Having unexpectedly attacked the Soviet Union, the fascist command hoped to reach Moscow in a few months. However, German generals met resistance, barely stepping over the border of the USSR. The Germans took several hours to capture the first outpost of the Soviet army , but the defenders of the Brest Fortress held back the power of the huge fascist army for six days.
The siege of 1941 became
For Brest historical fortress, however, it was attacked before that. The fortress was erected by the architect Opperman in 1833 as a military building. The war got to it only by 1915 - then it was blown up during the retreat of the Nikolaev troops. In 1918, after the signing of the
Brest Peace, which took place in the Citadel of the fortress, it remained under German control for some time, and by the end of 1918 it was in the hands of the Poles, who owned it until 1939.
Real hostilities overtook the Brest Fortress in 1939. The second day of World War II began for the fortress garrison with bombing. German aircraft dropped ten bombs on the citadel, damaging the main building of the fortress - the Citadel, or the White Palace. Then there were several random military and reserve units in the fortress. The first defense of the Brest Fortress was organized by General Plisovsky, who out of the scattered troops he had managed to assemble a combat-ready detachment of 2500 people and evacuate officer families on time. Against the armored corps of General Heinz, Plisovsky was able to oppose only the old armored train, several of the same tanks and a couple of batteries. Then the defense of the Brest Fortress lasted three full days
, from September 14 to September 17, while the enemy was almost six times stronger than the defenders. On the night of September 17, the wounded Plisovsky led the remnants of his detachment south, towards Terespol. After that, on September 22, the Germans transferred Brest and the Brest Fortress to the Soviet Union.
The defense of the Brest Fortress of 1941 fell on the shoulders of nine Soviet battalions, two artillery divisions and several separate units. In total, this amounted to about eleven thousand people, excluding three hundred officer families. The fortress was stormed by the infantry division of Major General Schlieper, which was reinforced with additional units. On the whole, about twenty thousand soldiers obeyed General Schlieper.
The attack began early in the morning. Due to the surprise of the attack, the commanders did not have time to coordinate the actions of the fortress garrison, so the defenders were immediately divided into several detachments. The Germans immediately managed to capture the Citadel, but they still could not gain a foothold in it - the invaders attacked the remaining Soviet units, and the Citadel was partially liberated. On the second day of defense, the Germans proposed
surrender, to which 1900 people agreed. The remaining defenders united under the command of Captain Zubachev. The enemy forces, however, were immeasurably higher, and the defense of the Brest Fortress was short-lived. On June 24, the Nazis managed to capture 1250 fighters, another 450 people were captured on June 26. The last stronghold of the defenders, East Fort, was crushed on June 29 when the Germans dropped a 1800-kilogram bomb on it. This day is considered the end of the defense, but the Germans cleared the Brest Fortress until June 30, and the last defenders were destroyed only by the end of August. Only a few managed to escape to the Bialowieza Forest to the partisans.
The fortress was liberated in 1944, and in 1971 it was mothballed and turned into a museum. Then a memorial was erected, thanks to which the defense of the Brest Fortress and the courage of its defenders will be remembered forever.