of June, the enemy managed to capture most of the fortress; on June 29 and 30, the Germans launched a continuous two-day assault on the fortress, alternating attacks with artillery shelling and aerial bombardment using heavy aerial bombs. They managed to destroy and capture the main groups of defenders in the Citadel and the Eastern Redoubt of the Kobrin fortification, after which the defense of the fortress broke up into a number of separate centers. A small group of fighters continued to fight in the Eastern Redoubt until July 12, and later in the caponier behind the outer rampart of the fortification. The group was headed by Major Gavrilov and deputy political instructor G.D. Derevianko, being seriously wounded, was captured on July 23.
Individual defenders of the fortress, hiding in the basements and casemates of the fortifications, continued their personal war until the autumn of 1941, and their struggle is covered in legends.
The enemy did not get any of the banners of the military units fighting in the fortress. The total losses of the 45th German Infantry Division, according to the divisional report, on June 30, 1941, were 482 killed, including 48 officers, and over 1,000 wounded. According to the report, German troops captured 7,000 people, which apparently included everyone who was captured in the fortress, incl. civilians and children. The remains of 850 of its defenders are buried in a mass grave on the territory of the fortress.
Battle of Smolensk
In mid-summer - early autumn of 1941, Soviet troops carried out a complex of defensive and offensive operations in the Smolensk area aimed at preventing an enemy breakthrough in the Moscow strategic direction and known as the Battle of Smolensk.
In July 1941, the German Army Group Center (commanded by Field Marshal T. von Bock) sought to fulfill the task set by the German command - to encircle the Soviet troops defending the line of the Western Dvina and the Dnieper, to capture Vitebsk, Orsha, Smolensk and open the way to Moscow .
In order to thwart the enemy's plans and prevent his breakthrough to Moscow and the central industrial regions of the country, the Soviet High Command concentrated troops of the 2nd strategic echelon (22nd, 19th, 20th, 16th and 21st) from the end of June. I army) along the middle reaches of the Western Dvina and Dnieper. At the beginning of June, these troops were included in the Western Front (commander - Marshal of the Soviet Union S.K. Timoshenko). However, only 37 of the 48 divisions were in position at the start of the German offensive. 24 divisions were in the first echelon. Soviet troops were unable to create a strong defense, and the density of troops was very low - each division had to defend a strip 25–30 km wide. The second echelon troops deployed 210–240 km east of the main line.
By this time, formations of the 4th Tank Army had reached the Dnieper and Western Dvina, and the infantry divisions of the 16th German Army from Army Group North had reached the section from Idritsa to Drissa. More than 30 infantry divisions of the 9th and 2nd armies of the German Army Group Center, delayed by the fighting in Belarus, lagged behind the mobile forces by 120–150 km. Nevertheless, the enemy began the offensive in the Smolensk direction, having a 2-4 times superiority in manpower over the troops of the Western Front
and technology.
The offensive of German troops on the right wing and in the center of the Western Front began on July 10, 1941. A strike force consisting of 13 infantry, 9 tank and 7 motorized divisions broke through the Soviet defenses. The enemy's mobile formations advanced up to 200 km, surrounded Mogilev, captured Orsha, part of Smolensk, Yelnya, and Krichev. The 16th and 20th armies of the Western Front found themselves in operational encirclement in the Smolensk region.
On July 21, the troops of the Western Front, having received reinforcements, launched a counter-offensive in the direction of Smolensk, and in the zone of the 21st Army, a group of three cavalry divisions carried out a raid on the flank and rear of the main forces of Army Group Center. From the enemy side, the approaching infantry divisions of the 9th and 2nd German armies entered the fight. On July 24, the 13th and 21st armies were united into the Central Front (commander - Colonel General F.I. Kuznetsov).
It was not possible to defeat the enemy’s Smolensk group, but as a result of intense battles, Soviet troops thwarted the offensive of German tank groups, helped the 20th and 16th armies escape from encirclement across the Dnieper River and forced Army Group Center to go on the defensive on July 30. At the same time, the Soviet High Command united all reserve troops and the Mozhaisk defense line (39 divisions in total) into the Reserve Front under the command of Army General G.K. Zhukov.
On August 8, German troops resumed their offensive, this time to the south - in the Central and then Bryansk Front (created on August 16, commander - Lieutenant General A.I. Eremenko), in order to protect their flank from the threat of Soviet troops from the south. By August 21, the enemy managed to advance 120–140 km and wedge itself between the Central and Bryansk fronts. In view of the threat of encirclement, on August 19, the Headquarters authorized the withdrawal of the troops of the Central and the troops of the Southwestern Front operating to the south beyond the Dnieper. The armies of the Central Front were transferred to the Bryansk Front. On August 17, the troops of the Western Front and two armies of the Reserve Front went on the offensive, which inflicted noticeable losses on the Dukhshchina and Elninsk enemy groups.
The troops of the Bryansk Front continued to repel the advance of the 2nd German Tank Group and the 2nd German Army. A massive air strike (up to 460 aircraft) against the enemy’s 2nd Tank Group was unable to stop its advance to the south. On the right wing of the Western Front, the enemy launched a strong tank attack on the 22nd Army and captured Toropets on August 29. The 22nd and 29th armies retreated to the eastern bank of the Western Dvina. On September 1, the 30th, 19th, 16th and 20th armies launched an offensive, but did not achieve significant success. By September 8, the defeat of the enemy group was completed and the dangerous protrusion of the front in the Yelnya area was eliminated. On September 10, the troops of the Western, Reserve and Bryansk Fronts went on the defensive on the lines along the Subost, Desna, and Western Dvina rivers.
Despite the significant losses suffered during the Battle of Smolensk, the Soviet army managed to force German troops to go on the defensive in the main direction for the first time during World War II. The Battle of Smolensk was an important stage in the disruption of the German plan for a lightning war against the Soviet Union. The Soviet army gained time to prepare the defense of the capital of the USSR and subsequent victories in the battles near Moscow.
Tank battle in the Lutsk-Brody-Rivne area
From June 23 to June 29, 1941, during border clashes in the Lutsk-Brody-Rovno area, a counter tank battle took place between the advancing German 1st Panzer Group and the mechanized corps of the Southwestern Front, which launched a counterattack, together with the combined arms formations of the front.
Already on the first day of the war, three corps that were in reserve received orders from front headquarters to move northeast of Rivne and strike, together with the 22nd Mechanized Corps (which was already there), on the left flank of von Kleist’s tank group. While the reserve corps were approaching the concentration site, the 22nd Corps managed to suffer heavy losses during battles with German units, and the 15th Corps, located to the south, was unable to break through the dense German anti-tank defense. The reserve corps approached one by one.
The 8th Corps was the first to arrive at the new location with a forced march, and it immediately had to go into battle alone, since the situation that had developed by that time in the 22nd Corps was very difficult. The approaching corps included T-34 and KV tanks, and the military contingent was well prepared. This helped the corps maintain combat effectiveness during battles with superior enemy forces. Later, the 9th and 19th mechanized corps arrived and also immediately entered into hostilities. The inexperienced crews of these corps, exhausted by 4-day marches and continuous German air raids, found it difficult to resist the experienced tank crews of the German 1st Panzer Group.
Unlike the 8th Corps, they were armed with old T-26 and BT models, which were significantly inferior in maneuverability to modern T-34s, and most of the vehicles were damaged during air raids on the march. It so happened that the front headquarters was unable to gather all the reserve corps simultaneously for a powerful strike, and each of them had to engage in battle in turn.
As a result, the strongest tank group of the Red Army lost its striking power even before the truly critical phase of the fighting on the southern flank of the Soviet-German front arose. Nevertheless, the front headquarters managed to preserve the integrity of its troops for a while, but when the strength of the tank units was running out, the headquarters gave the order to retreat to the old Soviet-Polish border.
Despite the fact that these counterattacks did not lead to the defeat of the 1st Panzer Group, they forced the German command, instead of attacking Kyiv, to turn its main forces to repel the counterattack and use its reserves prematurely. The Soviet command gained time to withdraw the Lvov group of troops that was under threat of encirclement and prepare defense on the approaches to Kyiv.
The attack on our country in June 1941 began along the entire western border, from north to south, each border outpost took its own battle. But the defense of the Brest Fortress became legendary. The fighting was already taking place on the outskirts of Minsk, and rumors were passed from fighter to fighter that somewhere there, in the west, a border fortress was still defending itself and not surrendering. According to the German plan, eight hours were allotted for the complete capture of the Brest fortification. But neither a day later, nor two days later, the fortress was taken. It is believed that the last day of its defense is July 20. The inscription on the wall is dated this day: “We are dying, but we are not giving up...”. Witnesses claimed that even in August the sounds of gunfire and explosions were heard in the central citadel.
On the night of June 22, 1941, cadet Myasnikov and private Shcherbina were in a border secret in one of the shelters of the Terespol fortification at the junction of the branches of the Western Bug. At dawn they noticed a German armored train approaching the railway bridge. They wanted to inform the outpost, but realized it was too late. The ground shook underfoot, the sky darkened with enemy aircraft.
Head of the chemical service of the 455th rifle regiment A.A. Vinogradov recalled: |
“On the night of June 21-22, I was appointed operational duty officer at the regiment headquarters. The headquarters was located in the ring barracks. At dawn there was a deafening roar, everything was drowned in fiery flashes. I tried to contact the division headquarters, but the phone did not work. I ran to the units of the unit. I found out that there are only four commanders here - Art. Lieutenant Ivanov, Lieutenant Popov and Lieutenant Makhnach and political instructor Koshkarev who arrived from military schools. They have already begun to organize defense. Together with soldiers from other units, we knocked out the Nazis from the club building and the command staff canteen, did not give the opportunity to break into the central island through the Three-Armed Gate" |
Cadets of the school of drivers and border guards, soldiers of a transport company and a sapper platoon, participants in training camps for cavalrymen and athletes - everyone who was in the fortification that night took up defensive positions. The fortress was defended by several groups in different parts of the citadel. One of them was headed by Lieutenant Zhdanov, and next door groups of Lieutenants Melnikov and Cherny were preparing for battle.
Under the cover of artillery fire, the Germans moved towards the fortress.. At this time there were about 300 people at the Tepespol fortification. They responded to the attack with rifle and machine gun fire and grenades. However, one of the enemy assault troops managed to break through to the fortifications of the Central Island. Attacks occurred several times a day, and it was necessary to engage in hand-to-hand combat. Each time the Germans retreated with losses.
On June 24, 1941, in one of the basements of the building of the 333rd engineering regiment, a meeting of commanders and political workers of the central citadel of the Brest Fortress was held. A unified defense headquarters for the Central Island was created. Captain I.N. Zubachev became commander of the combined combat group, his deputy was regimental commissar E.M. Fomin, and chief of staff was senior lieutenant Semenenko.
The situation was difficult: there was not enough ammunition, food, and water. The remaining 18 people were forced to leave the fortification and hold the defense in the Citadel.
Private A.M. Fil, clerk of the 84th Infantry Regiment: |
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On June 30, 1941, a bomb hit the basement where the Citadel defense headquarters was located. Fomin was seriously wounded and shell-shocked, lost consciousness and was captured. The Germans shot him at the Kholm Gate. And the defenders of the fortress continued to hold the defense.
When the Germans captured women and children at the Volyn fortification and drove them ahead of them to the Citadel, no one wanted to go. They were beaten with rifle butts and shot. And the women shouted to the Soviet soldiers: “shoot, don’t spare us!”.
Lieutenants Potapov and Sanin led the defense in the two-story barracks of their regiment. Nearby there was a building where the 9th border outpost was located. Soldiers fought here under the command of the head of the outpost, Lieutenant Kizhevatov. Only when only ruins remained of their building did Kizhevatov and his soldiers move to the basements of the barracks and continued to lead the defense together with Potapov.