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 leader of Germany, who fought with England, would not risk waging a war on two fronts. However, his assumptions turned out to be fatal miscalculations for the country. And one of the first to take the blow of the supposedly unexpected attack was the Brest Fortress (Belarus).
Bloody June morning
Whatever the Kremlin's general line during Hitler's victorious campaign across 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 the order to put them on military alert. Therefore, when on June 22 at 4.15 am the artillery troops of the Wehrmacht opened heavy fire, thisIt was literally like a bolt from the blue. The attack caused serious and irreparable damage to the garrison, destroying the warehouses of weapons, food, communications, water supply, and so on. The Brest Fortress hosted the first battle during the war, which resulted in monstrous losses and complete demoralization.
Military readiness
As follows from open sources, on the eve of the attack on the territory of the fortress there were eight rifle battalions and one reconnaissance, artillery divisions, as well as some units 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 explained the high concentration of parts with their stocks at the very border.
In turn, from the side of the invaders, a force of twenty thousand fighters in total moved to the garrison, that is, more than twice the size of the Soviet defensive line in Brest. However, a historical clarification needs to be made. 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.
Capture of the fortress
The assault began eight minutes after the first hurricane hit. The offensive attack was initially carried out by up to one and a half thousand infantrymen. Events developed rapidly, the garrison of the fortress could not provide a single purposeful resistance due to the unexpectedness of the blow. As a result, the parts that defended the fortress were divided into several islands isolated from each other. Having learned such a balance of power, anyone would wonder how long the Brest Fortress held out. Initially, it seemed that, indeed, the Germans were advancing deep into the defense easily and confidently, without encountering a serious rebuff. However, the Soviet units, which were already behind enemy lines, concentrated, were able to break the whole offensive and destroy part of the enemy.
A group of fighters managed 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 fighters remained. Five hours later, the ring around the fortress closed. By that time, resistance had intensified, and the Nazis had to use reserves, bringing the offensive forces to two regiments. One of the participants in the offensive later recalled that they did not meet much resistance, but the Russians did not give up. How long the Brest Fortress held on and how it succeeded surprised the Nazis.
Hold the lines untillast one
By the end of the first day of the attack, the Nazis began shelling the fortress. During breaks, they offered Soviet soldiers to surrender. Almost two thousand people heeded their admonitions. The most powerful units of the Soviet units managed to meet at the House of Officers and plan a breakthrough operation. But it never had to be carried out: the Nazis were ahead of them, the Red Army soldiers were killed, someone was captured. How long did the Brest Fortress last? 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, separate pockets remained, single fighters who united and scattered again, someone managed to escape to the partisans in Belovezhskaya Pushcha.
No matter how the Wehrmacht planned, the first frontier - the Brest Fortress - turned out to be not so simple. How long the defense lasted is an ambiguous question. According to various sources, even before August 1941 there was a single resistance. Ultimately, in order to eliminate the last Soviet soldiers, the cellars of the Brest Fortress were flooded with water.
