Heroes of Brest Fortress

On the frontier, a mile and a half from Brest stands an old Russian fortress.

Before the Great Patriotic War (World War II) it was used mainly as a barracks and a supply base. On the night of June 22, 1941 the fortress was manned by only a small garrison, all the main units were in training camps for the summer. Thanks to their numerical superiority and the advantage gained by a surprise attack, the Germans quickly overran Brest and advanced into the hinterland.

But some weeks after the outbreak of war rumors began to penetrate the front-line that far back in the enemy rear the heroic garrison of Brest Fortress was still fighting. The rumors were brought by officers and men who had fought their way out of encirclement, and from the bomber crews making night raids into enemy-held territory, who in the region of Brest saw explosions and the glittering trails of tracer bullets in the darkness below them. German staff papers captured in later battles contained the following admission: "The Russians in Brest-Litovsk fought with exceptional stubbornness and determination, they displayed superb infantry training and a splendid will to resist."

In this book Sergei Smirnov, who spent many years in a tireless search for information about the immortal garrison, tells the story of the heroes of Brest Fortress who, though completely cut off from their own forces, fought to their last cartridge, their last breath without surrender.

• Author
• Sergei Smirnov

• Format
• paperback

• Pages
• 216

• Publisher
• University Press of the Pacific

• Language
• english

• ISBN
• 9780898756319

• Genres
• history

• Release date
• 2001