The defense of the Brest Fortress was the first feat of the Soviet soldiers in the Great Patriotic War. About the feat of the defenders of the Brest fortress

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, of course, 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. Brest Fortress. The last closing 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 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 the plaster, was removed from the wall and transferred 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 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 memories, told a lot interesting details memorial 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 it was possible to find direct evidence 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 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, the plan to create a fortified area, taking into account the 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 remain in their 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 from close range without being in danger of being destroyed. Having only small arms and a small number of 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 occupied 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. 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).

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.

At the initial stage of the defense, the idea to break through the fortress and join the main forces was abandoned, since the command of the defenders was counting on an early counterattack 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 areas 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.

Encyclopedic YouTube

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  The assault on the fortress, the city of Brest and the capture of bridges across the Western Bug and Mukhavets was entrusted to the 45th Infantry Division (45th Infantry Division) of Major General Fritz Schlieper (about 17 thousand people) with reinforcement units and in cooperation with units of neighboring formations (including including mortar divisions attached 31st and 34th infantry divisions 12th Army Corps of the 4th German Army and used by the 45th Infantry Division during the first five minutes of an artillery raid), a total of up to 20 thousand people.

  Assault on the fortress

  In addition to the divisional artillery of the 45th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht, nine light and three heavy batteries, a high-power artillery battery (two super-heavy 600 mm self-propelled mortars "Karl") and a division of mortars. In addition, the commander of the 12th Army Corps concentrated the fire of two mortar divisions of the 34th and 31st Infantry Divisions on the fortress. The order to withdraw units of the 42nd Rifle Division from the fortress, given personally by the commander of the 4th Army, Major General A.A. managed to complete.

  From the combat report on the actions of the 6th Infantry Division:

  At 4 am on June 22, heavy fire was opened on the barracks, on the exits from the barracks in the central part of the fortress, on bridges and entrance gates and on the houses of the commanding staff. This raid brought confusion and caused panic among the Red Army personnel. The command staff, which was attacked in their apartments, was partially destroyed. The surviving commanders could not penetrate the barracks because of the strong barrage fire placed on the bridge in the central part of the fortress and at the entrance gate. As a result, the Red Army soldiers and junior commanders, without control from the middle commanders, dressed and undressed, in groups and singly, left the fortress, overcoming the bypass channel, the Mukhavets River and the rampart of the fortress under artillery, mortar and machine-gun fire. It was not possible to take into account the losses, since the scattered units of the 6th division mixed with the scattered units of the 42nd division, and many could not get to the assembly place because at about 6 o’clock artillery fire was already concentrated on it.

  By 9 o'clock in the morning the fortress was surrounded. During the day, the Germans were forced to bring into battle the reserve of the 45th Infantry Division (135pp / 2), as well as the 130th Infantry Regiment, which was originally the reserve of the corps, thus bringing the group of attackers to two regiments.

  According to the story of the Austrian SS private Heinz Henrik Harry Walter:

  The Russians did not put up strong resistance, in the first days of the war we took control of the fortress, but the Russians did not give up and continued to defend. Our task was to capture the entire USSR by January-February 1942. But still, the fortress was held in place for no reason at all. I was wounded in a skirmish on the night of 28/29 June 1941. We won the shootout, but I don't remember what it was. Having captured the fortress, we arranged a feast in the city. [ ]

  Defense

  About 3,000 Soviet servicemen were taken prisoner by German troops in the fortress (according to the report of the commander of the 45th division, Lieutenant-General Shliper, on June 30, 25 officers, 2877 junior commanders and soldiers were taken prisoner), 1877 Soviet servicemen died in the fortress .

  The total losses of the Germans in the Brest Fortress amounted to 947 people, of which 63 were Wehrmacht officers on the Eastern Front in the first week of the war.

  Experience learned:

  1. Short strong artillery fire on the old serfs brick walls, cemented concrete, deep basements and unobservable shelters does not give an effective result. Prolonged aimed fire is needed to destroy and fire of great strength is needed to thoroughly destroy fortified centers.

  The commissioning of assault guns, tanks, etc. is very difficult due to the unobservability of many shelters, fortresses and a large number of possible targets and does not give the expected results due to the thickness of the walls of the structures. In particular, a heavy mortar is not suitable for such purposes. An excellent means of moral shock to those in hiding is the dropping of large-caliber bombs.

  2. An attack on a fortress in which a brave defender sits costs a lot of blood. This simple truth was once again proved during the capture of Brest-Litovsk. Heavy artillery also belongs to the strong stunning means of moral influence.
  3. The Russians in Brest-Litovsk fought extremely stubbornly and persistently. They showed excellent infantry training and showed a remarkable will to fight.

  The memory of the defenders of the fortress

  On May 8, 1965, the Brest Fortress was awarded the title of Hero Fortress with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal. Since 1971, the fortress has been a memorial complex. On its territory, a number of monuments were built in memory of the heroes, and there is a museum of the defense of the Brest Fortress.

  In art

  Art films

  • " Immortal garrison" ();
  • “Battle for Moscow”, the first film “Aggression” ( one of storylines ) (USSR, 1985);
  • “State Border”, fifth film “Year forty-first” (USSR, 1986);
  • "I am a Russian soldier" - based on the book by Boris Vasiliev “I didn’t appear on the lists”(Russia, 1995);
  • "Brest Fortress" (Belarus-Russia, 2010).

  Documentaries

  • "Heroes Brest" - documentary about the heroic defense of the Brest Fortress at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War(Studio TSSDF, 1957);
  • "Dear fathers-heroes" - amateur documentary film about the 1st All-Union rally of the winners of the youth campaign to the places of military glory in the Brest Fortress(1965);
  • "Brest Fortress" - documentary trilogy about the defense of the fortress in 1941(VoenTV, 2006);
  • "Brest Fortress" (Russia, 2007).
  • "Brest. Fortress heroes. (NTV, 2010).
  • “Berascey crepe: Dzve abarons” (Belsat, 2009)

  Fiction

  • Vasiliev B. L. Didn't appear in the lists. - M.: Children's literature, 1986. - 224 p.
  • Oshaev H. D. Brest is a fiery nut. - M.: Book, 1990. - 141 p.
  • Smirnov S. S. Brest Fortress. - M. : Young Guard, 1965. - 496 p.

  Songs

  • "There is no death for the heroes of Brest"- song by Eduard Khil.
  • "Brest trumpeter"- music by Vladimir Rubin, lyrics by Boris Dubrovin.
  • "Dedicated to the Heroes of Brest" - words and music by Alexander Krivonosov.
  • According to Boris Vasiliev's book “He was not on the lists”, the last known defender of the fortress surrendered on April 12, 1942. S. Smirnov in the book "Brest Fortress" also, referring to the stories of eyewitnesses, calls April 1942.

  Notes

  1. Christian Ganzer. German and Soviet losses as an indicator of the duration and intensity of the battles for the Brest Fortress // Belarus and Germany: history and current events. Issue 12. Minsk 2014, p. 44-52, p. 48-50.
  2. Christian Ganzer. German and Soviet losses as an indicator of the duration and intensity of the battles for the Brest Fortress // Belarus and Germany: history and current events. Issue 12. Minsk 2014, p. 44-52, p. 48-50, p. 45-47.
  3. Soviet citadel of brest litovsk is captured jun 1941 - YouTube
  4. Sandalov L. M.
  5. Sandalov L. M. Combat actions of the troops of the 4th Army in the initial period of the Great Patriotic War
  6. Eve and beginning of the war
  7. Mortar CARL
  8. Brest Fortress/// Transmission of the radio station "Echo of Moscow"
  9. Last centers of resistance
  10. "I'm dying, but I'm not giving up." When the last defender of the Brest fortress perished
  11. Albert Axell. Russia's Heroes, 1941-45, Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2002, ISBN 0-7867-1011-X , Google Print, p. 39-40
  12. Combat report of the commander of the 45th division, lieutenant general Shliper, about the occupation of the fortress Brest-Litovsk, July 8, 1941.
  13. Jason Pipes. 45. Infanterie-Division, Feldgrau.com - research on the German armed forces 1918-1945
  14. The defense of the Brest Fortress became the first feat of Soviet soldiers in the Great Patriotic War.

  Literature

  Historical research

  • Aliev R.V. Storming of the Brest Fortress. - M. : Eksmo, 2010. - 800 p. - ISBN 978-5-699-41287-7. Review on book Aliyev (in Belarusian language)
  • Aliev R., Ryzhov I. Brest. June. Fortress, 2012 - video presentation of the book
  • Christian Ganzer (head of the group of authors-compilers), Irina Yelenskaya, Elena Pashkovich and others. Brest. Summer 1941. Documents, materials, photographs. Smolensk: Inbelkult, 2016. ISBN 978-5-00076-030-7
  • Krystyyan Gantser, Alena Pashkovich. "Heraism, tragedy, courage." Museum of abarons Berastseyskaya krepastsi.// ARCHE pachatak № 2/2013 (Cherven 2013), p. 43-59.
  • Christian Ganzer. The translator is at fault. The influence of translation on the perception of historical events (on the example of Major General Fritz Schlieper's report on the military operations to capture Brest-Litovsk) // Belarus and Germany: history and modernity. Issue 13. Minsk 2015, p. 39-45.
  • Christian Ganzer. German and Soviet losses as an indicator of the duration and intensity of the battles for the Brest Fortress. // Belarus and Germany: history and modernity. Issue 12. Minsk 2014, p. 44-52.

  Some of the sources claim that the history of the Brest Fortress began a century before its heroic deed in 1941. This is somewhat untrue. The fortress has existed for a long time. The complete reconstruction of the medieval citadel in the town of Berestye (the historical name of Brest) began in 1836 and lasted 6 years.

  Immediately after the fire of 1835, the tsarist government decided to modernize the fortress in order to give it the status of a western outpost of national importance in the future.

  Medieval Brest

  The fortress arose in the 11th century, references to it can be found in the well-known "Tale of Bygone Years", where the chronicle depicted episodes of the struggle for the throne between two great princes - Svyatopolk and Yaroslav.

  Having a very favorable location - on a cape between two rivers, and Mukhavets, Berestye soon acquired the status of a major trading center.

  In ancient times, rivers were the main routes for merchant movement. And here, as many as two waterways made it possible to move goods from east to west and vice versa. It was possible to travel along the Bug to Poland, Lithuania and Europe, and along the Mukhavets, through the Pripyat and the Dnieper, to the Black Sea steppes and the Middle East.

  One can only guess how picturesque the medieval Brest Fortress was. Photos of illustrations and drawings of the fortress of the early period are a rarity, it is possible to meet them only as museum exhibits.

  In view of the constant transition of the Brest Fortress under the jurisdiction of one or another state and the arrangement of the town in its own way, the plan of both the outpost and the settlement underwent minor changes. Some of them were inspired by the demands of the time, but for more than half a thousand years the Brest Fortress managed to preserve its original medieval color and atmosphere.

  1812. French in the citadel

  The border geography of Brest has always been the reason for the struggle for the town: for 800 years, the history of the Brest Fortress has captured the dominion of the Turov and Lithuanian principalities, the Commonwealth (Poland), and only in 1795 Brest became an integral part of Russian lands.

  But before the invasion of Napoleon Russian government did not attach of great importance ancient fortress. Only during the Russo-French War of 1812, the Brest Fortress confirmed its status as a reliable outpost, which, as the people said, helps its own people and destroys its enemies.

  The French also decided to leave Brest behind, but the Russian troops recaptured the fortress, having won an unconditional victory over the French cavalry units.

  Historic decision

  This victory served Starting point for the decision of the tsarist government to build on the site a rather flimsy medieval fortress a new and powerful fortification, corresponding to the spirit of the times in architectural style and military significance.

  And what about the heroes of the Brest Fortress of the seasons? After all, any military action involves the appearance of desperate daredevils and patriots. Their names remained unknown to wide circles of the then public, but it is possible that they received their awards for courage from the hands of Emperor Alexander himself.

  Fire in Brest

  The fire that engulfed the ancient settlement in 1835 accelerated the process of the general reconstruction of the Brest Fortress. The plans of the then engineers and architects were to destroy the medieval buildings in order to erect in their place completely new structures in terms of architectural character and strategic significance.

  The fire destroyed about 300 buildings in the settlement, and this, paradoxically, turned out to be in the hands of both the tsarist government, and the builders, and the population of the town.

  Reconstruction

  Having issued compensation to the fire victims in the form of cash and building materials, the state convinced them to settle not in the fortress itself, but separately - two kilometers from the outpost, thus providing the fortress with the only function - protective.

  The history of the Brest Fortress did not know such a grandiose restructuring before: the medieval settlement was demolished to the ground, and in its place a powerful citadel with thick walls, a whole system of drawbridges connecting three artificially created islands, with bastion forts equipped with ravelins, with impregnable a ten-meter earthen rampart, with narrow embrasures, allowing the defenders to remain as protected as possible during the shelling.

  The defensive capabilities of the fortress in the 19th century

  In addition to protective structures, which, of course, play a leading role in repelling enemy attacks, the number and well-trainedness of the soldiers serving in the border fortress are also important.

  The defensive strategy of the citadel was thought out by the architects to the subtleties. Otherwise, why attach the importance of the main fortification to an ordinary soldier's barracks? Living in rooms with walls two meters thick, each of the servicemen was subconsciously ready to repel possible enemy attacks, literally jumping out of bed - at any time of the day.

  500 casemates of the fortress easily accommodated 12,000 soldiers with a full set of weapons and provisions for several days. The barracks were so successfully disguised from prying eyes that the uninitiated could hardly guess about their presence - they were located in the thickness of that same ten-meter earthen rampart.

  The peculiarity of the architectural design of the fortress was the inextricable connection of its structures: towers protruding forward covered the main citadel from fire, and targeted fire could be fired from the forts located on the islands, protecting the front line.

  When the fortress was fortified with a ring of 9 forts, it became practically invulnerable: each of them could accommodate a whole soldier garrison (which is 250 servicemen), plus 20 guns.

  Brest Fortress in peacetime

  During the period of calm on the state borders, Brest lived a measured, unhurried life. An enviable regularity reigned both in the city and in the fortress, services were performed in churches. There were several churches on the territory of the fortress - nevertheless, one temple could not fit a huge number of military men.

  

  One of the local monasteries was rebuilt into a building for meetings of officer ranks and was named the White Palace.

  But even in calm periods, it was not so easy to get into the fortress. The entrance to the "heart" of the citadel consisted of four gates. Three of them, as a symbol of their impregnability, have been preserved by the modern Brest Fortress. The museum begins with the old gates: Kholmsky, Terespolsky, Northern ... Each of them was ordered to become the gate to paradise for many of their defenders in future wars.

  Equipping the fortress on the eve of the First World War

  

  During the period of unrest in Europe, the fortress of Brest-Litovsk remained one of the most reliable fortifications on the Russian-Polish border. The main task of the citadel is "to facilitate the freedom of action of the army and navy", which did not have modern weapons and equipment.

  Of the 871 weapons, only 34% met the requirements for combat in modern conditions, the rest of the guns were outdated. Among the cannons, old models prevailed, capable of firing shots at a distance of no more than 3 versts. At this time, the potential enemy had mortars and artillery systems

  In 1910, the aeronautic battalion of the fortress received its first airship, and in 1911 the Brest-Litovsk fortress was equipped with its own radio station by a special royal decree.

  First war of the 20th century

  I found the Brest Fortress in a rather peaceful occupation - construction. Attracted villagers from nearby and distant villages actively built additional forts.

  The fortress would have been perfectly protected if the military reform had not erupted the day before, as a result of which the infantry was disbanded, and the outpost lost its combat-ready garrison. At the beginning of the First World War, only the militia remained in the Brest-Litovsk fortress, who, during the retreat, were forced to burn down the strongest and most modern of the outposts.

  But the main event of the first war of the 20th century for the fortress was not connected with military actions - the Brest peace treaty was signed within its walls.

  The monuments of the Brest Fortress have a different appearance and character, and this treaty, significant for those times, remains one of them.

  How the people learned about the feat of Brest

  Most contemporaries know the Brest citadel from the events of the first day of the treacherous attack of fascist Germany on the Soviet Union. Information about this did not appear immediately, it was published by the Germans themselves in a completely unexpected way: showing restrained admiration for the heroism of the defenders of Brest in personal diaries, which were subsequently found and published by military journalists.

  This happened in 1943-1944. Until that time, the feat of the citadel was unknown to a wide audience, and the heroes of the Brest Fortress who survived in the "meat grinder", according to the highest military officials, were considered ordinary prisoners of war who surrendered to the enemy out of cowardice.

  The information that local battles took place in the citadel in July, and even in August 1941, also did not immediately become public. But, now historians can say for sure: the Brest Fortress, which the enemy expected to take in 8 hours, held out for a very long time.

  Hell start date: June 22, 1941

  

  Before the war, which was not expected, the Brest Fortress looked completely unthreatening: the old earthen rampart sank, overgrown with grass, flowers and sports grounds on the territory. In early June, the main regiments stationed in the fortress left it and went to summer training camps.

  The history of the Brest Fortress for all the centuries has not yet known such treachery: the predawn hours of a short summer night became for its inhabitants. Suddenly, out of nowhere, artillery fire was opened on the fortress, taking everyone in it by surprise, and 17,000 ruthless "well done" broke into the territory of the outpost. from the Wehrmacht.

  

  But neither blood, nor horror, nor the death of comrades could break and stop the heroic defenders of Brest. They fought for eight days according to official figures. And another two months - according to unofficial.

  It was not so easy and not so fast to give up its positions in 1941, which became an omen of the entire further course of the war and showed the enemy the ineffectiveness of his cold calculations and superweapons, which are defeated by the unpredictable heroism of the poorly armed, but passionately loving the fatherland of the Slavs.

  "Talking" stones

  What is the Brest Fortress silently screaming about now? The museum has preserved numerous exhibits and stones on which you can read the records of its defenders. Short phrases in one or two lines they take it to the quick, touch representatives of all generations to tears, even though they sound sparingly, masculinely dry and businesslike.

  

  Muscovites: Ivanov, Stepanchikov and Zhuntyaev chronicled this terrible period - with a nail on the stone, with tears in the heart. Two of them died, the remaining Ivanov also knew that he did not have much time left, he promised: “The last grenade remained. I won’t surrender alive,” and immediately asked: “Revenge us, comrades.”

  Among the evidence that the fortress held out for more than eight days, there are dates on the stone: July 20, 1941 is the most distinct of them.

  To comprehend the significance of the heroism and stamina of the fortress defenders for the whole country, you just need to remember the place and date: Brest Fortress, 1941.

  Creation of a memorial

  For the first time after the occupation, representatives of the Soviet Union (official and from the people) were able to enter the territory of the fortress in 1943. Just at that time, publications of excerpts from the diaries of German soldiers and officers appeared.

  

  Before that, Brest was a legend passed from mouth to mouth on all fronts and in the rear. In order to give the events officiality, to stop all kinds of fiction (even of a positive nature) and to capture the feat of the Brest Fortress through the centuries, it was decided to reclassify the western outpost as a memorial.

  The implementation of the idea took place several decades after the end of the war - in 1971. Ruins, burnt and shelled walls - all this has become an integral part of the exposition. The wounded buildings are unique, and they form the main part of the evidence of the courage of their defenders.

  In addition, during the peaceful years, the Brest Fortress memorial acquired several thematic monuments and obelisks of a later origin, which harmoniously fit into the original ensemble of the fortress-museum and, with their rigor and conciseness, emphasized the tragedy that occurred within these walls.

  Brest Fortress in Literature

  The most famous and even somewhat scandalous work about the Brest Fortress was the book by S. S. Smirnov. Having met with eyewitnesses and surviving participants in the defense of the citadel, the author decided to restore justice and whitewash the names of real heroes who were blamed by the then government for being in German captivity.

  And he succeeded, although the times were not the most democratic - the mid-50s of the last century.

  The book "Brest Fortress" helped many to return to a normal life, not despised by fellow citizens. Photos of some of these lucky ones were widely published in the press, the names were heard on the radio. Even a cycle of radio broadcasts was established, dedicated to the search for the defenders of the Brest stronghold.

  Smirnov's work became the saving thread along which, like a mythological heroine, other heroes emerged from the darkness of oblivion - the defenders of Brest, privates and commanders. Among them: Commissar Fomin, Lieutenant Semenenko, Captain Zubachev.

  The Brest Fortress is a monument of valor and glory of the people, quite tangible and material. Many mysterious legends about its fearless defenders still live among the people. We know them in the form of literary and musical works, sometimes we meet them in oral folk art.

  And live these legends for centuries, because the feat of the Brest Fortress is worthy of being remembered in the 21st, and in the 22nd, and in subsequent centuries.

  Soviet border guards were the first to meet the enemy.

  The Nazis took minutes to take the outposts. The border guards held out for hours, days, weeks...

  This article is dedicated to the immortal feat of the defenders of the Brest Fortress.

  Brest Fortress. On June 22, 1941, at dawn, the first German shells and bombs exploded here. And here, for the first time, the Nazis learned what Soviet fortitude and Soviet courage are.

  In August 1915, Russian troops left the Brest Fortress without a fight. The impudent Nazi generals were sure that the very first blow to Brest would force the garrison of the fortress to capitulate. The Nazis were in for a severe disappointment.

  June 22, 1941. The enemy is throwing the 12th Army Corps into Brest, consisting of the 31st, 34th and 45th divisions with attached tank, sapper and other special units of the 4th Army. Hundreds of guns from heavy artillery batteries are firing at the city and the fortress.

  At about one o'clock in the afternoon, the Nazis on pontoons are trying to cross the Bug. To capture the fortress, they need to take possession of a nameless island between the old and new riverbeds. The island is an outpost of the fortress. A bridge connects it to the western gate of the citadel.

  Here is what the defender of the Brest Fortress told about the first minutes of the enemy’s attack - at that time, M. I. Myasnikov, an ordinary driver of the Belarusian border district, who was later awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union:

  “From June 21 to 22, I, together with ordinary border guard Shcherbina I.S., were assigned to the squad for guarding the State Border of the USSR ...

  Frontier guard on the western island.

  I was appointed chief of staff. On duty, observing the border, we noticed from 12.00 on June 21 a lot of noise, the movement of cars, horse traction and the noise of tanks near the border. I reported to the outpost about the observed actions of the Germans. I have received orders to increase vigilance and surveillance.
  On June 22, at approximately 3.40, we discovered an armored train advancing to the railway bridge across the Bug River, which, approximately five minutes after it had approached the bridge, opened artillery fire on the fortress and the railway station. At the same time, German artillery fire was opened on the fortress and the railway station and the barracks of the border outpost, moreover, artillery fire on the outpost was carried out by direct fire, as a result of which the roof of the barracks immediately collapsed and the barracks caught fire. German aviation bombarded the city of Brest, the fortress, the island and the station areas simultaneously with artillery preparation. After artillery and aviation preparation, the Germans, after about 15-20 minutes, began to cross the Bug in several directions and use the railway bridge for crossing troops, along which trains and tanks were transported. At the same time, motor boats with landing forces crossed the Bug in several places.

  The border guards shielded the fortress with their chests.

  Flames and smoke enveloped the island. The roar and howl of aircraft covered everything. Bomb after bomb, shell after shell. But the outpost did not flinch. In the black smoke, the command of the head of the outpost sounded authoritatively, and people in green caps, sitting in blockhouses, met the advancing with machine-gun fire, threw grenades, rushed into counterattacks.

  The group of the junior political officer of the Komsomol member Yakovlev threw back the Nazis three times, who were trying to take possession of the island.

  Were running out of ammo. The fighters collected combat stock from the dead. We reloaded the machine gun belts, got ready ... Here again the figures of enemy soldiers appeared on the pontoons.

  Do not shoot! - commanded by Yakovlev.

  Fascists are being let in very close. But as soon as they approached the island, the machine guns and machine guns of the border guards spoke again. Hurricane fire for the fourth time forced the enemy to return to their shore. And the river carried down dozens of corpses in green overcoats.

  The island was protected by an outpost. Almost all of its fighters were members of the Komsomol. But not only the "Komsomol outpost" - all the fighters who defended Brest fought with amazing courage.

  The documents speak of the machine gunner Sablin: seriously wounded in both legs, clenching his teeth, losing consciousness, he fired a machine gun at the advancing Nazis.

  Another fighter, Grigoriev, right hand was shattered by an explosive bullet, but he continued to shoot.

  Severely wounded Kuzmin, bleeding, threw grenade after grenade into the thick of the Nazis. His last words were: "You bastards will never take us!"

  Among the defenders of the fortress was the wife of one of the border guards, Katya Tarasyuk, a village teacher, a Komsomol member. She came to her husband to spend her holidays. In the first days of the battle, Katya looked after the wounded. She carefully watered them from kettles, trying not to spill a single drop of precious moisture, bandaging their wounds. Her husband, a machine gunner, died during another raid on the fortress by fascist dive bombers. When Katya found out about her husband's death, she said:

  Give me his machine gun.

  Katya Tarasyuk equipped a machine-gun nest in the branches of an old willow that grew in the fortress yard. I saw this rakita. Black, with withered broken branches, it proudly stands among the stones. The inhabitants of Brest called the rakita the "Tree of War". Katya Tarasyuk and her comrades-in-arms fought here to the last drop of blood...

  The second week of defense has come to an end. The red banner still fluttered over the citadel. The German command set one deadline for the capture of the fortress after another.

  The defenders of the fortress still had ammunition, but food became scarce and scarce, and water supplies ran out. To quench their thirst, they took raw sand into their mouths. In the cellars, the wounded rushed about on the straw: “Drink!” They searched for wells but did not find them. Some ice was found in one basement, it was divided into small pieces...

  Neither the pangs of hunger and thirst, nor the bombing, nor the provocative proposals of the Nazis - nothing could break the spirit of the Soviet soldiers!

  The 9th border outpost, headed by its chief, Lieutenant A. M. Kizhevatov, was located directly in the Brest Fortress. Every day the position of its defenders became more and more difficult, there was not enough ammunition, there was no food and water. The Nazis almost continuously shelled the fortress with guns and mortars, one attack followed another. The fortress did not surrender, its garrison fought to the death.

  Repeatedly, the border guards made daring sorties, destroyed the enemy. They fought to the last bullet, as long as they could hold a weapon in their hands. The wounded remained in the ranks and continued to beat the enemy, and an example for them was Lieutenant Kizhevatov, who was wounded more than once ...

  On the wall of one of the casemates, where the border guards of the 9th outpost were located, an inscription was found: “I am dying, but I do not give up! Farewell, Motherland! And the date is "20.VII.41". For almost a month, the Soviet border guards held back the enemy in the Brest Fortress, fettered his forces, and made it difficult to move forward.

  

  In the combat report of the 45th German infantry division "On the capture of the Brest-Litovsk fortress", captured in the area of ​​​​the village of Vysokoe, it is said:
  “In order to destroy the flank from the house of the command staff (as the Germans called this building) of the central island on north island, which acted very unpleasantly, the 81st engineer battalion was sent there with the assignment: to clear this house and other parts with a subversive party. Explosives were lowered from the roof of the house to the windows, and the fuses were lit; the groans of the wounded Russians from the explosion were heard, but they continued to shoot ... "

  Until the last bullet, until the last drop of blood, the defenders of the fortress, led by senior lieutenant Potapov and lieutenant Kizhevatov, fought. Without breaking the resistance of the Soviet soldiers, the Nazis blew up the building.

  The hero of the defense of the fortress A. M. Kizhevatov died.

  His family did not have to wait for Victory Day either. Lieutenant Kizhevatov's mother, wife and children - Nyura, Vasya, Galya were brutally shot by the Nazis.

  High courage and heroism were shown by the soldiers of the border, who were on the border island, which covered the Brest Fortress. There were about 300 people here: cadets of the school of drivers, courses of cavalrymen, the combined sports team of the Brest detachment and border patrols of the Kizhevatov outpost. For the most part, they were young fighters who had just donned border uniforms.

  The wives of border guard commanders turned out to be courageous. Together with their husbands, they were in the line of fire, bandaging the wounded, bringing ammunition, water for machine guns. Some themselves fired at the advancing Nazis.

  The ranks of the border guards were melting, their strength was weakening. At the outposts, barracks and residential buildings were burning, set on fire by enemy artillery. But the border guards fought to the death. They knew: behind them, in the predawn fog, troops were hurrying to the border, artillery was being pulled up. And when the first echelons of the divisions of our corps approached, the border guards continued to fight shoulder to shoulder with them.

  Another testimony of a participant in the defense of the fortress - the head of the 20th frontier post, now retired colonel Georgy Filippovich Manekin:

  “The 20th border outpost guarded the area state border at the junction of the Belarusian and Ukrainian border districts. Our site was considered active. We knew that one of the German intelligence centers was located on the adjacent side, not far from the border. On the eve of the war, enemy reconnaissance intensified its activities. Almost daily, she sent her agents to our side in order to establish the location of defensive structures in the border zone and the points of deployment of Soviet troops in the direction of Brest, Kobrin, Minsk. We had a chance to fight with these agents long before the open armed attack of fascist Germany. Only in the sector of our outpost, 16 scouts were detained in a short time.
  On the eve of the war, the movement of German troops increased on the other side of the Western Bug. We saw how their units erected engineering structures, day and night they monitored our side. Literally, there were observers on every tree. Cases of threats and even shelling of our border guards have become more frequent. German planes continually invaded our airspace, but we were strictly forbidden to respond to these provocations. Local residents who ran across to us from the other side reported that Nazi Germany was preparing to attack our country. Yes, and we felt: the air smells of war.
  Taking into account the current situation ... we managed to strengthen the strongholds and dig about 500 meters of trenches and communications. This helped us later, in the first battles.
  At about 3:00 am on June 22, the Germans cut off telephone communications with the headquarters of the border detachment and neighbors, and at 4:00 am at dawn, a flurry of artillery and mortar fire hit the outpost (as well as others on a wide front). Machine guns and machine guns of the enemy with tracer bullets shot through the entire coast, creating a solid wall of fire. Because of the Bug, the fascist "Junkers" flew eastward. Enemy shells scattered the border towers.
  The border guards entered into an unequal battle. The outfits that arrived from the flanks reported that large enemy units crossed the Bug and began to advance deep into our territory.
  We had nothing to prevent the Germans from crossing. Buildings caught fire in the garrison.
  Neighboring outposts suffered heavy losses from enemy fire. Located in open areas, they were destroyed and burned by artillery shells.
  At my command, the personnel occupied strongholds. A reinforced enemy battalion, which crossed to the eastern bank of the Bug near the railway bridge, acted against us. Three chains, firing on the move from machine guns, the Nazis rushed to our positions. We let them in at 250-300 meters and met with fire from two heavy and three light machine guns. The Nazis lay down, and then retreated to the coastal thickets. Seeing that the attack had failed, the Nazis resumed shelling from artillery and mortars. The border guards took cover in the bunkers, leaving the observers at the positions. As soon as the artillery shelling stopped, the fighters again took their places.
  The Nazis repeated the attack in the same direction. This time we let them get even closer. From a distance of 100 meters, machine-gun fire was opened on enemy chains. Dozens of corpses were left by the enemy on the outskirts of the outpost. The attack faltered again.
  The border guards successfully repulsed the third attack, which the Germans launched after a powerful mortar and artillery shelling. Only after the fifth attack did individual enemy groups manage to crawl close to our trenches. Then the border guards launched grenades. Nevertheless, about a platoon of the Nazis wedged into our defenses. Sergeant Major Zheltukhin and Corporal Sergushev, moving forward, threw grenades at them.
  The fierce battle continued. At that moment, I was informed that the head of the 5th reserve outpost, Lieutenant V.V. Kiryukhin, had been killed (this outpost fought next to us). His wife A.T. Maltseva at that time was bandaging the wounded in the trenches, bringing cartridges, picking up a rifle herself and shooting at the attacking Nazis.
  During the battle, machine gunners often changed their positions and opened fire on the enemy from short distances. The Germans hunted every machine gunner. One of the enemy groups entered the rear of the machine-gun crew of junior sergeant Alexander Filatov, wanted to throw grenades at him. But at that time, border guards Inozemtsev and Burekhin, who came to the rescue, opened fire on her.
  The Nazis again stepped back and began to fire on us with incendiary shells. The forest caught fire in the defense area. Thick smoke enveloped the defenses. It became difficult to observe the actions of the enemy. But the border guards, accustomed to serving in conditions of limited visibility, nevertheless noticed the maneuver of the enemy. We quickly regrouped our forces and prepared to repel new attacks.
  The heated battle broke out again. Two companies attacked our positions from the north and northwest, the third attacked from the southeast. Under a hail of bullets, the border guards rose from the trenches and destroyed the Nazis point-blank. Despising the mortal danger, the secretary of the Komsomol organization, junior sergeant Filatov, rolled out an easel machine gun over the parapet of the trench. In long bursts, he shot the attacking German soldiers. When an enemy bullet hit the hero, his place at the machine gun was taken by the border guard Yermakov.
  Machine gunners, constantly changing firing positions, brought down fire on the enemy from those directions from which he did not expect. The Germans had the impression that the entire area in front of the defense of the outpost was being shot through with continuous crossfire.
  In the art of firing, in tactical skill, the shooters were not inferior to the machine gunners - foreman Zheltukhin, junior sergeant Shangin, private Abdulla Khairutdinov, snipers Vladimir and Ivan Afanasyev.
  For eleven hours of continuous fighting, the border guards repulsed seven enemy attacks. The enemy forces were much superior to ours, the encirclement was shrinking more and more. Another terrible enemy also acted against us - a forest fire (our trenches were in a pine forest). Buildings and buildings were on fire. Many border guards received severe burns. People were suffocating from the acrid smoke.
  Together with senior political officer Belokopytov and junior political officer Shavarin, they decided to withdraw the personnel from the encirclement.
  To cover the retreat, the crews of the heavy machine gun led by Ermakov and the light machine guns of Buryokhin and Inozemtsev were allocated. The machine gunners took up firing positions 50–70 meters from the communication line. While the Germans were preparing for another attack, we withdrew into the forest.
  By the way the fire of the defenders weakened, the Nazis guessed that we had begun to retreat. They decided to catch up with us, but were rebuffed by the machine gunners left in the barrier. The Nazis did not dare to pursue through the burning forest.
  On the second day, we went to the city of Lyuboml, where the headquarters of the 98th border detachment was located.
  Thus ended the first unequal battle with the enemy. The outpost destroyed over 100 fascists.
  Soon we connected with the neighboring outposts of our commandant’s office, then, together with the Red Army units, we fought fierce defensive battles for Lyuboml, Kovel and other strongholds

  The German command planned to capture the Brest Fortress in the first hours of the war. By the time of the German attack on the USSR, 7 rifle battalions and 1 reconnaissance, 2 artillery battalions, some special forces of rifle regiments and units of corps units, training camps of the 6th Oryol Red Banner and 42nd rifle divisions of the 28th rifle corps of the 4th th Army, units of the 17th Red Banner Brest Border Detachment, 33rd Separate Engineer Regiment, part of the 132nd Battalion of the NKVD troops. That is, from 7 to 8 thousand Soviet soldiers and 300 families of military personnel.

  From the first minutes of the war, the fortress was subjected to massive bombardment and artillery fire. The German 45th Infantry Division (about 17 thousand soldiers and officers) stormed the Brest Fortress, which delivered frontal and flank attacks in cooperation with part of the forces of the 31st Infantry Division. On the flanks of the main forces, the 34th Infantry and the rest of the 31st Infantry Divisions of the 12th Army Corps of the 4th German Army, as well as 2 tank divisions of Guderian's 2nd Tank Group, operated. For half an hour, the enemy fired at all the entrance gates to the fortress, bridgeheads and bridges, at artillery and a vehicle fleet, at warehouses with ammunition, medicines, food, barracks, houses of the commanding staff. Next came the enemy assault groups.

  

  German troops attack the Brest Fortress.

  As a result of shelling and fires, most of the warehouses and the material part were destroyed or destroyed, the water supply system stopped working, communications were interrupted. A significant part of the fighters and commanders was put out of action at the very beginning of hostilities, the garrison of the fortress was divided into individual groups. In the first minutes of the war, border guards on the Terespol fortification, Red Army soldiers and cadets of regimental schools of the 84th and 125th rifle regiments, located near the border, on the Volyn and Kobrin fortifications, entered into battle with the enemy. Stubborn resistance made it possible on the morning of June 22 to leave the fortress for about half of the personnel, withdraw several guns and light tanks to the areas of concentration of their units, and evacuate the first wounded. 3.5-4 thousand Soviet soldiers remained in the fortress.

  The enemy had almost 10-fold superiority in forces. On the first day of fighting, by 9 o'clock in the morning, the fortress was surrounded. The advanced units of the 45th German division tried to capture the fortress on the move (according to the plan of the German command by 12 noon). Through the bridge at the Terespol Gates, enemy assault groups broke into the Citadel, in the center of it they captured the building of the regimental club, which dominated other buildings, where spotters of artillery fire immediately settled. At the same time, the enemy developed an offensive in the direction of the Kholmsky and Brest Gates, hoping to link up there with groups advancing from the direction of the Volyn and Kobrin fortifications. This plan was thwarted.

  At the Kholmsky Gate, soldiers of the 3rd battalion and headquarters units of the 84th Infantry Regiment entered into battle with the enemy, at the Brest Gates, soldiers of the 455th Infantry Regiment, the 37th Separate Communications Battalion, and the 33rd Separate Engineer Regiment launched a counterattack. With bayonet attacks, the enemy was crushed and overturned. The retreating Nazis were met with dense fire by Soviet soldiers at the Terespol Gate, which by this time had been recaptured from the enemy. Border guards of the 9th frontier post and staff units of the 3rd border commandant's office - the 132nd NKVD battalion, soldiers of the 333rd and 44th rifle regiments, and the 31st separate autobattalion entrenched here. They held the bridge over the Western Bug under aimed rifle and machine-gun fire, and prevented the enemy from setting up a pontoon crossing.

  Only a few of the German submachine gunners who broke through to the Citadel managed to hide in the club building and in the adjacent canteen building. The enemy here was destroyed on the second day. Subsequently, these buildings repeatedly passed from hand to hand. Almost simultaneously, fierce battles unfolded throughout the fortress. From the very beginning, they acquired the character of the 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.

  After a few hours of fighting, the command of the German 12th Army Corps was forced to send all available reserves to the fortress. However, as the commander of the German 45th Infantry Division, General Schlipper, reported, this “also did not change the situation. Where the Russians were thrown back or smoked out, after a short period of time, new forces appeared from cellars, drainpipes and other shelters, which shot so excellently that our losses increased significantly. The enemy unsuccessfully transmitted calls for surrender through radio installations, sent truce envoys. The resistance continued.

  The defenders of the Citadel held an almost 2-kilometer ring of the defensive 2-story barracks belt under conditions of intense bombardment, shelling and attacks by enemy assault groups. During the first day, they repulsed 8 fierce attacks of enemy infantry blocked in the Citadel, as well as attacks from outside, from the bridgeheads captured by the enemy on the Terespol, Volyn, Kobrin fortifications, from where the Nazis rushed to all 4 gates of the Citadel. By the evening of June 22, the enemy entrenched himself in the part of the defensive barracks between the Kholmsky and Terespolsky gates (later used it as a bridgehead in the Citadel), captured several compartments of the barracks at the Brest Gates. However, the enemy's calculation of surprise did not materialize; defensive battles, counterattacks, Soviet soldiers fettered the enemy forces, inflicted heavy losses on him.

  The morning of June 23 again began with shelling and bombardment of the fortress. The battles took on a fierce, protracted character, which the enemy did not expect at all. The stubborn heroic resistance of the Soviet soldiers met Nazi German invaders on the territory of each fortification.

  On the territory of the Terespol border fortification, the defense was held by the soldiers of the driver courses of the Belarusian border district under the command of the head of the courses, senior lieutenant F.M. Melnikov and course teacher Lieutenant Zhdanov, transport company of the 17th border detachment, led by commander senior lieutenant A.S. Cherny together with the fighters of the cavalry courses, the sapper platoon, reinforced outfits of the 9th frontier post. They managed to clear most of the territory of the fortification from the enemy that had broken through, but due to a lack of ammunition and big losses they could not keep her in personnel. On the night of June 25, the remnants of the groups of Melnikov, who died in battle, and Chernoy crossed the Western Bug and joined the defenders of the Citadel and the Kobrin fortification.

  By the beginning of hostilities, the Volyn fortification housed the hospitals of the 4th Army and the 28th Rifle Corps, the 95th medical and sanitary battalion of the 6th rifle division, there was a small part of the composition of the regimental school of junior commanders of the 84th rifle regiment, outfits of the 9th frontier post. On the earthen ramparts at the South Gate, the duty platoon of the regimental school held the defense. From the first minutes of the enemy invasion, the defense acquired a focal character. The enemy sought to break through to the Kholm Gate and, having broken through, to join the assault group in the Citadel. Warriors of the 84th Infantry Regiment came to the aid from the Citadel. Within the boundaries of the hospital, the defense was organized by the battalion commissar N.S. Bogateev, military doctor of the 2nd rank S.S. Babkin (both died). German submachine 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 staff who fought to the end in the ruins of buildings. Covering the wounded, nurses V.P. Khoretskaya and E.I. Rovnyagin. Having captured the sick, the wounded, medical staff, children, on June 23 the Nazis used them as a human barrier, driving machine gunners ahead of the attacking Kholmsky Gate. "Shoot, don't pity us!" the prisoners shouted.

  By the end of the week, the focal defense on the fortification had faded. Some fighters joined the ranks of the Citadel's defenders, few managed to break through from the enemy ring.

  In the Citadel - the largest defense center - by the end of the day on June 22, the command of individual defense sectors was determined: in the western part, in the area of ​​​​the Terespol Gates, it was headed by the head of the 9th frontier post A.M. Kizhevatov, lieutenants from the 333rd Infantry Regiment A.E. Potapov and A.S. Sanin, Senior Lieutenant N.G. Semenov, commander of the 31st autobattalion Ya.D. Minakov; soldiers of the 132nd battalion - junior sergeant K.A. Novikov. A group of fighters who took up defense in the tower above the Terespol Gates was led by Lieutenant A.F. Naganov. To the north of the 333rd Infantry Regiment, in the casemates of the defensive barracks, soldiers of the 44th Infantry Regiment fought under the command of Captain I.N. Zubachev, senior lieutenants A.I. Semenenko, V.I. Bytko (since June 23). At the junction with them at the Brest Gates, the soldiers of the 455th Infantry Regiment under the command of Lieutenant A.A. fought. Vinogradov and political instructor P.P. Koshkarova. In the barracks of the 33rd separate engineer regiment, the assistant chief of staff of the regiment, senior lieutenant N.F. Shcherbakov, in the area of ​​the White Palace - Lieutenant A.M. Nagai and Private A.K. Shugurov - executive secretary of the Komsomol bureau of the 75th separate reconnaissance battalion. In the area where the 84th Rifle Regiment is located and in the building of the Engineering Directorate, the deputy commander of the 84th Rifle Regiment for political affairs, Regimental Commissar E.M. Fomin. The course of the defense required the unification of all the forces of the defenders of the fortress.

  On June 24, a meeting of commanders and political workers was held in the Citadel, where the issue of creating a combined battle group, forming units from soldiers was decided different parts, the approval of their commanders who stood out during the hostilities. Order No. 1 was issued, according to which the command of the group was assigned to Captain Zubachev, and Regimental Commissar Fomin was appointed his deputy.

  In practice, they were able to lead the defense only in the Citadel. And although the command of the consolidated group failed to unify the leadership of the battles throughout the fortress, the headquarters played a big role in intensifying the hostilities. By decision of the command of the combined group, attempts were made to break through the encirclement. On June 26, a detachment (120 people, mostly sergeants) headed by Lieutenant Vinogradov, went on a breakthrough. 13 soldiers managed to break through the eastern line of the fortress, but they were captured by the enemy. Other attempts to break out of the besieged fortress turned out to be unsuccessful, only separate small groups were able to break through.

  The remaining small garrison of Soviet troops continued to fight with extraordinary stamina and perseverance.

  The inscriptions on the fortress walls speak of the unshakable courage of the fighters:

  "There were five of us Sedov, Grutov, Bogolyub, Mikhailov, Selivanov V. We took the first battle on June 22, 1941. We will die, but we will not leave here ...";

  This is also evidenced by the remains of 132 soldiers discovered during the excavations of the White Palace and the inscription left on the bricks: "We die without shame."

  Since the beginning of hostilities, several areas of fierce defense have developed on the Kobrin fortification. The hard cover of the exit from the fortress through the North-Western Gate of the soldiers of the garrison, and then the defense of the barracks of the 125th Infantry Regiment, was led by the battalion commissar S.V. Derbenev. In the area of ​​​​the Western Fort and the houses of the command staff, where the enemy penetrated, the defense was led by the commander of the battalion of the 125th Infantry Regiment, Captain V.V. Shablovsky and secretary of the party bureau of the 333rd rifle regiment, senior political instructor I.M. Pochernikov. The defense in this zone faded by the end of the third day.

  The battles were tense in the area of ​​the Eastern Gate of the fortification, where the soldiers of the 98th separate anti-tank artillery battalion fought for almost two weeks. The enemy, having crossed Mukhavets, moved tanks and infantry into this part of the fortress. The fighters of the division were faced with the task of detaining the enemy in this zone, preventing him from penetrating the territory of the fortification and disrupting the exit of units from the fortress. The defense was led by the chief of staff of the division, Lieutenant I.F. Akimochkin, in the following days, together with him and the deputy commander of the division for political affairs, senior political instructor N.V. Nesterchuk.

  In the northern part of the main shaft in the area of ​​the North Gate, a group of fighters from different units fought for two days (of those who covered the exit and were wounded or did not have time to leave) under the leadership of the commander of the 44th Infantry Regiment, Major P.M. Gavrilov. On the third day, the defenders of the northern part of the main rampart withdrew to the Eastern Fort. Here in the shelter were the families of the commanders. There were about 400 people in total. The defense of the fort was led by Major Gavrilov, Deputy Political Officer S.S. Skripnik from the 333rd Infantry Regiment, Chief of Staff - Commander of the 18th Separate Communications Battalion Captain K.F. Kasatkin.

  Trenches were dug in the earthen ramparts surrounding the fort, machine-gun points were installed on the ramparts and in the courtyard. The fort became impregnable for the German infantry. According to the enemy, “it was impossible to approach here, having only infantry means, since the excellently organized rifle and machine-gun fire from deep trenches and a horseshoe-shaped courtyard mowed down everyone approaching. There was only one solution left - to force the Russians to surrender by hunger and thirst ... "

  The Nazis systematically attacked the fortress for a whole week. Soviet soldiers had to fight off 6-8 attacks a day. Next to the fighters were women and children. They helped the wounded, brought cartridges, participated in hostilities.

  The Nazis set in motion tanks, flamethrowers, gases, set fire to and rolled barrels with a combustible mixture from the outer shafts. The casemates burned and collapsed, there was nothing to breathe, but when the enemy infantry went on the attack, hand-to-hand fights began again. In short intervals of relative calm, calls to surrender were heard in the loudspeakers.

  Being completely surrounded, without water and food, with an acute shortage of ammunition and medicines, the garrison bravely fought the enemy. Only in the first 9 days of fighting, the defenders of the fortress put out of action 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 (500 and 1800-kilogram) bombs. On June 29, he died covering the breakthrough group, Kizhevatov, with several fighters. In the Citadel on June 30, the Nazis seized the seriously wounded and shell-shocked Captain Zubachev and the regimental commissar Fomin, whom the Nazis shot near the Kholmsky 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, captured the wounded. As a result of bloody battles and losses incurred, the defense of the fortress broke up into a number of isolated pockets of resistance.

  Until July 12, a small group of fighters led by Gavrilov continued to fight in the Eastern Fort. Having escaped from the fort, the seriously wounded Gavrilov and the secretary of the Komsomol bureau of the 98th separate anti-tank artillery battalion G.D. Derevyanko, were taken prisoner. But even later on the 20th of July, Soviet soldiers continued to fight in the fortress. Last days wrestling is covered with 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 do not give up. Farewell, Motherland. 11/20/41".

  None of the banners of the military units that fought in the fortress fell to the enemy. The banner of the 393rd separate artillery battalion was buried in the Eastern Fort by Senior Sergeant R.K. Semenyuk, privates I.D. Folvarkov and Tarasov. On September 26, 1956, it was excavated by Semenyuk. In the cellars of the White Palace, the Engineering Department, the club, the barracks of the 333rd regiment, last defenders Citadels. In the building of the Engineering Directorate and the Eastern Fort, the Nazis used gases, against the defenders of the barracks of the 333rd regiment and the 98th division, in the zone of the 125th regiment - flamethrowers ... The enemy was forced to note the steadfastness and heroism of the defenders of the fortress. 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 exceptionally stubbornly and persistently. They showed excellent infantry training and proved a remarkable will to resist.

  The defense of the Brest Fortress is an example of the courage and steadfastness of the Soviet people in the struggle for the freedom and independence of the motherland. The defenders of the fortress - warriors of more than 30 nationalities - fulfilled their duty to the Motherland to the end, committed one of greatest feats in the history of the Great Patriotic War. For exceptional heroism in the defense of the fortress, 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. On May 8, 1965, the Brest Fortress was awarded the honorary title "Fortress-Hero" with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.
  ____________

  References:

  Kislovsky Yuri Grigorievich From the first day to the last: Behind the line of a combat report and the message of the Soviet Information Bureau
  - Samsonov Alexander Mikhailovich The collapse of fascist aggression 1939-1945
  - Fedyuninsky Ivan Ivanovich Alerted
  - Mikhail Zlatogorov Defenders of the Brest Fortress

  “What kind of heroism could there be on the western frontiers?! The German crossed the border without hindrance and reached Moscow under the green light. gave up…”
  

  For a long time, this was the belief. Moreover, Stalin authoritatively declared that "we have no prisoners of war, we have traitors." And all the surviving defenders of the Brest Fortress automatically fell into their category. Only at the time of the Khrushchev "thaw" was the prose writer, playwright and journalist Sergei Smirnov able to tell people the truth by collecting material about the heroism of the defenders and presenting it in the book "". And today we want to remember the feat of the defenders of the citadel over the Bug, the courage of the dead and the heroism of the survivors.

  It needs to be alive

  There are many myths around the Brest Fortress to this day. One of them - none of the defenders are no longer alive. And I bought into this speculation, except that Pyotr Kotelnikov popped up in my memory - a fellow countryman, a Brest resident who went through a prisoner of war camp, unsuccessful escapes, prison. It seems that he and his wife recently celebrated a diamond wedding?

  Long live Pyotr Mikhailovich, - reassured the head of the scientific expeditionary department of the memorial complex " Brest Fortress-Hero» Elena Mityukova. - I just moved to live with my son in Moscow. About 20 more people are still alive today. Forgive me for this "approximately", it's just that some of them do not answer our letters. It is known for certain that Russians Ivan Bugakov and Pyotr Bondarev, Chuvash Nikandr Bakhmisov, Bashkir Rishat Ismagilov are alive, Valentina Kokoreva-Chetvertukhina lives in the Volgograd region.

  The fate of the little-known nurse Valentina is worth taking a closer look at. She celebrated her 100th birthday last August. As a child, Valyusha was predicted to study at the conservatory - she had an excellent voice. How the girl wanted to become an artist! But her father, a doctor, chose the profession for her: “You will still sing your own, treating people is much more important.” And Valya went to the first Leningrad Medical Institute. After graduating, she became a pediatric neurologist, preparing a dissertation. When did it start Soviet-Finnish war, the girl went to the front as a volunteer. In that war, she received the medal "For Courage". Once the wounded and the convoy accompanying them were cut off from their own. The boy commander was confused and did not know what to do. Valya took command and led people out of the encirclement along the forest paths.

  Valentina Aleksandrovna compared her further service in Latvia almost with heaven on earth, but this favorable period of life ended very quickly. On June 22, 1941, she woke up from a roar, thought - a thunderstorm, but in fact the war began again. On the 5th day of the bloody battle in the Brest Fortress, where Valentina had been serving for half a year, the Germans found her with the wounded. Then there were concentration camps in Poland, Prussia, Saxony with cold, hunger, humiliation ... Nevertheless, it was then that happiness smiled at her - in a concentration camp she met her love and fate. Doctor Nikolai Kokorev offered her a hand and a heart. Their daughter was born in the camp. Then came the long-awaited victory! But the joy very quickly gave way to another ordeal: the family of prisoners of war doctors were waiting for endless checks, sheer distrust. The couple were not allowed to return to Leningrad, and they settled in the Volgograd region, worked as doctors, raised three daughters, five grandchildren and a great-grandchild. “The gloomy do not live to be 100 years old,” says Valentina Kokoreva-Chetvertukhina. War and captivity failed to break this woman. She looks at life with optimism. The poems that she began to write after the war are full of love, kindness, mood, although no, no, and an alarming flash will flash: “How difficult it is for me to live! From what? I will not say…"

  One for all stitched glory

  Andrei Kizhevatov, Efim Fomin, Ivan Zubachev... These people are no longer alive, but their names personify courage. Pyotr Gavrilov is in the same row. In 1957, he will be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but before the long-awaited event, Pyotr Mikhailovich will have to go through real hell. He, who led the defense of the Kobrin fortification of the Eastern Fort, was captured on the 32nd day of the war. When they brought him to the hospital, he could not even drink water - he was in a state of extreme exhaustion. At the same time, German soldiers testified that just an hour before their capture, when the major was caught in one of the casemates of the fortress, he single-handedly accepted the battle, threw grenades, fired a pistol, killed and wounded several opponents.

  

  After the hospital, Pyotr Mikhailovich was waited for 4 years in concentration camps - until May 1945, he was either in Hammelburg or Ravensbrück. After the Victory, it didn’t get any easier either - Major Gavrilov was repressed. It is not known how it would further fate this man, if not for the book by Sergei Smirnov - Gavrilov was rehabilitated with the restoration of the rank. For many years, the major searched for his wife and son lost during the war, but to no avail, and married another woman.

  
  
  

  Pyotr Mikhailovich traveled a lot around the country, performed, and visited Brest 20 times in a row. At one of the meetings, a woman approached Gavrilov and reported shocking news - his wife, Ekaterina Grigorievna, was alive and was in the Kosovo (Ivatsevichi district) home for invalids. 15 years after the end of the war, the spouses were destined to meet. It turned out that Gavrilov's wife and son were captured and returned to Belarus after their release. Exhausted by the war, paralyzed Ekaterina Gavrilova was placed in a nursing home and lost contact with her son.

  The local press excitedly talked about the ups and downs of the fate of the legendary defender of the fortress. Thanks to this, Nikolai Gavrilov was found - the commander of the unit where the guy served sent a telegram to the Brest Regional Executive Committee. And the family was reunited - Gavrilov took his first wife with him. The second wife looked after her, however, not for long - in December 1956, Ekaterina Grigoryevna died. Gavrilov's son became an artist. By the way, many former defenders of the fortress were elected creative professions. People's Artist The RSFSR was the former private of the 44th Infantry Regiment Nikolai Belousov. A well-known children's writer is Lieutenant Alexander Makhnach. It was he who was one of the first to be found by Sergei Smirnov.

  Among the former defenders of the fortress, it is simply impossible to bypass the name of the Hero of the Soviet Union Mikhail Myasnikov, who at the time of the outbreak of the war was a cadet of driver's courses. On July 5, together with a group of fighters, he managed to escape from the fortress and continue to fight in the ranks of the Red Army. For the defense of Sevastopol, Myasnikov was awarded the high title of Hero.

  It is impossible not to mention Praskovya Tkacheva. This woman met the war as a senior nurse Brest military hospital, which was based in the fortress. She turned her trade union card, which later became an exhibit of the museum, into a notebook: on its pages she marked the names of the killed fighters.

  In terrible June the stones were burning here

  Ukrainian Rodion Semenyuk turned 20 at the start of the war. An important mission fell to his lot in the fortress. The junior sergeant of the anti-aircraft artillery battalion, together with the Red Army men Falvarkov and Tarasov, covered the battle flag of the unit. But it was Semenyuk who wore it on his chest under his tunic and was always afraid that he would be wounded and that the banner would fall into the hands of the enemy. “And then this terrible bombing, when earthen ramparts came in with a shake, and bricks fell from the walls and ceilings of the casemates. Then Major Gavrilov ordered to bury the banner. They just managed to do it and throw rubbish on the rammed earth when the Nazis broke into the fort. Tarasov was killed, and Falvarkov was captured along with Semenyuk. (From the book of Sergei Smirnov.)

  

  Rodion Semenyuk tried to escape from captivity three times, but unsuccessfully. And only in January 1945 he was in the ranks of the Soviet Army. In September 1965, he arrived at the fortress, dug up the banner and gave it to the museum. A year later, when the government awarded the heroes of defense, the noble metallurgist of Kuzbass Rodion Semenyuk received the Order of the Red Banner.