Despite the danger of an attack by fascist Germany, the supreme leadership of the USSR preferred to ignore any signals confirming the likelihood of war. Stalin relied on the non-aggression pact signed by Hitler and was sure that the German leader who had fought with Anglia would not risk waging a war on two fronts. However, his assumptions turned into fatal miscalculations for the country. And one of the first to accept the blow of a supposedly unexpected attack was the Brest Fortress (Belarus).
Bloody June Morning
Whatever the Kremlin’s general line was during Hitler’s victorious campaign in Europe, there were, of course, military border fortifications on the western borders of the Soviet Union. And they, of course, saw increased activity on the other side of the border. However, no one received an order to be put on military alert. Therefore, when on June 22 at 4.15 in the morning the Wehrmacht artillery troops opened hurricane fire, it was literally a thunder in the blue. The attack caused serious and irreparable damage to the garrison, destroying the depots of armaments, food, communications, water supply and more. The Brest Fortress during the war took the first battle, which turned into monstrous losses and complete demoralization.
Military readiness
As follows from open sources, on the eve of the attack, there were eight rifle battalions and one reconnaissance, artillery divisions on the territory of the fortress, as well as some divisions of rifle divisions, border detachments, engineering regiments, and NKVD troops. The total number of personnel reached nine thousand soldiers and officers, plus about three hundred of their families. General Leonid Sandalov recalled that the location of the military on the western border of Belarus was determined by the technical capabilities of their deployment. This explains the high concentration of parts with their reserves at the border itself.
In turn, forces from the invaders moved to the garrison with a total of twenty thousand soldiers, that is, more than double the number of Soviet defensive lines in Brest. However, it is necessary to make a historical clarification. The Brest fortress was not taken by German troops. The attack was carried out by the Austrians, who joined the ranks of the Nazi army after joining the Third Reich in 1938. How long the Brest Fortress held with such a numerical superiority is not the most important question. The hardest thing to understand is how they managed to do what they did.
The capture of the fortress
The assault began eight minutes after the first hurricane strike. An offensive attack was initially carried out by up to one and a half thousand foot soldiers. Events developed rapidly, the garrison of the fortress could not provide a single purposeful resistance due to the surprise of the strike. As a result, the parts defending the fortress were divided into several islands isolated from each other. Having learned such a balance of power, anyone would have wondered how much the Brest Fortress held. Initially, it seemed that, indeed, the Germans were moving deeper into the defense easily and confidently, without meeting a serious rebuff. However, the Soviet units, already in the rear of the enemy, concentrated, were able to break the whole offensive and destroy part of the enemy.
A group of fighters was able to leave the fortress and the city, retreating deep into Belarus. But the majority failed to do this, and it was they who continued to defend their firing line to the last. According to researchers, six thousand were able to leave the fortress, and nine thousand were left. Five hours later, the ring around the fortress closed. Resistance increased by that time, and the Nazis had to float reserves, bringing the offensive forces to two regiments. One of the attackers later recalled that they did not meet much resistance, but the Russians did not give up. How much the Brest Fortress held and due to which it succeeded, surprised the fascists.
Retention of boundaries to the last
By the end of the first day of the attack, the Nazis began shelling the fortress. During the breaks, they invited the Soviet soldiers to surrender. Almost two thousand people listened to their exhortations. The most powerful parts of the Soviet units managed to meet in the House of Officers and plan a breakthrough operation. But it was never necessary to carry it out: the fascists were ahead of them, the Red Army soldiers were killed, someone was captured. How long did the Brest Fortress hold? The last commander of the troops was captured on July 23 after the offensive. Although already on June 30, the Nazis managed to almost completely suppress organized resistance. However, there remained separate foci, single fighters who united and again scattered, someone managed to escape to the partisans in Belovezhskaya Pushcha.
Whatever the Wehrmacht planned, the first frontier, the Brest Fortress, was not so simple. How long the defense lasted is a controversial question. According to various sources, even before August 1941 there was solitary resistance. Ultimately, in order to eliminate the last Soviet soldiers, the basements of the Brest Fortress were flooded.