Brest Fortress and its soldiers. Officers and soldiers of the Brest Fortress

On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany treacherously attacked our Soviet Motherland. One of the first to enter the battle were the units located in the Brest Fortress. The Germans planned to take her in 8 hours. She lasted a month. From June 22 to July 20, the defenders of the Brest Fortress pinned down an entire Nazi division. Most of them fell in battle, some made their way to the partisans, some of the seriously wounded defenders were captured. Representatives of more than 30 nations and nationalities of the Soviet Union fought among the defenders of Brest. Our compatriots were in their ranks, inscribing their unique line in the heroic defense of Brest.
The staff of the Memorial Museum of military and labor exploits of 1941-1945 is searching for the defenders of the Brest stronghold among the natives of our region. Local historians, participants of the Great Patriotic War showed interest in the announced search.
A great contribution to the development of this topic was made by the Elnikovsky local historians, who have been searching for many years. These are Lidia Ivanovna Parfyonova, Valentina Nikolaevna Markelova, who head the club "To Remember" in Lyceum No. 2 in the village of Elniki; Honored teacher of the Republic of Moldova Elena Vasilievna Nikishova - employee of the local history museum with. Elniki. Correspondence began, and we exchanged valuable search materials, as a result of which we learned new information about the fate of the already well-known defenders of the Brest stronghold. Correspondence with participants in the battles in 1988, when they were still alive, made it possible to identify new names of natives of Mordovia from the Elnikovsky region (V.A. Bolshakov, A.P. Gnilov, T.M. Pravosudov, M. Komissarov).
In a letter to V.A. Bolshakov (1988) it is said that from the Elnikovsky district “twenty people served in the fortress, no more” and gives the name Tivikov from the village. Elniki.
At the request of the employees of the Memorial Museum of the Military and Labor Feat of 1941-1945 to the Memorial Complex "Brest Hero Fortress" about the fate of our fellow countrymen, the answer came: "... we report information on the established defenders of the Brest Fortress, natives of Mordovia." And then followed seven previously unknown surnames (listed below in the general list).
Together with other documents, the staff of the memorial sent us the recollections of servicemen of the 84th Infantry Regiment, natives of the Atyuryevsky district, who went missing in the first days of the war in the area of ​​Brest and the Brest Fortress S.V. Kizhapkina and Z.A. Fedkin. The letters are addressed to the front-line soldier, writer and journalist Sergei Sergeevich Smirnov, thanks to whom the country learned about the feat of the garrison of the Brest Fortress. After the war, he collected memories, eyewitness accounts for his book "Brest Fortress".
S.V. Kizhapkin - an ordinary transport company of the 84th Infantry Regiment - was taken prisoner on July 25, 1941. The concentration camp was in Germany. Released on May 8, 1945 by units of the Red Army. “I was in captivity together with comrades from Mordovia: with Trofimov, Shukshin (Novaya Kyarga), Kokov. They died of hunger.” (20.9.56).
BEHIND. Fedkin - driving transport company of the 84th Infantry Regiment. He was taken prisoner on July 11, 1941. On May 8, 1945, the Soviet Army liberated the concentration camp in Germany where he was. Here is what he wrote: “On June 22, we were alerted. War! They didn’t put anything on themselves, they jumped out in underwear ... The commissar of the 84th division of the regiment was shot by fascist monsters on 11.07.41. They forced them to dig a hole for the captives. The prisoners did not want to, but they had to through the beating. A few minutes later the commissar was buried… We were exhausted and ragged, as for water and food, it was very bad. Let's go for water to Mukhovets, 5 people, one or two will come. The water is smelly, because there were a lot of dead people there ... Nobody thought to be captured, because everyone said: we will fight to the last ... The wives and children of the commanding staff, about 70 people and about 50 of us, lined up in a column and the translator says: bastards, ragamuffins, how many fighting without water or food. Then the German hit me in the shoulder with a butt, even sparks fell from my eyes. The interpreter counted 20 people, led them out of the column and said, you bastards, go clean up your corpses and we will shoot you there. We cleaned for 5 days, there were many killed ... I was in captivity in Lanzgut. Thousands of people died every day. Defenders met in captivity: 1. Trofimov A.N. 2. Gavin P.T. 3 . Brezgin 4. Pyanzin 5. Sirkin.6.Alyamkin. They died in captivity from beating and starvation in front of my eyes. Of the defenders, I know Kizhapkin Semyon Vasilyevich (Mord. ASSR Atyuryevsky district, village of St. Kyarga ...
It was impossible to live in one's own village, it was impossible to speak at a general meeting of collective farmers, everyone called them a traitor. I had to leave my collective farm, look for work, and therefore I came to Orsk. I work at the state farm of the Orsk Meat Processing Plant as a refueling accountant. We were four brothers before the war, and now I am left alone. They died at the front."
From the letters of S.V. Kizhapkina and Z.A. Fedkin, the new names of our countrymen who defended Brest became known.
A letter from the Brest memorial sheds light on the fate of G.I. Tutukov, who was considered missing for a long time. “Grigory Ivanovich Tutukov, born in 1915, a native of the village of Elniki, Elnikovsky District, Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
In July 1935, he graduated from the Krasnoslobodsk Pedagogical School and worked as a geography teacher at the Elnikovskaya secondary school. November 23, 1939 was drafted into the Red Army.
On June 22, 1941 - an ordinary battery of 76 mm. guns of the 333rd regiment of the regiment, which was located in the Brest Fortress. He met the war in a fortress at the disposal of the regiment. He fought in the cellars of the barracks of the 333rd regiment of the regiment, and then with a group of fighters broke through from the citadel to the territory of the Kobrin fortification, where he fought during the day on June 22. On the night of June 23, he tried to break out of the fortress with a group of fighters. The breakthrough was unsuccessful. During the skirmish, some participants in the breakthrough were killed and wounded. G.I. was among the wounded. Tutukov. The breakthrough group was forced to return back to the fortress, and fellow soldiers of Grigory Ivanovich V.A. Bolshakov and Rusakov tried to take him out of the battlefield. V.A. Bolshakov recalled: “... they tied up Tutukov with spare underwear, after that they wanted to carry him, a mine or a shell hit, and a fragment hit me in the chest, where there was a “Voroshilovsky shooter” badge. I woke up, the Germans jumped up and began to tear the badges off my chest. For a few minutes I lost consciousness, woke up and we were driven to the Bug, but Tutukov could not get up, probably the remaining German soldiers killed him. I never met him again, neither in the camps, nor after. Tutukov has a daughter in Taganrog - Valentina Grigorievna Smagina - Honored Doctor of the Komi SSR. She was invited to a meeting in February 2005 in Yelniki at the To Remember Club, which took place at Elnikovsky Lyceum No. 2.
So, according to information available today, thirty-six people from Mordovia stood to death near Brest. Here are their names:
1. Aleksunin Ivan Efimovich (1913-1984) - lieutenant, platoon commander of the 333rd rifle regiment.
2. Alkanov Konstantin Petrovich (1918?) - (village of Novonikolskoye, Elnikovsky district), private of the 333rd rifle regiment. Until the end of the war he was a prisoner.
3. Alyamkin. Got captured.
4. Bolshakov Viktor Aleksandrovich (village of Nadezhdino, Elnikovsky district), 333rd infantry regiment. Was in captivity.
5. Brezgin Was taken prisoner.
6. Vasiliev Alexander Ivanovich (Saransk) - Chief of Staff of the 33rd Separate Engineer Regiment. Missing.
7. Vasiliev Ivan Ivanovich (1918?) - sergeant, assistant commander of a platoon of mounted reconnaissance of the 333rd Infantry Regiment.
8.Gavin P.T. Got captured.
9. Gnilov A.P. (village of Nadezhdino, Elnikovsky district). Got captured.
10. Igonin Sergey Yakovlevich (village of Alza, Chamzinsky district) - private repair company of the 22nd light tank division.
11. Karavaev Mikhail Alekseevich (v. Chudinka, Atyuryevsky district) - private, clerk of the 333rd rifle regiment. Was in captivity.
12. Kizhapkin Semyon Vasilievich (Staraya Kyarga village, Atyuryevsky district) - private transport company of the 84th rifle regiment. Until the end of the war he was a prisoner.
13. Kokov. Got captured.
14. Komissarov M.M. (village of Novonikolskoye, Elnikovsky district).
15. Kugryshev Mikhail Evdokimovich (Skryabino village, Lyambirsky district), 297th regiment of the 121st rifle division.
16. Kyashkin Mikhail Andreevich (village of Mordovskie Poshaty, Elnikovsky district) - cadet of the 132nd separate battalion of the 44th regiment of the 42nd rifle division.
17. Makarov Nikolai Egorovich (village of Mord. Kozlovka, Atyuryevsky district) - private engineer platoon of the 84th rifle regiment. Until the end of the war he was a prisoner.
18. Makeikin Vasily Stepanovich (1919-1941) - sergeant commander of the squad of the 333rd Infantry Regiment.
19. Menyakin Yegor Sidorovich (village of Permisi, Bolshebereznikovsky district) - rider of the 333rd Infantry Regiment. Until the end of the war he was a prisoner.
20. Efim Andreevich Mironov (born 1921-1941, Novye Turdaki village, Kochkurovsky district) - private of the 455th rifle regiment of the 42nd rifle division, called up on 10/12/40. Yurgamysh RVC, died on June 23, 1941, was buried in the city of Brest, in the fortress.
21. Mitin Vasily Dovydovich (village Russkaya Lashma, Rybkinsky (now - MO Kovylkino) district) - private of the 455th rifle regiment.
22. Novikov Konstantin Antonovich (village of Boltino, Ladsky (now Romodanovsky) district - junior sergeant of the 132nd separate battalion of the NKVD escort troops. He was taken prisoner.
23. Polinov Alexey Vasilyevich (p. Zubova Polyana) - private, machine gunner of the 9th frontier post of the 17th Red Banner frontier detachment.
24. Pravosudov T.M. (village of Novonikolskoye, Elnikovsky district).
25. Pyanzin. Got captured.
26. Romodanov Petr Yakovlevich (village of Shein-Maidan, Atyashevsky district). Killed June 22, 1941.
27. Rusyaev Yakov Stepanovich (v. Nagornaya Vyshenka, Chamzinsky district) - technician of the 1st rank of the 123rd air regiment.
28. Sachkov Alexander Alekseevich (village of Arkhangelskoe Golitsyno, Ruzaevsky district). Went missing in 1941.
29. Sirkin. Got captured.
30. Tivikov E.A. (Elniki village) - transport company of the 333rd rifle regiment. Killed, buried in a mass grave at the memorial complex.
31. Trofimov (village Novaya Kyarga). Was taken prisoner.
32. Trofimov A.N. Got captured.
33. Tutukov Grigory Ivanovich (1915-1941), village of Elniki, Elnikovsky district) - private of the 333rd rifle regiment. Killed June 23, 1941.
34. Tyutin Vasily Pavlovich (village of Tazino, Bolshebereznikovsky district) - Red Army soldier of the 84th Infantry Regiment. In June 1941 he was taken prisoner.
35. Fedkin Zakhar Andreevich (village of Klopinka, Atyuryevsky district) - ordinary transport company of the 84th rifle regiment. From June 30, 1941 until the end of the war he was in captivity.
36. Shukshin (village Novaya Kyarga). Got captured.
Soldier's happiness smiled at a few. One of those who escaped captivity was our countryman Mikhail Andreevich Kyashkin. In 1940 he served in Belarus, building fortifications on the Western Bug River. In March 1941, the regiment where M.A. Kyashkin was transferred to Brest-Litovsk. The memorial complex "Brest Fortress" contains a photograph showing cadets of the 44th Infantry Regiment of the 42nd Infantry Division V.P. Klimov and M.A. Kyashkin. Below is the date "May 25, 1941." During the defense of Brest, Mikhail Petrovich was wounded in the head, but remained in the ranks and repelled the attacks of the Germans. More than ten days went out of their environment. Then he participated in the battles near Gomel, on the Kursk Bulge. Finished the war on the Oder.
Yegor Sidorovich Menyakin survived in the Nazi camps. He stayed there until April 1945. The Memorial Museum contains a document - Menyakin's notebook with the addresses of camp prisoners - natives of Mordovia, as well as notes made in concentration camps (for example, in 1944 in camp No. 308). The prisoners exchanged addresses so that those who survived and returned to their homeland could report their deaths.
Viktor Aleksandrovich Bolshakov is a man of rare courage. The defender of Brest writes about his fate in a letter: “I was in captivity for 45 days. On August 9, three of us fled, came to the Brest region, Vysolovsky district. There he met with a partisan group and fought in the partisan detachment as an intelligence commander until March 1944. In March, the headquarters of the partisan movement of Belarus sent me to work in the bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the city of Vysokoye, Brest Region, where I worked until March 1946. Bolshakov, unfortunately, is no longer among the living. Viktor Alexandrovich traveled to Brest every year: he was drawn to the place of battles.
Thanks to the search for the defenders of the Brest Fortress, the new name of the partisan from Mordovia became known. Another search is ahead, so the name of V.A. Bolshakov is not included in the list of participants in the underground partisan struggle during the Great Patriotic War, natives and residents of the Republic of Mordovia.
Basically, the fate of the fighters of the Brest garrison was tragic. The survivors without weapons, wounded, often unconscious, were captured, experienced the horrors of the fascist camps, and after the Victory they, the courageous defenders of the Fatherland, were called "traitors". He left his native village Z.A. Fedkin, could not bear the humiliation. K.P. Alkanov, after six days of fighting, was captured, went through all the horrors of the German, and after the war, Soviet camps. The heart shrinks from pain when faced with such facts.
M.A. was captured. Karavaev, fled from Dresden, made his way to his homeland, fought in the Red Army. Mikhail Alekseevich fought together with the Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant A.M. Kizhevatov (Mordvinian by nationality, a native of the village of Seliksa, Penza region) - the head of the 9th frontier post, who supported the morale of the soldiers by personal example. It was our fellow countryman who carried the seriously wounded Kizhevatov out of the shelling.
Since 1992, Nikolai Agafonovich Tarasov, a native of the Saratov region, has been living in Saransk - the only surviving defender of the Brest Fortress in Mordovia. Sergeant Tarasov from the 7th company of the 84th rifle regiment visited four German camps, then liberated Prague.
In the history of the Great Patriotic War there will always be “blank spots”, its mystery will forever remain unsolved. A veteran of the Great Patriotic War A.Ya. responded to our call and sent interesting material. Kvitko is an honored builder of the Republic of Moldova, living in the city of Saransk in the area of ​​CHPP-2. The war found him in the camps, in the forest, near Brest, as part of the 55th rifle division, which included: 333rd, 109th, 228th rifle, 141st howitzer regiments. The 141st regiment, where Sergeant Aleksey Fedorovich Kvitko fought, was sent to support the dying 333rd rifle regiment, but it was not possible to reach Brest. The memory preserved the terrible episodes of the war of that period: “On the march, in the forest, we met a soldier, barefoot, without a cap, shirt and rifle. A boy of nineteen. The commissar of the division, in my opinion, Zelikman, ordered to build a division and shoot the alarmist, who threw down his weapon, friends. The soldier was commanded "Circle!". The voice of the commander sounded: “I order the last one in the ranks to shoot!” The soldier turned and said, “Shoot. I am not afraid of death, I saw it in the fortress. We buried him under a huge oak tree. They wrote with bullets on a hewn oak: "A soldier died here." It was, in my opinion, the third day of the war.
After the publication of Sergei Smirnov's documentary work The Brest Fortress, the authorities turned their attention to the defenders of Brest, some were returned from the Stalinist camps, and the shameful stigma of "traitor" was removed. On May 8, 1965, the Brest Fortress was awarded the title "Fortress-Hero" with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.
Over sixty years have passed since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, fortunately, witnesses of that tragic and heroic time are alive. Perhaps this material will be read by relatives, acquaintances, brother-soldiers and will report unknown information or the names of our other fellow countrymen who fought heroically on Brest soil. Some do not have any information other than surnames. The dead cannot speak for themselves. Our task is to restore justice in relation to honest soldiers, undeservedly forgotten, slandered. The search continues. Our address: 430000, Republic of Mordovia, Saransk, st. Sovetskaya, 34 "A", Memorial Museum of the military and labor feat of 1941-1945.
Sandina L.S.
employee
Memorial Museum of the Military and
labor feat 1941-1945.

As far as I know the facts, the families of those who honestly fought, not even necessarily the order bearers, were not subject to deportation.

Of course, exceptions are possible.
Or, for example, the relatives you mention were directly involved in the betrayal, or the traitors were much closer relatives to them than your grandfather.

Your phrase - that there were traitors and heroes in any nation - is a typical manipulative phrase. You are not necessarily manipulating, perhaps you were manipulated just with the help of this phrase. It's like justifying cannibalism among some modern tribes by saying that at least one cannibal can be found in any nation.

And if we talk about traitors in any nation, then any traitors were dealt with unambiguously - execution. If they had done the same with the traitors - Chechens or Crimean Tatars, then because of the massive betrayal, almost all adult men would have been shot, and at the moment these peoples simply would not exist. And your grandfather's relatives would not have ended up in the Chui Valley (where people actually live from time immemorial), but in the next world.
Kara-Murza recalled how relieved the decision to evict him was received by his Crimean Tatar relatives, because they expected much worse.

In this case, we are not talking about deportation.
It's about the complete lack of honor - and even understanding that there is such a thing as honor - for some characters.
You can hate the enemy, but you can also respect him.
Otto Skorzene, Hitler's favorite, said at the end of the war that the Russians in this war showed the whole world who the true Aryans are in Europe. I do not think that he loved the Russians by the end of the war, but in any case he had respect.
An enemy can become a friend - there are such examples in history (the same Shamil), but this is clearly not our case.
The enemy can remain an enemy and say: I have killed and will kill, at the first opportunity I will betray and go over to the side of the enemy of my enemy.
Such an enemy can be hated, but also respected.
A cowardly enemy may say - I do not love you, I am offended by you, but I will not kill and betray. It is clear that he is lying out of cowardice, and it is impossible to respect such an enemy, he can be treated as an evil mongrel who is afraid, but is waiting for an opportunity to bite on the sly, so it makes sense to be ready to give a boot to the ribs. Nevertheless, it can be understood - cowardice is a completely human quality, not everyone can overcome it.

But how to call someone who, taking advantage of the fact that a man went to war and the house was left without protection, suddenly turned from a quiet neighbor into a killer, began to rob and kill, at the same time stealthily shooting in the back of a man going on the attack, and then, having lost, taking advantage of the generosity of the winner, etc., to declare - in fact, it was he who went on the attack and defended the man’s house, because there are heroes in every nation, and others robbed and killed, and others shot in the back, but where did the man, the owner of the house, who knows? maybe he himself robbed his own house, because there are traitors in any nation.
There is no name for this, because it is generally beyond human morality, honor, weakness and other human - both good and bad - qualities.
Even the Jew Solovyov looks much better, a scoundrel, but human - to incite neighbors, let them squabble, and against this background, gnaw something off, some land there or some property.

But Alkhanov and those who are with him, and those who do not feel the transcendence of what they are doing, must die. Like a cull. Like a genetic mistake. For this is generally incompatible with the concept of "man", neither in a high nor in a low sense.

Introduction

In June 1941, much indicated that Germany launched preparations for war against the Soviet Union. German divisions were moving up to the border. The preparations for the war became known from intelligence reports. In particular, the Soviet intelligence officer Richard Sorge even reported the exact day of the invasion and the number of enemy divisions that would be involved in the operation. In these difficult conditions, the Soviet leadership tried not to give the slightest reason to start a war. It even allowed "archaeologists" from Germany to look for "the graves of soldiers who died during the First World War." Under this pretext, German officers openly studied the area, outlined the paths of a future invasion.

At dawn on June 22, one of the longest days of the year, Germany began the war against the Soviet Union. At 0330 hours, units of the Red Army were attacked by German troops along the entire length of the border. In the early predawn hour of June 22, 1941, the night squads and patrols of the border guards who guarded the western state border of the Soviet country noticed a strange celestial phenomenon. There, ahead, beyond the border line, above the land of Poland captured by the Nazis, far away, on the western edge of the slightly brightening early morning sky, among the already dimmed stars of the shortest summer night, some new, unprecedented stars suddenly appeared. Unusually bright and colorful, like fireworks - sometimes red, sometimes green - they did not stand still, but slowly and non-stop sailed here, to the east, making their way among the fading night stars. They dotted the entire horizon, as far as the eye could see, and together with their appearance from there, from the west, came the rumble of many engines.

On the morning of June 22, Moscow radio broadcast the usual Sunday programs and peaceful music. Soviet citizens learned about the beginning of the war only at noon, when Vyacheslav Molotov spoke on the radio. He said: “Today, at 4 o'clock in the morning, without presenting any claims against the Soviet Union, without declaring war, German troops attacked our country. brest fortress capture german

Three powerful German army groups moved east. In the north, Field Marshal Leeb directed the blow of his troops across the Baltic to Leningrad. In the south, Field Marshal Rundstedt was aiming his troops at Kyiv. But the strongest grouping of enemy forces deployed its operations in the middle of this huge front, where, starting at the border city of Brest, a wide belt of asphalt highway goes east - through the capital of Belarus, Minsk, through the ancient Russian city of Smolensk, through Vyazma and Mozhaisk to the heart of our Motherland - Moscow. For four days, German mobile formations, operating on narrow fronts, broke through to a depth of 250 km and reached the Western Dvina. The army corps were 100-150 km behind the tank ones.

The command of the North-Western Front, at the direction of the Headquarters, made an attempt to organize defense at the turn of the Western Dvina. From Riga to Liepaja, the 8th Army was to defend. To the south, the 27th Army advanced, whose task was to cover the gap between the inner flanks of the 8th and 11th armies. The pace of deployment of troops and defense on the line of the Western Dvina was insufficient, which allowed the enemy's 56th motorized corps to cross on the move to the northern bank of the Western Dvina, capture Daugavpils and create a bridgehead on the northern bank of the river. The 8th Army, having lost up to 50% of its personnel and up to 75% of its materiel, began to withdraw to the northeast and north, to Estonia.

Due to the fact that the 8th and 27th armies were retreating in divergent directions, the path for the enemy's mobile formations to Pskov and Ostrov turned out to be open. The Red Banner Baltic Fleet was forced to leave Liepaja and Ventspils. After that, the defense of the Gulf of Riga was based only on the islands of Sarema and Khiuma, which were still held by our troops. As a result of the hostilities from June 22 to July 9, the troops of the North-Western Front did not fulfill their tasks. They left the Baltic, suffered heavy losses and allowed the enemy to advance up to 500 km.

The main forces of Army Group Center were advancing against the Western Front. Their immediate goal was to bypass the main forces of the Western Front and encircle them with the release of tank groups in the Minsk area. The enemy offensive on the right wing of the Western Front in the direction of Grodno was repulsed. The most difficult situation developed on the left wing, where the enemy struck with the 2nd tank group at Brest, Baranovichi. With the beginning of the shelling of Brest at dawn on June 22, the units of the 6th and 42nd rifle divisions located in the city were alerted. At 7 o'clock the enemy broke into the city. Part of our troops withdrew from the fortress. The rest of the garrison, by this time numbering up to an infantry regiment in total, organized the defense of the citadel and decided to fight encircled to the end. The heroic defense of Brest began, which lasted over a month and was an example of the legendary valor and courage of Soviet patriots.

1. Defense of the Brest Fortress

The Brest Fortress is one of 9 fortresses built in the 19th century. to strengthen the western border of Russia. On April 26, 1842, the fortress became one of the active fortresses of the Russian Empire. All Soviet people were well aware of the feat of the defenders of the Brest Fortress. As the official version said, a small garrison fought for a whole month against an entire division of the Germans. But even from the book by S.S. Sergeyev "Brest Fortress" you can find out that "in the spring of 1941, units of two rifle divisions of the Soviet Army were stationed on the territory of the Brest Fortress. They were hardy, hardened, well-trained troops. One of these divisions - the 6th Oryol Red Banner - had a long and glorious military history. Another - the 42nd Rifle Division - was created in 1940 during the Finnish campaign and has already shown itself well in the battles on the Mannerheim Line. That is, in the fortress there were still not several dozen infantrymen armed only with rifles, as many Soviet people who watched feature films about this defense had the impression. On the eve of the war, more than half of the units were withdrawn to the camps for exercises from the Brest Fortress - 10 out of 18 rifle battalions, 3 out of 4 artillery regiments, one out of two divisions of anti-aircraft defense and anti-aircraft defense, reconnaissance battalions and some other units. On the morning of June 22, 1941, there was actually an incomplete division in the fortress - without 1 rifle battalion, 3 sapper companies and a howitzer regiment. Plus the NKVD battalion and border guards. On average, the divisions had about 9,300 personnel, i.e. 63%. It can be assumed that in total there were more than 8 thousand soldiers and commanders in the fortress on the morning of June 22, not counting the staff and patients of the hospital. The German 45th Infantry Division (from the former Austrian army), which had combat experience in the Polish and French campaigns, fought against the garrison. The regular strength of the German division was to be 15-17 thousand. So, the Germans probably still had a numerical superiority in manpower, but not 10-fold, as Smirnov claimed. It is hardly possible to speak of superiority in artillery. Yes, the Germans had two 600-mm self-propelled mortars 040 (the so-called "Karls"). The ammunition load of these guns is 8 rounds. And the two-meter walls of the casemates did not make their way through divisional artillery.

The Germans decided in advance that the fortress would have to be taken only by infantry - without tanks. Their use was hindered by forests, swamps, river channels and canals that surrounded the fortress. On the basis of aerial photographs and data obtained in 1939 after the capture of the fortress from the Poles, a model of the fortress was made. However, the command of the 45th division of the Wehrmacht did not expect to suffer such high losses from the defenders of the fortress. The divisional report dated June 30, 1941 says: "The division took 7,000 prisoners, including 100 officers. Our losses are 482 killed, including 48 officers, and over 1,000 wounded." It should be noted that the number of prisoners undoubtedly includes the medical staff and patients of the district hospital, and these are several hundred, if not more, people who were physically unable to fight. The proportion of commanders (officers) among the prisoners is also indicatively small (military doctors and patients in the hospital are obviously counted among the 100 captured). The only senior commander (senior officer) among the defenders was the commander of the 44th regiment, Major Gavrilov. The fact is that in the first minutes of the war, the houses of the command staff were subjected to shelling - naturally, not as strong as the buildings of the citadel.

For comparison, during the Polish campaign in 13 days, the 45th division, having traveled 400 kilometers, lost 158 ​​killed and 360 wounded. Moreover, the total losses of the German army on the eastern front by June 30, 1941 amounted to 8886 killed. That is, the defenders of the Brest Fortress killed more than 5% of them. And the fact that there were about 8 thousand defenders of the fortress, and not at all a handful, does not detract from their glory, but, on the contrary, shows that there were many heroes. More than for some reason trying to inspire Soviet power. And until now, in books, articles and websites about the heroic defense of the Brest Fortress, the words "small garrison" are constantly found. Another common option is 3,500 defenders. 962 warriors are buried under the slabs of the fortress.

Of the troops of the first echelon of the 4th Army, those stationed in the citadel of the Brest Fortress suffered the most, namely: almost the entire 6th Rifle Division (with the exception of the howitzer regiment) and the main forces of the 42nd Rifle Division, its 44th and 455th rifle regiments.

At 4:00 am on June 22, heavy fire was opened on the barracks and on the exits from the barracks in the central part of the fortress, as well as on the bridges and entrance gates of the fortress and the houses of the command staff. This raid caused confusion among the Red Army staff, while the command staff, which was attacked in their apartments, was partially destroyed. The surviving part of the command staff could not penetrate the barracks due to strong barrage fire. As a result, the Red Army soldiers and junior command personnel, deprived of leadership and control, dressed and undressed, in groups and singly, independently left the fortress, overcoming the bypass canal, the Mukhavets River and the rampart of the fortress under artillery, mortar and machine-gun fire. It was impossible to take into account the losses, since the personnel of the 6th division mixed with the personnel of the 42nd division. Many could not get to the conditional gathering place, since the Germans were firing concentrated artillery fire at it. Some commanders still managed to get to their units and subunits in the fortress, but they could not withdraw the units and remained in the fortress themselves. As a result, the personnel of the units of the 6th and 42nd divisions, as well as other units, remained in the fortress as its garrison, not because they were given tasks to defend the fortress, but because it was impossible to leave it. 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. In the shortest possible time, they rallied their forces and organized a rebuff to the Nazi invaders. 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 driven back or smoked out, after a short period of time, new forces appeared from cellars, drainpipes and other shelters that fired so excellent 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 pinned down the enemy forces, inflicted heavy losses on him. Late in the evening, the German command decided to withdraw its infantry from the fortifications, create a blockade line behind the outer ramparts, so that on the morning of June 23, again, with shelling and bombardment, begin the assault on the fortress.

The battles in the fortress took on a fierce, protracted character, which the enemy did not expect at all. The stubborn heroic resistance of the Soviet soldiers was met by the Nazi 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 fighters of cavalry courses, a sapper platoon, reinforced outfits of the 9th frontier post, a veterinary hospital, and training camps for athletes. They managed to clear most of the territory of the fortification from the enemy that had broken through, but due to the lack of ammunition and heavy losses in personnel, they could not hold it. On the night of June 25, the remnants of the groups of Melnikov, who died in battle, and 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 regimental school of junior commanders of the 84th Rifle Regiment, outfits of the 9th and frontier posts. 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!" shouted the Soviet patriots. 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. 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. Their inscriptions on the fortress walls speak of the unshakable courage of the fighters: “There were five of us Sedov, Grutov, Bogolyub, Mikhailov, V. Selivanov. There were three of us, it was difficult for us, but we did not lose heart and die like heroes, "this is 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.

On the Kobrin fortification, since the moment of hostilities, several areas of fierce defense have developed. On the territory of this largest fortification there were many warehouses, hitching posts, artillery parks, personnel were located in the barracks, as well as in the casemates of an earthen rampart (with a perimeter of up to 1.5 km), in a residential town - families of command personnel. Through the Northern and Northwestern, Eastern Gates of the fortification, in the first hours of the war, part of the garrison, the main forces of the 125th Infantry Regiment (commander Major A.E. Dulkeit) and the 98th Separate Anti-tank Artillery Battalion (commander Captain N.I. Nikitin).

The hard cover of the exit from the fortress through the North-Western Gate of the garrison soldiers, and then the defense of the barracks of the 125th Infantry Regiment, was led by the battalion commissar S.V. Derbenev. The enemy managed to transfer from the Terespol fortification to the Kobrin pontoon bridge across the Western Bug (the defenders of the western part of the Citadel fired on it, disrupting the crossing), seize a bridgehead in the western part of the Kobrin fortification and move infantry, artillery, tanks there.

The defense was led by Major P. M. Gavrilov, Captain I. N. Zubachev and Regimental Commissar E. M. Fomin. The heroic defenders of the Brest Fortress successfully repulsed the attacks of the Nazi troops for several days. On June 29-30, the enemy launched a general assault on the Brest Fortress, he managed to capture many fortifications, the defenders suffered heavy losses, but continued to resist in incredibly difficult conditions (lack of water, food, medicine). For almost a month, the heroes of the Brest Fortress fettered an entire German division, most of them fell in battle, some managed to break through to the partisans, some of the exhausted and wounded were captured. 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, later, breaking out of the fort, in a caponier behind the outer rampart of the fortification. The seriously wounded Gavrilov and the secretary of the Komsomol bureau of the 98th separate anti-tank artillery battalion, deputy political instructor G.D. Derevianko was taken prisoner on July 23. But even later on the 20th of July, Soviet soldiers continued to fight in the fortress.

The last days of the struggle are 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 went 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, the last defenders of the Citadel held out. 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, the caponier in the zone of the 125th regiment - flamethrowers. Explosives were lowered from the roof of the barracks of the 333rd Infantry Regiment to the windows, but the Soviet soldiers wounded by the explosions continued to shoot until the walls of the building were destroyed and razed to the ground. The enemy was forced to note the steadfastness and heroism of the fortress defenders. It was during these black, bitter days of retreat that the legend of the Brest Fortress was born in our troops. It is difficult to say where it first appeared, but, passed from mouth to mouth, it soon passed along the entire thousand-kilometer front from the Baltic to the Black Sea steppes. It was an exciting legend. It was said that hundreds of kilometers from the front, deep behind enemy lines, near the city of Brest, within the walls of an old Russian fortress standing on the very border of the USSR, our troops had been heroically fighting the enemy for many days and weeks. It was said that the enemy, having surrounded the fortress in a dense ring, violently stormed it, but at the same time suffered huge losses, that neither bombs nor shells could break the stubbornness of the fortress garrison, and that the Soviet soldiers defending there swore an oath to die, but not to submit to the enemy and they respond with fire to all the offers of the Nazis for surrender.

It is not known how this legend originated. Either the groups of our fighters and commanders brought it with them, making their way from the Brest region along the rear of the Germans and then making their way through the front. Either one of the captured Nazis told about this.

They say that the pilots of our bomber aviation confirmed that the Brest Fortress was fighting. Going out at night to bomb the rear military targets of the enemy, located on Polish territory, and flying near Brest, they saw flashes of shell explosions below, the trembling fire of firing machine guns and the flowing streams of tracer bullets.

However, these were all just stories and rumors. Whether our troops were really fighting there and what kind of troops they were, it was impossible to verify: there was no radio communication with the fortress garrison. And the legend of the Brest Fortress at that time remained only a legend. But, full of exciting heroism, this legend was very necessary for people. In those difficult, harsh days of retreat, she deeply penetrated the hearts of the soldiers, inspired them, gave birth to vigor and faith in victory in them. And many who heard this story then, as a reproach to their own conscience, the question arose: "And we? Can't we fight just like they do there, in the fortress? Why are we retreating?"

It happened that in response to such a question, as if guiltily looking for an excuse for himself, one of the old soldiers would say: “After all, a fortress! It is more convenient to defend in a fortress. There are probably a lot of walls, fortifications, cannons. "it was impossible to approach here, having only infantry means, since 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 methodically attacked the fortress for a whole week. Soviet soldiers had to repel 6-8 attacks a day. There were women and children next to the soldiers. They helped the wounded, brought cartridges, took part in hostilities. The Nazis used tanks, flamethrowers, gases, set fire to and rolled barrels of combustible mixture from external shafts. Casemates burned and collapsed, there was nothing to breathe, but when enemy infantry attacked, 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. 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." Stories like the defense of the Brest Fortress would become widely known in other countries. But the courage and heroism of the defenders of the Brest Fortress remained unsung. Until the death of Stalin in the USSR - as if they did not notice the feat of the garrison of the citadel.

The fortress fell, and many of its defenders surrendered - in the eyes of the Stalinists, this was seen as a shameful phenomenon. That is why there were no heroes of Brest. The fortress was simply deleted from the annals of military history, erasing the names of privates and commanders. In 1956, the world finally learned who led the defense of the citadel. Smirnov writes: "From the found combat order No. 1, we know the names of the commanders of the units that defended the center: Commissar Fomin, Captain Zubachev, Senior Lieutenant Semenenko and Lieutenant Vinogradov." The 44th Infantry Regiment was commanded by Pyotr Mikhailovich Gavrilov. Commissar Fomin, Captain Zubachev and Lieutenant Vinogradov were part of the battle group that escaped from the fortress on June 25, but it was surrounded and destroyed on the Warsaw highway.

Three officers were taken prisoner. Vinogradov survived the war. Smirnov tracked him down in Vologda, where he, unknown to anyone in 1956, worked as a blacksmith. According to Vinogradov: “Before going on a breakthrough, Commissar Fomin put on the uniform of a murdered private. In the prisoner of war camp, one soldier betrayed the commissar to the Germans, and Fomin was shot. Zubachev died in captivity. Major Gavrilov survived captivity, despite being seriously wounded. He did not want surrender, threw a grenade and killed a German soldier." A lot of time passed before the names of the heroes of Brest were inscribed in Soviet history. They have earned their place there. The way they fought, their unwavering perseverance, devotion to duty, the courage they showed in spite of everything - all this was quite typical of Soviet soldiers.

The defense of the Brest Fortress was an outstanding example of the exceptional stamina and courage of Soviet soldiers. It was a truly legendary feat of the sons of the people, who infinitely loved their Motherland, who gave their lives for it. The Soviet people honor the memory of the brave defenders of the Brest Fortress: Captain V. V. Shablovsky, senior political officer N. V. Nesterchuk, lieutenants I. F. Akimochkin, A. M. Kizhevatov, A. F. Naganov, junior political officer A. P. Kalandadze , deputy political instructor S. M. Matevosyan, a pupil of the regiment P. S. Klypa and many others. In memory of the heroic deed of the heroes of the Brest Fortress, on May 8, 1965, she was awarded the honorary title "Hero Fortress" with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.

Conclusion

For a long time, the country did not know anything about the defense of the Brest Fortress, as well as about many other exploits of Soviet soldiers in the early days of the war, although, perhaps, it was precisely such pages of its history that could inspire faith in the people who found themselves on the verge of mortal danger. The troops, of course, talked about the border battles on the Bug, but the very fact of the defense of the fortress was perceived rather as a legend. Surprisingly, the feat of the Brest garrison became known thanks to the very same report from the headquarters of the 45th German division. The entire archive of the division also fell into the hands of Soviet soldiers. For the first time, the defense of the Brest Fortress became known from a German headquarters report captured in the papers of the defeated unit in February 1942 in the Krivtsovo area near Orel when trying to destroy the Bolkhov group of German troops. In the late 1940s the first articles about the defense of the Brest Fortress appeared in the newspapers, based solely on rumors; in 1951 the artist P. Krivonogov paints the famous painting "Defenders of the Brest Fortress". The merit of restoring the memory of the heroes of the fortress largely belongs to the writer and historian S. S. Smirnov, as well as to K. M. Simonov, who supported his initiative. The feat of the heroes of the Brest Fortress was popularized by Smirnov in the book The Brest Fortress (1957, expanded edition 1964, Lenin Prize 1965). After that, the theme of the defense of the Brest Fortress became an important symbol of official patriotic propaganda. Sevastopol, Leningrad, Smolensk, Vyazma, Kerch, Stalingrad - milestones in the history of the resistance of the Soviet people to the Nazi invasion. The first in this list is the Brest Fortress. She determined the whole mood of this war - uncompromising, stubborn and, ultimately, victorious. And most importantly, probably not in awards, but orders and medals were awarded to about 200 defenders of the Brest Fortress, two became Heroes of the Soviet Union - Major Gavrilov and Lieutenant Andrei Kizhevatov (posthumously), but that it was then, in the first days of the war, Soviet soldiers proved to the whole world that courage and duty to their country, people, can resist any invasion. In this regard, it sometimes seems that the Brest Fortress is a confirmation of the words of Bismarck and the beginning of the end of Nazi Germany.

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

"Brest Fortress-Hero", a memorial complex, created in 1969-71. on the territory of the Brest Fortress to perpetuate the feat of the participants in the defense of the Brest Fortress. The master plan was approved by the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the BSSR dated 06.11.1969. The memorial was solemnly opened on September 25, 1971. The sculptural and architectural ensemble includes surviving buildings, conserved ruins, ramparts and works of modern monumental art. The complex is located in the eastern part of the Citadel. Each compositional element of the ensemble carries a great semantic load and has a strong emotional impact. The main entrance is designed as an opening in the form of a five-pointed star in a monolithic reinforced concrete mass, based on the shaft and walls of the casemates. The cleavages of the star, intersecting, form a complex dynamic shape. The propylea walls are lined with black labradorite. On the outer side of the foundation, a plaque with the text of the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated 05/08/1965 on conferring the honorary title "Hero-Fortress" on the Brest Fortress was reinforced. From the main entrance, a solemn alley leads across the bridge to the Ceremonial Square. To the left of the bridge is the sculptural composition "Thirst" - the figure of a Soviet soldier, who, leaning on a machine gun, reaches for the water with a helmet. In the planning and figurative solution of the memorial, an important role belongs to the Ceremonials Square, where mass celebrations take place. It is adjoined by the building of the Museum of the Defense of the Brest Fortress and the ruins of the White Palace. The compositional center of the ensemble is the main monument "Courage" - a chest sculpture of a warrior (made of concrete, height 33.5 m), on its reverse side - relief compositions telling about individual episodes of the heroic defense of the fortress: "Attack", "Party meeting", "The Last Grenade", "The Feat of Artillerymen", "Machine Gunners". A bayonet-obelisk dominates over a vast area (an all-welded metal structure lined with titanium; height 100 m, weight 620 tons). The remains of 850 people are buried in the 3-tiered necropolis, compositionally related to the monument, and the names of 216 people are on the memorial plates installed here.

In front of the ruins of the former engineering department, in a recess lined with black labradorite, the Eternal Flame of Glory burns. In front of him are the words cast in bronze: "We stood to the death, glory to the heroes!". Not far from the Eternal Flame is the Memorial Site of the Hero Cities of the Soviet Union, opened on 05/09/1985. Under the granite slabs with the image of the Gold Star medal, there are capsules with the soil of the hero cities brought here by their delegations. On the walls of the barracks, ruins, bricks and stone blocks, on special stands, there are memorial plaques in the form of tear-off sheets of the 1941 calendar, which are a kind of chronicle of heroic events.

The observation deck presents artillery weapons of the mid-19th century and the initial period of the Great Patriotic War. The ruins of the barracks of the 333rd Infantry Regiment (former arsenal), the ruins of the defensive barracks, the destroyed building of the club of the 84th Infantry Regiment have been preserved. Along the main alley there are 2 powder magazines, in the ramparts there are casemates, a field bakery premises. On the way to the Northern Gate, the Eastern Fort, the ruins of the medical unit and residential buildings stand out. Pedestrian paths and the area in front of the main entrance are covered with red plastic concrete. Most of the alleys, the Ceremonial Square and part of the paths are lined with reinforced concrete slabs. Thousands of roses, weeping willows, poplars, spruces, birches, maples, and arborvitae have been planted. In the evening, artistic and decorative lighting is switched on, consisting of a variety of spotlights and lamps in red, white and green colors. At the main entrance, A. Aleksandrov's song "The Holy War" and the governments, a message about the treacherous attack on our Motherland by the troops of Nazi Germany (read by Y. Levitan) are heard, at the Eternal Flame - R. Schumann's melody "Dreams".

Bibliography

• 1. Materials of the site LEGENDS AND MYTHS OF MILITARY HISTORY were used in the preparation
• 2. Anikin V.I. Brest Fortress is a hero-fortress. M., 1985.
• 3. Heroic defense / Sat. memories of the defense of the Brest Fortress in June - July 1941 Mn., 1966.
• 4. Smirnov S. S. Brest Fortress. M., 1970.
• 5. Smirnov S. S. In search of the heroes of the Brest Fortress. M., 1959.
• 6. Smirnov S. S. Stories about unknown heroes. M., 1985.
• 7. Brest. Encyclopedic reference book. Mn., 1987.

The heroic defense of the Brest Fortress by Soviet troops in the first months of the Great Patriotic War was never covered from the point of view of the national composition of its garrison. However, information has recently appeared about a large number of Chechens among the defenders of the fortress.

An unexpected statement

Not so long ago, President of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov shared information with readers of the Izvestiya newspaper that Vladimir Putin, in 2004, during a meeting with participants in the Russia at the Turn of the Century: Hopes and Realities forum, stated the following: “Not many people know that approximately one third of the defenders of the Brest Fortress consisted of Chechens.”

It is officially confirmed that about 7,000 Soviet soldiers and officers took part in the defense of the Brest Fortress. It turns out that at least 2300 of them were Chechens? Where do these numbers come from?

It is known that in Soviet times the very fact of the participation of Chechens in hostilities was stubbornly hushed up, respectively, it was not reflected in any way in official documents. After the war, the Chechen writer Khalid Oshaev began to cover this topic. So, in the book "Brest - a fiery nut", based on the memories of the surviving defenders of the fortress, he established the number of Chechens who took part in the heroic defense - 275 people.

Novye Izvestia journalist Said Bitsoev wrote in his article “Killed and Forgotten” that the Brest Fortress was defended by hundreds of natives of Chechnya, whose names were forgotten, since most of the archives and personal documents of the Red Army soldiers burned down during a fire that blazed over the ruins for more than a month.

Among the surviving semi-decayed and faded papers, according to the journalist, they managed to find the names of 188 natives of Chechnya. One of the oldest employees of the Brest Fortress memorial complex said that “in the most difficult moments, left without food, ammunition and hope of salvation, the Chechens staged an incendiary lezginka dance in the deaf underground casemates, raising the spirit of the rest of the fighters.”

Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Chechen Republic Yavus Akhmadov, relying on his sources, writes that 230 Chechens who were in the Brest Fortress were the first to take the blow of the German army among other soldiers.

Said-Magomed Isaraev, head of the press service of the President of the Chechen Republic, told the correspondent of the National News Agency an even higher figure: “More than 300 Chechens and Ingush took part in the heroic defense of the Brest Fortress, which has become a symbol of resilience and courage.”

Journalist Timur Aliev writes in his article “Chechen Heroes of the Soviet War” that “almost 400 Chechens and Ingush participated in the heroic defense of the Brest Fortress.” According to an analytical study by the Ministry of the Chechen Republic for National Policy, Press and Information, more than 61% of respondents - residents of Chechnya - named exactly this number of Chechens - the defenders of the Brest Fortress.

Confirmed figures

As we can see, even according to the Chechen authors, the number of Chechens participating in the defense of the Brest Fortress does not reach 1/3. As for the figure of 275 people, voiced by the most authoritative researcher of this topic, Oshaev, it captures all the natives of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In addition to Chechens and Ingush, it included 37 Russians, 2 Adyghes, 2 Jews, 2 Tatars, an Austrian, an Armenian and a Kumyk (a total of 46 people).

In addition, many of the military men listed by Oshaev were deployed in the Brest region in the 6th and 42nd rifle divisions, as well as in a number of separate units and did not take direct part in the defense of the Brest Fortress.

According to the director of the memorial complex "Brest Hero Fortress" Grigory Bysyuk, soldiers and officers of more than thirty nationalities, including natives of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, took part in the defense of the fortress in 1941. At the same time, he notes that, according to information from various military registration and enlistment offices of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, 16 servicemen were called up, who later found themselves among the defenders of the fortress. Of these, according to Bysyuk, five people are considered dead in the Brest Fortress - three Chechens, a Tatar and an Ingush.

Establishing a person who took part in the defense of the Brest Fortress is a rather complicated procedure. The Scientific and Methodological Council of the memorial complex "Brest Hero Fortress" recognizes and approves soldiers as participants in the defense and battles in the Brest region only if they have certain documents: information from the military registration and enlistment offices or a Red Army book, the soldier himself or two testimonies of participants in the defense of the fortress, as well as other similar sources . At the moment, the museum has material for only 20 Chechens.

In the center of the Brest Fortress there is a stele, under which the remains of 850 soldiers who defended the citadel are buried. Today, the names of 222 people are known, whose initials are carved in gold on the slabs of the memorial, among them only three natives of Chechnya - A. A. Lalaev, M. Ya. Uzuev, and S. I. Abdrakhmanov.

It is extremely difficult to establish the exact number of Chechens, but it is certainly higher than the official figures. To recognize other representatives of the Chechen people as the defenders of the Brest Fortress, supporting documents or living witnesses are needed, but almost all the archives are irretrievably lost, and there are almost no veterans left. Therefore, hundreds of Chechens who died during the defense of the fortress and rest in mass graves still remain on the list of “missing”.

eyewitness accounts

Although the number of Chechens who defended the Brest Fortress is not known, evidence of their immortal feat has been preserved. So, an SS officer, the son of a Lithuanian landowner, Antanas Stankus, wrote about the last days of the defense of the Brest Fortress: “The German army still suffered losses from well-aimed shots from the ruins. The wounded defenders of the Brest Fortress launched bayonet attacks with cries in an incomprehensible guttural language. Many of them were with typical Caucasian faces. And although each of them was wounded several times, they fought like possessed.

One of the few surviving participants in the defense of the fortress of Said-Khasan Beitemirov recalled that among the Chechens, recruits from the Malgobek, Nadterechny, Gudermes, Itumkalinsky, Shatoi, Urus-Martan regions served in it. Also, according to Beitemirov, there were many Russians, Jews, Georgians and Ukrainians living in Chechnya.

According to veterans, there were Grozny residents in almost all parts of the Brest garrison. There are especially many in the 125th and 333rd regiments, and half of the platoons consisted of conscripts from Chechens and Ingush. On Saturday evenings, veterans recall, Caucasians organized amateur concerts with playing the accordion and dechig-pondar (the national instrument of the Vainakhs).

At first, the highlanders felt uncomfortable in the fortress, veterans say. The old-timers regularly joked and laughed at them. However, when Caucasians had a chance to excel at the shooting range, the attitude towards them changed dramatically.

Nikolai Tikhomirov, a native of Grozny, was one of the unit commanders. It was he who received the ardent "sons of the mountains" into submission. It is said that the lieutenant was loyal to them, forgiving small faults and patiently taught military affairs. Largely thanks to his endurance and attention, the Chechens and Ingush were able to quickly adapt to army everyday life, which was unusual for them.

History has preserved for us the names of two Chechen brothers - Magomed and Visait Uzuev, natives of the village of Itum-Kale, who were at the beginning of the war in Brest. Elder brother Magomed, deputy platoon commander, was among those who, on the night of June 21-22, 1941, were the first to take the blow of the German group.

Visait, having learned that his brother was already fighting on the walls of the fortress, decided to break through to him. Unfortunately, nothing is known about Visait's further fate. He is still among the missing. Mohammed more than once raised the defenders of the fortress to attack, but fell in one of them, struck down by a German bullet. His name is carved on the memorial of the defenders of the Brest Fortress. February 9, 1996 Magomed Uzuev was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.

Let's return to the memoirs of Antanas Stankus. When a German officer rewarded the SS men after the capture of the citadel, a tall, fit Red Army officer emerged from the underground casemates, writes Stankus. “His right hand was on the holster of a pistol, he was in a torn uniform, but he walked with his head held high, moving along the parade ground. The division stood frozen. Unexpectedly for everyone, the German general suddenly clearly saluted the Soviet officer, the last defender of the Brest Fortress, after him all the officers of the German division saluted. Having reached the funnel from the projectile, the Red Army soldier turned to face the west, took a pistol from his holster and shot himself in the temple. He fell facing Germany."

When they checked the documents, they found out that he was a native of the CHIASSR, a senior lieutenant of the border troops, the Lithuanian notes. “I remember his last name - Barkhanoev. We were ordered to bury him with proper military honors.”

Perhaps the most famous episode of the beginning Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 - feat of defenders Brest Fortress . The official version was - "a small garrison held down significant enemy forces for a month".

However, this is not entirely true. And although the feat defenders of the Brest Fortress many books, films and articles have been devoted to it, I will venture to give my own description of the events, using both Soviet and German sources.

As S.S. Smirnov wrote in the book :

"in the spring of 1941 on the territory Brest Fortress units of two rifle divisions of the Soviet Army were stationed. They were steadfast, hardened, well-trained troops ... One of these divisions - 6th Oryol Red Banner- had a long and glorious military history ... Another - 42nd Rifle Division- was created in 1940 during the Finnish campaign and has already managed to show itself well in battles on Mannerheim lines."

On the eve of the war, more than half of the units of these two divisions were withdrawn to camps for exercises from the Brest Fortress - 10 out of 18 rifle battalions, 3 out of 4 artillery regiments, one of two anti-tank and air defense divisions, reconnaissance battalions and some other units. On the morning of June 22, 1941, the following people were in the fortress:

• 84th Rifle Regiment without two battalions
• 125th Rifle Regiment
• 333rd Rifle Regiment without a battalion and a sapper company
• 44th Rifle Regiment without two battalions
• 455th Rifle Regiment without a battalion and a sapper company

according to the state - 2.169 personnel, 42 artillery barrels, 16 light tanks, 13 armored vehicles.

• rear units of the 33rd engineer regiment and the 22nd tank division
• 132nd escort battalion of the NKVD troops
• 3rd border commandant's office of the 17th detachment
• 9th frontier post
(in the Citadel - the central part of the fortress)
• district hospital (on the South Island. Most of the staff and patients were taken prisoner in the first hours of the war)

States NKVD battalion , border guards and the hospital are unknown to me. Of course the actual number in the units was significantly lower than the staff . But in fact, on the morning of June 22, 1941, in the Brest Fortress, there was a total incomplete division - without 1 rifle battalion, 3 sapper companies and howitzer regiment. Plus the NKVD battalion and border guards. On average, by June 22, 1941, there were actually about 9,300 personnel in the divisions of the Special ZapVO, i.e. 63% of the state.

Thus, it can be assumed that only Brest Fortress on the morning of June 22 more than 8 thousand fighters and commanders , not counting the staff and patients of the hospital.

On the sector of the front, where , as well as the railway line north of the fortress and the road south of the fortress, the German 45th Infantry Division(from the former Austrian army) of the 12th Army Corps, who had combat experience in the Polish and French campaigns.

The total staff strength of this division was to be 17.7 thousand, and its combat units (infantry, artillery, sapper, reconnaissance, communications) were to be 15.1 thousand . Of these, infantrymen, sappers, scouts - 10.5 thousand (together with their own rear services).

So, the Germans had a numerical superiority in manpower (counting the total number of combat units). As for artillery, the Germans, in addition to the divisional artillery regiment (whose guns did not penetrate the one and a half to two-meter walls of the casemates), had two 600mm self-propelled mortars 040 - the so-called "Carls". The total ammunition of these two guns was 16 shells (one mortar jammed during the first shot). Also, the Germans in the area of ​​the Brest Fortress had more 9 mortars caliber 211 mm . And besides - Regiment of rocket-propelled mortars (54 six-barreled "Nebelwerfers" of 158.5 mm caliber) - and there were no such Soviet weapons then, not only in the Brest Fortress, but in the entire Red Army ...

The Germans decided in advance that Brest fortress will have to be taken only by infantry - without tanks. Their use was hindered by forests, swamps, river channels and canals that surrounded the fortress. (However, the Germans still had to use tanks inside the fortress, more on that below.)

Immediate task 45th division It was: the capture of the Brest Fortress, the railway bridge across the Bug northwest of the fortress and several bridges across the Bug and Mukhavets rivers inside, south and east of the fortress. In the first echelon of the division were 135th Infantry Regiment(supported by armored train №28) And 130th Infantry Regiment(without one infantry battalion, which was in the reserve of the division). By the end of the day on June 22, 1941, the division was supposed to reach the line 7-8 km from the Soviet-German border.

According to the plan of the Germans, it was to be taken within no more than eight hours.

The Germans started fighting June 22, 1941 at 3.15 am Berlin time - hit by artillery and rocket launchers. Every 4 minutes the artillery fire was shifted 100 meters to the east. At 3.19 the assault squad ( infantry company and sappers) on 9 rubber motor boats went to capture the bridges. At 3.30 another German infantry company with the support of sappers, the railway bridge across the Bug was taken.

By 0400, the assault detachment, having lost two-thirds of its personnel, captured two bridges connecting the Western and Southern islands with the Citadel (the central part of the Brest Fortress). These two islands, defended only border guards and NKVD battalion , were taken two infantry battalions also at 4:00.

At 6.23 headquarters 45th division reported to the headquarters of the corps that the North Island would soon be taken Brest Fortress. The report said that the resistance of the Soviet troops increased, with the use of armored vehicles, but the situation was under control.

However, at 8.50 fighting in the fortress continued. Command 45th division decided to bring into battle a reserve - the 133rd Infantry Regiment. By this time in the fighting were two of the five German battalion commanders were killed and the regimental commander was badly wounded.

At 10.50 headquarters 45th division reported to the command of the corps about heavy losses and stubborn battles in the fortress. The report said:

"The Russians are resisting fiercely, especially behind our attacking companies. In the Citadel, the enemy organized defense with infantry units supported by 35-40 tanks and armored vehicles. The fire of enemy snipers led to heavy losses among officers and non-commissioned officers."

Let me remind you that the state 75th reconnaissance battalion was supposed to have 16 T-38 light tanks and 13 BA-10 armored vehicles. The T-38 tanks were armed with only one 7.62 mm machine gun and had 9 mm armor (bulletproof). The BA-10 armored vehicles were armed with a 45 mm cannon and two 7.62 mm machine guns, armor 10 mm. Against infantry, these vehicles could operate quite effectively.

Regarding the total number of Soviet armored vehicles in the Brest Fortress, no Soviet data could be found. Perhaps in the fortress there was part of the armored vehicles of the second reconnaissance battalion or 22nd Panzer Division (in the fortress its rear parts were located, possibly repair).

IN 14.30 commander 45th Infantry Division Lieutenant General Schliper, while on the North Island, partly occupied by the Germans, decided to withdraw the units that had already penetrated the Central Island at nightfall, since, in his opinion, it was impossible to take the Citadel by the actions of infantry alone. General Schliper decided that in order to avoid unnecessary losses, the Citadel should be taken by starvation and constant shelling, since the railway line north of the Brest Fortress and the highway south of it could already be used by the Germans to advance to the east.

At the same time, in the center of the Citadel, in the former fortress church, about 70 German soldiers from the 3rd Battalion of the 135th Infantry Regiment were surrounded. This battalion infiltrated the Citadel from West Island in the morning, captured the church as an important stronghold, and moved to the eastern tip of Central Island, where it was supposed to link up with the 1st Battalion of the 135th Regiment. However, the 1st Battalion failed to break into the Citadel from the South Island, and the 3rd Battalion, having suffered losses, retreated back to the church.

In battles for one day June 22, 1941 45th Infantry Division during the assault Brest Fortress suffered unprecedented losses for her before - only killed 21 officer and 290 soldiers and non-commissioned officers.

Meanwhile 31st and 34th Infantry Divisions advancing to the left and to the right 45th division, advanced by the evening of June 22, 1941 by 20-25 kilometers.

June 23 from 5.00 the Germans began shelling the Citadel, while they had to try not to hit their soldiers surrounded in the church. The shelling continued all day. The German infantry strengthened positions around the positions of the defenders of the fortress.

First time against Brest Fortress German tanks were used. More precisely - captured French tanks Somua S-35 - armed with a 47 mm caliber cannon and a 7.5 mm machine gun, quite well armored and fast. There were 4 of them - which were part of armored train №28.

One of these tanks was hit by hand grenades at the North Gate of the fortress. The second tank broke into the central courtyard of the Citadel, but was hit by the guns of the 333rd regiment. The Germans managed to evacuate both wrecked tanks. The third tank was hit by anti-aircraft guns in the Northern gates of the fortress.

On the same day, the besieged on the Central Island discovered two large weapons depots - a large number of PPD assault rifles, cartridges, as well as mortars with ammunition. The defenders of the fortress began massively shelling the positions of the Germans south of the Citadel.

On the North Island, as well as from the South Island, German vehicles with loudspeakers began calling on the defenders to surrender. At 17.15, the Germans announced a halt in shelling for an hour and a half - for those who wanted to surrender. Several hundred people came out of the ruins, a significant part of them were women and children of command staff families.

With the onset of darkness, several groups of the besieged tried to escape from the fortress. As on the eve, all these attempts ended in failure - those who broke through either died, or were captured, or again took up defense.

June 24 the Germans sent a battle group, which released the encircled in the church, and then they left the Citadel. In addition to the Central Island, the eastern part of the North Island remained under the control of the defenders of the fortress. All day the Germans continued shelling.

At 16.00 on June 24, the headquarters 45th division reported that the Citadel had been taken and a cleansing of individual pockets of resistance was being carried out. At 21.40, the headquarters of the corps was informed about the capture of the Brest Fortress. However, the fighting continued.

The Germans formed combat groups of sappers and infantry, who methodically eliminated the remaining pockets of resistance. For this, explosive charges and flamethrowers were used, however June 25 the German sappers had only one flamethrower (out of nine), which they could not use without the support of armored vehicles.

June 26 on the North Island, German sappers blew up the wall of the building of the political staff school. There was taken 450 prisoners.

Only the Eastern Fort remained the main center of resistance on the North Island. According to the defector, 27th of June defended there 400 fighters and commanders headed by Major Gavrilov .

Against the fort, the Germans used the two remaining tanks from the armored train №28- French Somua tank and captured Soviet tank. These tanks fired at the embrasures of the fort, as a result, as stated in the report of the headquarters 45th division, "the Russians began to behave more quietly, but the continuous shooting of snipers continued from the most unexpected places."

On the Central Island, the remnants of the defenders, concentrated in the northern barracks of the Citadel, decided to break through from the fortress June 26 . At the forefront went a detachment of 100-120 fighters under the command of Lieutenant Vinogradov. The detachment managed to break through the fortress, having lost half of the composition, but the rest of the besieged on the Central Island failed to do this - having suffered heavy losses, they returned back. On the evening of June 26, the remnants of Lieutenant Vinogradov's detachment were surrounded by the Germans and almost completely destroyed. Vinogradov and several fighters were taken prisoner.

Attempts to break out from the Central Island continued on 27 and 28 June. They were discontinued due to heavy losses.

June 28 the same two German tanks and several self-propelled guns, returning from repairs to the front, continued to bombard the Eastern Fort on the North Island. However, this did not bring visible results, and the commander 45th division contacted for support Luftwaffe. However, due to low cloud cover that day, the airstrike was not carried out.

June 29 at 0800, a German bomber dropped a 500-kilogram bomb on the Eastern Fort. Then another 500-kg bomb was dropped, and finally a 1800-kg bomb. The fort was practically destroyed. By nightfall was taken prisoner 389 people .

In the morning 30 June the ruins of the Eastern Fort were searched, several wounded defenders were found (Major Gavrilov was not found - he was captured only on July 23, 1941). Headquarters 45th division reported on the complete capture of the Brest Fortress.

Command 45th division The Wehrmacht did not expect that she would suffer such high losses from the defenders of the Brest Fortress. In a divisional report from June 30, 1941 says: "The division took 7,000 prisoners, including 100 officers. Our losses are 482 killed, including 48 officers, and over 1,000 wounded."

It should be noted that the number of prisoners undoubtedly includes the medical staff and patients of the district hospital, and these are probably several hundred people who were physically unable to fight. The proportion of commanders (officers) among the prisoners is also indicatively small (the number of officers (commanders) taken prisoner obviously includes military doctors and patients in the hospital).

The only senior commander (senior officer) among those who defended in Brest Fortress was commander of the 44th Infantry Regiment Major Gavrilov . The fact is that in the first minutes of the war, the houses of command personnel on the North Island were subjected to shelling and shelling by rocket mortars - naturally, not as strong as the buildings of the Citadel and forts, and as a result of this shelling, a significant number of commanders were put out of action.

For comparison - during the Polish campaign in 13 days, the German 45th division, having fought 400 kilometers, lost 158 ​​killed and 360 wounded.

Moreover - total losses German army on the eastern front by June 30, 1941 amounted to 8886 killed . That is, the defenders Brest Fortress killed more than 5% of them.

And what the defenders of the fortress were about 8 thousand , and not at all a "handful", does not detract from their glory, but, on the contrary, shows that there were many heroes. More than for some reason the Soviet authorities tried to inspire.

And so far in books, articles and websites about the heroic defense of the Brest Fortress the words "little garrison" are constantly encountered. Another common option is 3,500 defenders. But let's listen to the deputy director of the memorial complex "Brest Hero-Fortress" Elena Vladimirovna Kharichkova. When asked how many of the defenders of the fortress are still alive (in 1998), she replied:

"About 300 people, and on the eve of the war in the Brest Fortress there were up to 8,000 military personnel and 300 officer families."

And her own words about the killed defenders of the fortress:

"962 buried under the slabs of the fortress".

Digit 8 thousand confirm the memoirs of General L.M. Sandalov, at that time the chief of staff 4th Army , which included 6th and 42nd divisions . General Sandalov wrote that in the event of a war in the Brest Fortress, according to the plan, only one battalion , all other units according to the plan were to be withdrawn from the fortress. However:

"Of the troops of the first echelon of the 4th Army, those stationed in the citadel of the Brest Fortress suffered the most, namely: almost the entire 6th Rifle Division (with the exception of the howitzer regiment) and the main forces of the 42nd Rifle Division, its 44th and the 455th Infantry Regiments.

I do not intend to tell here in detail about the heroic battles in the Brest Fortress. A lot of people who were there themselves, as well as writers S. S. Smirnov and K. M. Simonov, have already told about this. I will cite only two very interesting documents.

One of them is a brief combat report on the actions of the 6th Infantry Division in the first hours of the fascist attack. The report states:

“At 4:00 am on June 22, heavy fire was opened on the barracks and on the exits from the barracks in the central part of the fortress, as well as on the bridges and the entrance gates of the fortress and the houses of the command staff. This raid caused confusion among the Red Army staff, while the command staff, which was attacked in their apartments, was partially destroyed. The surviving part of the command staff could not penetrate the barracks due to strong barrage fire ... As a result, the Red Army soldiers and junior command personnel, deprived of leadership and control, dressed and undressed, in groups and singly left the fortress on their own, overcoming under artillery, mortar and machine-gun fire a bypass canal, the Mukhavets River and the rampart of the fortress. It was impossible to take into account the losses, since the personnel of the 6th division mixed with the personnel of the 42nd division. Many could not get to the conditional gathering place, since the Germans were firing concentrated artillery fire at it.

Some commanders still managed to get to their units and subunits in the fortress, but they could not withdraw the units and remained in the fortress themselves. As a result, the personnel of the units of the 6th and 42nd divisions, as well as other units, remained in the fortress as its garrison, not because they were given tasks to defend the fortress, but because it was impossible to get out of it.

And here is another document: a report from the deputy commander for political affairs of the same 6th rifle division, regimental commissar M.N. Butin.

"In the areas of concentration on alert due to the continuous artillery shelling, suddenly launched by the enemy at 4.00 on 22.6.41, parts of the division were compactly could not be taken out. Soldiers and officers arrived singly, half-dressed. From those who concentrated, it was possible to create a maximum up to two battalions. The first battles were carried out under the leadership of the commanders of the regiments, comrades Dorodny (84 joint ventures), Matveev (333 joint ventures), Kovtunenko (125 joint ventures).

Yes, I foresee objections - the first passage is written too artistically for a military report, and the second generally uses unacceptable terms for 1941 - "soldiers and officers" in relation to the Red Army soldiers and commanders of the Red Army. If there is a claim - it is not for me.

I will repeat only one thing - in Brest Fortress not a "handful of fighters" fought, but thousands of heroes . And the fact that many of them were captured does not detract from them. feat .

Orders and medals were awarded to about 200 defenders of the Brest Fortress, only two received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union - Major Gavrilov and Lieutenant Kizhevatov (posthumously) ...