Brest Fortress memories and documents. The fallen defenders of the Brest Fortress and members of their families, whose names are immortalized on the slabs of the memorial complex “Brest Hero Fortress”

Sir, don't be foolish! I'm from Brandenburg!!! - the bandit almost shouts in a shrill, hysterical voice.

But always welcome, shit from Zhmerinka! - Lerman says, dismissing him like an annoying fly. - Vi, Mr. Ponosenko, the main thing is don’t get too excited... relax, drink some cold water.

The saboteur falls silent, breathing like a fired horse.

What is this? Why are you wincing? - Lerman asks affectionately. “Does your hand still hurt, your Petlyura face?” Unfortunately, I can’t help you now! Because, according to the Decree, criminal cases of spies, saboteurs and terrorists are considered within 24 hours. Four hours have already passed!

Or maybe to the doctor, sir? - the saboteur asks, cradling his injured limb, with hidden hope.

Where are you going, my dear, to the doctor? - Lerman says in the same quiet, gentle voice, as if talking to a seriously ill person. - After all, we also need to convene a Special Meeting and draw up a protocol... We don’t have time before the end of the working day - after all, it’s shortened today! Oh, excuse my indiscretion, when will we dig your grave? It also takes time...

The saboteur shudders with his whole body, and, instantly forgetting about his broken arm, looking ingratiatingly into the detective’s eyes, he says:

Officer sir, don't go to the grave! I’ll say everything... I’ll say everything!

Well, what can you tell me, besides lyrical childhood memories? - Lerman is surprised. - The matter is completely clear, they took you, Mr. Ponosenko, in a Red Army uniform, with a weapon in your hands, and the whole thing is so uninteresting... So explain to me, a stupid, shaggy Jew, why didn’t we issue you a ticket to the Mogilev province? must?

The hefty saboteur slides off the stool and crawls to the table, sobbing. Lerman looks at this performance with one eyebrow raised ironically.

Everything, everything, everything, I don’t want to listen to anything! - the detective says mockingly. The saboteur, without getting up from the floor, begins to howl. - Oh, how stubborn you are, Vovochka is just a second-year student! Okay, okay, get up off your knees already. Well, okay, okay... we still have five minutes... I'll be back now, wait...

Lerman goes out into the corridor, looks into the next room - there is a young lady with headphones on perhydrol curls behind a typewriter.

Mashenka, are you ready to record? - Lerman’s small-town accent instantly evaporates. - The client, glory to the work, has definitely flown!

Ready, Isaac Abramovich! - the young lady nods. - How did you… once! And they split it! I didn't even have to hit him!

Oh, come on, Mashenka, you know me - I’m not a villain! - Lerman smiles. - In general, I am a civilian, a Minsk history teacher... last school year... I was.

...

The open safe has a bunch of paper ash... on a piece of charred cardboard there is an overprint in black font “Sov. secret..."...

In the corner behind the safe - sitting on the floor, leaning the back of his head, torn apart by a bullet, against the blood-stained wall, Lerman presses to himself with his left hand a secret young lady with a black mouth of the entrance hole at the curly blond temple, in his right hand - a revolver is tightly clamped...

There is a smile on the detective's dead lips. He managed to do everything on time, exactly according to instructions...

Brest. Headquarters of the 11th Border Detachment

Carry on, Comrade Lerman! - Lieutenant General Bogdanov, Chief of the Belarusian Border District Troops, encourages the detective. - What else did this Ponosenko show?

Sitting at a small side table, Lerman now looks completely different from the typical “nerd” whose image he demonstrated during interrogation. Isaac is strict, smart, dressed in a smart carpet tunic, even instead of glasses - pince-nez without rims, like Lavrenty Pavlovich.

Yes, yes, general,” Lerman nods and, glancing briefly at the interrogation report, continues to report by heart, from memory. - According to the testimony of a detained Abwehr agent, main task the next day preceding the German attack on the Soviet Union, for the specified reconnaissance group there were measures to block funds wired communication, including Baudot and HF.

Bogdanov takes out cigarettes, but without lighting a cigarette, begins to tap the cigarette holder on the box.

Other tasks were: the destruction of the com and political personnel of the Red Army living in the city of Brest, preventing the said persons from entering their units due to a large gathering or alarm, reports Lerman. - First of all, this concerns pilots, tank crews, and senior commanders of the Red Army. After the start of hostilities, the task was to destroy and replace road signs, organize traffic jams, and direct Red Army transport columns in the wrong direction. The connection with the troops of the German Wehrmacht was planned at 18:00 on June 23 of this year in the area of ​​the Yaselda River.

They walk widely... - Bogdanov chuckles.

That's right, general! - Lerman responds. - Further. As the detained Ponosenko testified, the deputy head of the 2nd department of the Abwehr service, Oberst-Lieutenant Eduard Stolz, personally instructed the leaders of Ukrainian nationalists, German agents Melnik and Bandera to organize, immediately after the German attack on the Soviet Union, provocative riots in Ukraine, with the aim of undermining the nearest rear Soviet troops. And also in order to convince international public opinion about the supposed disintegration of the Soviet rear. The detainee testified that he knew that his close acquaintance, the head of intelligence of Ukrainian nationalists, a certain Sushko, was allegedly preparing a rebellion in the city of Lvov.

B-bitches! - the general exhales through clenched teeth. The unlit cigarette crumbles in your fist. - So they decided to organize riots... Well, well...

The detainee also testified that German agents in the near future have the task of seizing a railway tunnel and bridges near the city of Vilna,” Lerman continues to report, glancing briefly at the protocol again. - And the German sabotage groups have the task of capturing bridges across the Dvina River on the night of June 22, and must hold them until the German troops approach. The detainee himself is subordinate to Wehrmacht Colonel Lahousen and is a voluntary assistant in the first company, in the so-called “Nachtigall” company, this is “Nightingale” in Russian, since the personnel of Ukrainian nationalists really like to sing in chorus...

Well, just like Pyatnitsky’s choir,” Bogdanov grins.

“That’s right, general,” Lerman nods. - So these same choristers, the Nachtigal company, are part of the special regiment Brandenburg-800. According to Ponosenko, thirty paratroopers from this regiment were sent to Brest. And from forty-five to sixty former subjects of Poland and the Baltic states (Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians). The indicated divisions are described for twenty-five specific objects. In particular, the “2-A-Z” unit, which included the detainee, was supposed to go up to the attic of residential building No. 5 of the DNS of the Brest garrison and on June 22 at 4 o’clock Berlin time begin the physical liquidation of the commanders and members of their families living there , including women and children.

Children... Why children?! - Bogdanov is amazed.

I don’t know, dude general,” Lerman shakes his head. - The logic of the enemy is incomprehensible to me.

Study, Isaac Abramych, study better! - Bogdanov smiles sadly. - You need to know your enemy inside and out!

Yes, it’s better to study, general! - Lerman nods, makes a note in his notebook and continues his report. - Further. All members of the Brandenburg Regiment, former foreign Germans, are fluent in Russian. The unit is equipped with uniforms and weapons of the Red Army. Moreover, the items are absolutely authentic. The tunics and breeches we removed from the corpses of saboteurs even had manufacturer's labels on them.

Wow, what neat people... - notes Bogdanov.

It’s the general’s fault, but German neatness will let them down! - says Lerman and takes out a small package from a worn leather briefcase. The package contains documents of the saboteurs. - Please note, general, this is a Red Army book from one of those killed during detention. Made very professionally, at an excellent printing level, in compliance with all requirements for military personnel identification cards. Our commanders have exactly the same... almost... only our paper clip is made of steel wire. When you carry your ID in your pocket for a long time, sweat and water cause the paper clip to rust and stain the paper. And the spy has a paper clip made of STAINLESS steel wire. And it doesn’t stain the paper at all!

There's a brand on my forehead - I'm a spy! - Bogdanov chuckles.

...

Special message from the border troops of the NKVD of the BSSR: “In the zone of the 10th Army, a group of saboteurs crossed the state border. Of these: 2 were killed, 2 were seriously wounded, 3 (Ukrainian emigrants) were captured.”

Brest Fortress. North Island. House of Commanding Staff No. 5

At the stadium next to the house - Red Army soldiers, in identical blue T-shirts, with identical haircuts, are excitedly kicking a soccer ball.

At the entrance to the entrance of a three-story red-brick house, under a red tiled roof, a boy in short pants, with his armpits crossed behind his back, and a girl in a Panama hat and a white sundress are sitting on a bench.

And I have a nail in my pocket! - the boy says importantly.

And we have a guest on our roof! - the girl answers almost in rhyme.

What other guest? - the boy is surprised.

Military, what else! - the girl answers judiciously. “Mom and I were climbing into the attic to hang laundry, and he was sitting there.” Mom was scared of him at first, and then she talked to him and laughed. He gave me a button. Look, there are letters!

The boy carefully examines the gift and wrinkles his forehead.

But the letters are not Russian... - the boy mutters under his breath and decisively takes the button from his sister.

Give-a-ay, give-a-ay, my button! - the girl roars.

At this moment, a three-axle ZiS-5, with border guards in green caps and an ABC-36 in their hands, stops at the entrance, squeaking its brakes...

The cab door swings open and Lerman jumps onto the asphalt. He smiles welcomingly at the children and asks affectionately:

Kids, do you happen to live here?

The boy comes closer and, menacingly frowning his whitish eyebrows, answers clearly, in a military, commanding voice:

We are not your children, but the children of Captain Prokhorenko! - And then he asks no less sternly: - Who are you? - Carefully, sniffling, he studies the ID card handed to him... he looks up at the buttonholes and smiles white-toothed: - I see. EN-KA-VE-DE?

Well, I almost guessed,” Lerman answers with a kind smile.

Then, uncle, I’ll tell you what... - and the boy whispers something to the attentively listening commander.

Lerman carefully examines the button, which was being squeezed by a hot boy’s palm, and says thoughtfully:

It seems that we have successfully entered... Platoon, to the car! And you kids, come on, run to the stadium and watch the football!

...

A dark corridor... An open door, half torn from its hinges... A woman in a hastily thrown on robe, in her hands children's things, froze in a pool of blood on the floor, with her last movement trying to cover the little girl with herself, in whose eyes mortal horror was frozen.

Brest. Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. Office of the first secretary of the regional committee

- ...And then the surviving state border violator jumped from the attic into the courtyard of the house, where he was scalded from head to toe with boiling water by the wife of Red Army captain Zubachev, who at that moment was about to soak in a basin outerwear husband Due to this, the said violator was detained without resistance by the task force of the “neighbors,” that is, the Directorate of the NKGB of the BSSR, reports the chief regional department NKVD BSSR senior major Frumkin. - Gutted... excuse me, hastily interrogated using methods of physical coercion permitted by the Resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in relation to spies, saboteurs and saboteurs, the detained Krysenko confirmed that on June 22, at 4 o'clock Berlin time, in the Brest sector, German troops would commit a massive attack using tanks, artillery and aircraft.

Hmmm... How did they get through the button, huh? - thoughtfully twirling a button with foreign letters in his hands, says the first secretary of the regional committee, Tupitsyn.

Well, you didn’t screw up, Comrade Tupitsyn! - Frumkin chuckles. - On the uniform of both destroyed terrorists and on the uniform of those detained alive, all buttons bear domestic markings. Through an emergency check, with the involvement of employees of the Special Department of the 6th Infantry Division, we were able to establish that a native and resident of Chisinau, Red Army soldier Andrei Bolfu, a native and resident of Chisinau, was talking in the attic with Captain Prokhorenko’s wife in the attic. On the sleeves of Bolf's tunic and on the fly of Bolf's breeches, buttons with Latin markings, which he had sewn on his own without permission, were actually found to be of a non-statutory type.

General Bogdanov, present in the office, smiles reservedly.

Hastily interrogated using methods of physical coercion permitted by the Resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in relation to spies, saboteurs and saboteurs, Frumkin continues, the detainee Bolfu testified that he had visited the attic of CSN No. 5 for the purpose, as he stated, of collecting souvenirs. During a search in his duffel bag, women's trousers with a fleece of size fifty-eight and a bra of size five were found, confidently identified by the wife of Red Army captain Comrade Zubachev as her personal belongings...

Bogdanov laughs quietly, Tupitsyn turns his head in bewilderment.

Bolfu’s involvement in foreign intelligence services is currently being worked out, Frumkin continues to report. - The scoundrel has already confessed to his connections with the Romanian Siguranza, as well as with the intelligence services of Horthy Hungary, Imperial Bulgaria and the feudal Grand Duchy of Liechtenstein...

Bogdanov and Tupitsyn looked at each other and smiled knowingly.

But Bolfa knows nothing about the German attack on the USSR! - Frumkin finishes.

Well, with this... Bessarabian rabbit, everything is clear to me personally! - Bogdanov says, wiping away the tears that came out from laughter. - But what really worries me is the testimony of the detained bandits... Is it really a large-scale provocation, like at Khalkhin Gol?

But there is still no connection with the district,” Tupitsyn says quietly.

How is it not? - Bogdanov is dumbfounded. - And along the lines of the NKPS?

Tupitsyn shakes his head negatively.

Also no? - Bogdanov asks again. - And on the radio?

There have been no codes for three months now,” Frumkin shrugs. - They didn’t approve.

And who didn’t approve? - Bogdanov narrows his eyes thoughtfully. - Comrade Pavlov?

Tupitsyn and Frumkin nod synchronously.

Well, no way... whatever! Comrade Frumkin, it seems to me that there is room for your department to work here... But what should we do, huh? What if you use “chauffeurs”? It was - it wasn’t! Under my responsibility... Let them gently touch the adversary by the udder...

Issue a written order, Comrade General! - Tupitsyn says decisively. - I, as a member of the military council, will also sign!

Kobrin

The commander of the 4th Army, General Korobkov, managed to get through to the District headquarters through Pinsk. I asked the chief of staff of the Klimovsky District to give permission to withdraw at least divisions from the Brest garrison to combat areas. Received a categorical refusal.

“It’s signed, off your shoulders!”

And Korobkov and the Chief of Staff of the Army, Major General Sandalov, go to the performance of the Belarusian Operetta Theater “The Gypsy Baron”.

Meanwhile, member of the Military Council, Military Commissar Shlykov and his head of the political propaganda department are leaving for Brest - for a concert of Moscow pop artists...

Minsk

The commander of the Western Front (not the District, but since yesterday - the Front), Army General Pavlov, is not at the front GKP, but in the Minsk District House of the Red Army. Enjoying the operetta “Wedding in Malinovka”...

Next to him is the first deputy commander, Lieutenant General I.V. Boldin.

They like operetta, Popandopulo is especially amused...

Suddenly, the head of the intelligence department of the Western Front headquarters, Colonel S.V. Blokhin, appears in the box. He leans over Pavlov’s ear and whispers something...

What nonsense! This can't be true! - Pavlov mutters irritably.

The intelligence chief shrugs and leaves.

Some kind of nonsense... - Pavlov says in a low voice, leaning towards Boldin. - Intelligence reports that there is supposedly a lot of anxiety at the border. German troops, supposedly, brought to full combat readiness and even began shelling certain sections of our border. Listen, do something about this alarmist so that he doesn’t bother me anymore! [Genuine dialogue. Taken from the published interrogation of Pavlov, arrested on July 7, 1941, and the testimony of witness Boldin.]

Brest Fortress. West Island. District driving school of border troops

...

Nobody knows anything about this school, located on the very edge of Soviet land, surrounded on three sides by neighboring territory. Only the surviving witnesses of the heroic defense of the fortress unanimously remember that there was no garage, no race track, or training cars in this school... Apparently, the evil Stalinist regime forced future drivers to learn exclusively from pictures. And when early in the morning a German assault force burst into the Western Island, three times the number of school personnel, every single fascist was destroyed by the drivers in hand-to-hand combat... what an interesting “driving school” it was...

The head of the driving school, military technician of the first rank, Bezugly, looks with interest at the wet to the skin German non-commissioned officer... The picture deserves attention - on the bound German, mooing through a gag, with his eyes bulging, there is a Kaiser’s helmet with a pike! [True story.]

Well, where, soldiers, did you catch this clown? - Bezugly, interrupting his contemplation for a second, is curious.

There were three of them there - the MG-34 crew. Directly directed at us, at mark 145, the eldest of the two cadet “drivers”, Sergeant Mikhail Myasnikov, a short, sturdy man in overalls, pulls out wet golden books from his breast pocket. - We drowned the soldiers out of sin, and the eldest - on our shore. There are no border police on the adjacent side, the checkpoint is empty, that’s why the German dogs haven’t barked for two days.

In general, the Germans in the coastal bushes are like dirt! - adds the second “driver”, Corporal Kolpakov. - Sappers are pulling boats, here and here... - Kolpakov shows places on the map. - The Germans don’t dig trenches, they bivouac. And it seemed like they were having nothing other than... a party meeting - the officers were reading something out loud to the personnel.

Good! - Bezugly nods. - So, guys, call from the German office and quickly bring a hot iron - you see, our guest is completely chilled, we need to dry his uniform...

Undress? - Myasnikov pretends to be a fool.

No, we’ll dry it directly on it! - Bezugly grins wryly. - Oh, why did he shake his head? You don't want an iron, do you? Are you going to talk, comrade?

I applied a bandage to form a scab; the exit hole was already dry in the previous position when I was lying on my back. I felt saved and went on a journey into the magnificent land of dreams. The terribly hot day was gradually sunset, and a cheerless night invaded the battlefield, tired from the struggle.

At night, the terrible artillery fire howled again and again, seemingly never wanting to end, and sharp shots sounded abruptly in the deep darkness. I have never looked forward to the coming day with more burning impatience. The dear sun, however, understood this in its own way, rising too high above us again, and the heat increased to the point of unbearability. I took bread and cheese from the backpack of the deceased non-commissioned officer and began to occupy myself with getting a small snack. I divided the rations exactly so as to last from 4 to 5 days, since after all the troubles I had no desire to die from hunger.

Source: Gschopf R. “Mein Weg mit der 45 Infanterie Division” Linz, 1955, s.155.

No. 59. “A few pages from the history of the 33rd engineering regiment” (memoirs of senior sergeant, commander of a platoon of the assigned personnel of the company of the assigned personnel of the 33rd separate engineering regiment (district subordination) Ivan Ivanovich Dolotov (events 22.06.41-24.06.41).

On the night of June 22, 1941, about half of the regiment was on the territory of the fortress. A large team on the night shift at the construction of a bunker at Fort Berg. Regimental school in the camp.

As a result of a sudden hurricane attack by artillery and aviation, catastrophic destruction of the barracks and other buildings occurred in the fortress. Many were killed and wounded. Stone buildings and ground were burning. Upon a combat alert, the unit on duty, Lieutenant Korotkov, lined up the available personnel in the corridor and ordered: take up defense at the windows of the first floor of the barracks (In the restored premises of the barracks of the 33rd departmental engineer regiment, a museum is currently located memorial complex Brest Fortress is a hero.)

The regiment commander did not appear. The messengers sent to his apartment did not return. The bridge connecting the citadel and the North Island was blocked by German fire. According to the testimony of an ordinary technical company Ivanov (living in Leningrad), Smirnov appeared at the technical company location (southern casemates of the Northern Island) immediately as artillery preparation began, then, accompanied by Ivanov, he headed from the fortress through the Northern Gate to the regiment's warehouses located 1 km from the fortress . At one of the warehouses, Major Smirnov placed a fuse with a fuse into a previously prepared and camouflaged explosive charge and blew up the warehouse with its contents. The major said that this completed his first and most important task. They never returned to the fortress. And other commanders who wanted to get to their units did not come from the city. The path was cut off by the Nazis who surrounded the fortress. Several units of the 6th and 42nd divisions of the 4th Army were surrounded. During the first day of defense of the fortress, each unit conducted independent fighting against the Germans, mainly repelling continuous attacks by infiltrated assault groups armed exclusively with machine guns, hand grenades, flamethrowers, and mortars. In the 33rd engineer. The regiment was commanded by pom. Chief of Staff N.F. Shcherbakov and ml. ley-t Prusakov V.I.

At approximately 10.00 in the morning, two messengers from the 84th joint venture arrived to us with an order from regimental commissar E.M. Fomin. attack the church (in the center of the fortress) and knock out the fascists who broke through the destroyed Terespol Gate. They launched an attack simultaneously from 4 directions: 84 joint ventures, 333 joint ventures, 44 joint ventures, 455 joint ventures and the 33rd engineer. regiment. Our fighters were led by Lieutenant. Shcherbakov N.F. They advanced in detachments of 25-30 people, commanded by: Art. Sergeant Dolotov I.I., Sergeant Yakimov N.D., Corporal Dukart. Prusakov V.I. that day he was seriously wounded in the head. At least 60% of those who went into the attack were killed and wounded. The fight in the church was hand-to-hand combat. The enemy was knocked out.

In the afternoon it turned out that the fortress was surrounded and the city was occupied by the Germans. Shcherbakov decided to blow up the safe at the regiment headquarters as a measure to preserve the secrecy of secret documents. He hid the regimental banner in the basement at the eastern end of our barracks. The descent into this basement is in the gap next to the stairs to the 2nd floor. Directly opposite the street entrance to the museum. Now the descent is sealed with a floor, under which there should be steps of a stone staircase. Penetrating into the fortress, the Germans, apparently, used very accurate information about the location of units and the layout of the premises. So, simultaneously with the church, which dominates the entire Citadel, they occupied the kitchen and dining room of our regiment, from which they took under fire control the bridge over Mukhavets, connecting the Citadel and the Northern Island at the Three-Arch (Brest) Gate. This disrupted the possibility of united actions of our combat groups in this part of the fortress. On the 2nd floor above the dining room there was a regimental headquarters room. From the windows here we fired machine guns at the church during the attack, and with opposite side along the earthen ramparts beyond the river. Mukhovets, occupied by the Nazis. The only thing separating us from the fascists in the dining room was the ceiling, and on the first floor there was a brick wall. The elimination of the Nazis in the canteen was entrusted to the sergeant of the bridge company Lerman. With a detachment of 15-20 people, he began to storm the dining room. The first attempts to throw grenades through the windows and break through the door were unsuccessful. The courage of the fighters and the selfless courage of Lerman himself, without combat experience, did not solve the problem. The group suffered heavy losses and was replenished several times. And the entire operation took place in a surrounding battle environment with artillery shelling, attacks and counterattacks. Lerman himself was wounded in the head.

To cover his attacks, 3 Degtyarev light machine guns operated. And the Nazis fought back using hand grenades and machine gun fire. The matter was further complicated by the fact that the windows in the dining room were covered with bars. We didn't have any explosives.

The next day, the Nazis tried to knock us out of other rooms on the first floor. Even at night they concentrated under the high bank of Mukhavets and at dawn they began throwing hand grenades at us through the windows. Their first rush to the windows was repulsed. But everyone noticed that the German grenades, falling into the room, did not explode within 5-6 seconds. Then mattresses were laid on the floor to soften the repulsion of the grenade when it fell, and there was enough time to throw them back. In those conditions it seemed not so difficult and scary. Only here I believed what I myself had not believed before, when I read about the same actions in the fight against the Japanese on Lake Khasan. In one of the counterattacks, a group of fascists near the shore was destroyed, many of them drowned, retreating to Mukhavets.

On June 24, a single defense management headquarters was created for the entire Citadel. Captain Zubachev I.N. was appointed commander. - assistant commander of the 44th joint venture for economics, commissar - regimental commissar of the 84th joint venture E.M. Fomin. The headquarters included: Art. Lieutenant Semenenko A.I., office. beginning headquarters 44th joint venture, political instructor P.L. Koshkarov, lieutenant A.A. Vinogradov - head. chem. 455 sp.

The headquarters was located in the barracks of the 33rd department. Eng. regiment - he defined the tasks of the garrison: defense until the situation changed. There was no contact with any units outside the Citadel. Every day at 12 o’clock the Germans stopped shelling and through powerful loudspeakers announced the capture of the cities of Grodno, Baranovichi, Molodechno, Minsk... They offered to surrender! In case of resistance, they threatened to destroy them with “fire and sword”! No one, of course, took their messages on faith. We were convinced of our victory and expected a big counter-offensive. It was decided to conduct reconnaissance in force with the aim of breaking out of the fortress. Lieutenant Shcherbakov was appointed one of the commanders of the breakthrough group. The reason for the breakthrough was the sounds of fierce battle in the direction of Brest. In the fortress they were perceived as attempts to break through the ring of our encirclement from the city, where the headquarters of the 28th Rifle Corps under the command of General V.S. Popov was based. The sortie was supposed to be made on the night of June 26 in the direction of the Kobrin Gate. To successfully cross the Mukhavets bridge, it was necessary to destroy the Nazis in the dining room. After the first failures, they decided to enter the dining room through the 2nd floor - by blowing up the ceilings. They collected a pile of hand grenades, covered them with mattresses on top and blew them up. The soldiers of Sgt. jumped into the hole formed in the floor, into the space of smoke and dust. Lerman. The stunned fascists did not have time to resist. Some of them were killed, about 10 were taken prisoner. By order of Fomin, after interrogation, they were locked in a storeroom under the stairs, and shot when our situation turned out to be hopeless. On the night of the 25th, Captain Zubachev allowed Lerman and a group of volunteers of 20-26 people to try to leave the fortress. None of them returned. On the 26th, 2 detachments of 30 people crossed Mukhavets around 12 at night (some crossed by swimming). Having walked about 200 meters along the earthen ramparts, we came across heavy German fire. Chandeliers hung in the air from parachutes, illuminating the entire area with bright light. The Germans seemed to be waiting for us, we lay down, firing back. The tracers of a machine-gun barrage were pressed to the ground. Moans of the wounded, cries for help and desperate requests to be relieved of excruciating pain. No command was heard. The shooting either died down, or after individual rifle shots bursts of machine gun fire appeared. By morning, I, among 5-6 people, managed to return to the barracks; some of our group were wounded. The rest died - among them Lieutenant Shcherbakov. As it turned out later, the battle in the “side of the city” (as it seemed to us) was not an attempt to break through to us, but a fierce defense of the Eastern Fort, led by Major Pyotr Mikhailovich Gavrilov, commander of the 44th joint venture of the 42nd division. After the war he was awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union.

No, I’m from Bobruisk... - not understanding the NKVD officer’s reasoning, Mokhnach answered.

Yeah! - Lerman was delighted. - This explains a lot! Wait, wait... - the State Security Sergeant thought for a moment. - Let me guess! The foreman at the Ruzhsklad secretly handed you this amazing miracle of hostile technology, and said about the cartridges that they would definitely be at the end of the next quarter?

Yes... it was so... - Mokhnach answered, briefly surprised by the insight of the representative of the authorities.

Excuse me, but didn’t he call you a helmet? - Lerman smiled.

Yes, he called and said, it’s such an affectionate word, like son... - Mokhnach admitted innocently.

It’s because of idiots like this foreman that we Jews are called Jews... - Lerman shook his head sadly. - Well, okay... In short, I understood everything about the pistol myself, and then Sergeant Major Gorobets recognized you. He saw how a week ago you, still wearing cadet buttonholes, were acting outrageously in the restaurant of the Brest-Passenger station...

Mokhnach tried to shake his head negatively, but this movement led to a new wave of dizziness. However, Lerman clearly saw the junior lieutenant’s attempt to justify himself.

How did they not act outrageously? And who peed in a tub with a palm tree? Pushkin, Alexander Sergeyevich? - Lerman chuckled menacingly.

I... this... is for a bet! - Mokhnach whispered.

Oh, for a bet... - Lerman grinned. - Eh, I wish I could warm you up... but this is the work of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Militia... the Main Directorate is completely different, and the People's Commissariat is now even completely different... Yes...

So I... is... going? - Mokhnach timidly asked, having overcome dizziness with a mighty effort.

No, my dear, I can’t let you go... - Lerman answered, and Mokhnach turned cold. - You’ll only get to the first patrol anyway! But in the morning - please! Now you can easily go out into the corridor. At the end of it, to the right, is the door to the restroom. Wash yourself, get yourself in order. Moreover, citizen Nikanorova is waiting for you, she’s already burst into tears...

What Nikanorova? - Mokhnach was scared.

Like what Nikanorova? - Lerman glanced briefly at the arrest report. - And Klavdia Zakharovna, born in 1925, Russian, Komsomol member, tenth grade student at school No. 13, by the way - not married... Go already, oh my gosh...

And the old, 25-year-old Bloody Berie executioner Lerman grinned slyly...

Kobrin, Levanevsky street, building 33. Headquarters of the 28th Rifle Corps

In the courtyard of the headquarters there are army vehicles, the commandant's platoon of the 333rd Infantry Regiment is loading boxes and cabinets with staff documents into them...

Dima, what the hell is this? Where are they taking us at night? - Sergeant Alekseev addresses his direct superior - platoon commander, Senior Sergeant Danilin.

Vanya, I don’t understand anything myself, but they say,” Danilin lowers his voice to a whisper, “the situation on the border is alarming... So the headquarters moves to the corps’ command post, to a grove near Zhabinka. Well, you were there, digging dugouts...

What should I do now?

Find the foreman and together with him get dry food for the platoon... For how many days? Hm-hm... In the forties, in the summer, the circumferential maneuvers lasted three days, so take it with a reserve - five days... It should be more than enough!

...

The same yard - but with flaming cars... The hot wind carries sheets of paper in the air - no longer needed by anyone, staff documents of a non-existent, dead headquarters...

Near the burning wheel of the staff van lies something shapeless, bloody, that you don’t even want to look into...

Brest. 62nd Fortified District. 18th separate machine gun and artillery battalion, 1st battery

...

Pillboxes of the Brest Ur... We know how your life began, how you were born...

Two-story... Machine-gun and artillery, with three or five embrasures, designed by the great military engineer Karbyshev, built taking into account the most modern experience...

Thickness of reinforced concrete walls: up to 1.8 meters, ceilings: up to 2.5 meters, withstanding hits from a 500 kg bomb or an 8-inch howitzer shell... armed, created by the brilliant Grabin, with unique casemate 76-mm cannons and “forty-fives”, coaxial with machine guns DS.

Everything was there: intelligently thought out, carefully and reliably built - from the barracks and ammunition storage to the artesian well and sanitary unit - shower and toilet...

We know how you were built, how you were equipped, how your personnel trained. We do not know and will never know how you died. We only know that your death was heroic!

The battery commander, Captain Frolykh, and the battery foreman, Sasha Lukashenko, quickly enter the barracks.

Get up! Attention! - Sergeant Vladimir Osaulenko commands the personnel on duty. - Comrade commander, during the time...

Stand down, sergeant! - The captain shrugs off the report. - Raise your personnel. An order was received to begin loading the bunker with ammunition and food. Immediately.

Tova-a-arish commander, that’s what they planned from Monday... - The sergeant doesn’t exactly argue, he kind of “reminds” the commander.

Sergeant, I’m actually aware... - the captain chuckles. - Only this is not a collective farm meeting for you, but the Red Army. Follow the order!

That’s why I love our Red Army - because you never get bored with it... - Sergeant Major Lukashenko says quietly to the side. “First we’ll lie down and lie down, and then we’ll push and pull…” and he adds out loud: “Comrade commander, why are we in such a hurry?” Let’s get it right in the morning, in the brightest way... I’ll just sprinkle the pasta in the dark, they’ll definitely shake the vegetable oil, I’m not even talking about buckwheat...

From the book "Memory".

ABDURAKHMANOV Salekh Idrisovich, b. in 1920 in Irkutsk, drafted into the Red Army on 10/12/1940 by the Lenin RVC in Grozny, cadet of the regimental school of the 44th joint venture, died in June 1941.

ABYZOV Vladimir Nikolaevich, R. in 1919 in Noginsk, Moscow region, drafted into the Red Army on December 15, 1939 by the Noginsk RVC, deputy. political instructor of the 1st company of the 37th department. communications battalion, died 06/27/1941.

From a letter from a former fellow soldier, reserve lieutenant colonel Anatoly Egorovich Andreenkov:
“...they defended the fortress until June 25. On the night of June 25-26, the group, which included Volodya, under the command of junior lieutenant Petukhov, began to leave the fortress. It was decided to cross the dilapidated bridge to the other side of the river. During the crossing, the Nazis noticed them and opened hurricane fire from machine guns and machine guns. Lieutenant Petukhov ordered the group to split into two and set the task: one group continues to cross, and the other will cover its retreat across the bridge. Afterwards the second group should leave. Here Abyzov and I were separated. I ended up in the first group and crossed to the other side of the river. From there, I and other fighters opened fire to cover the retreat of the second group. Only three people from the second group managed to get to us. Volodya was not among them. One of the comrades who stayed with us said that he ran out of ammunition and was left on the other side with a grenade. In parting he said: “You cross over, I won’t give my life away cheaply.” Afterwards we heard several grenade explosions and machine gun fire on the other side of the river. This is how Sergeant Abyzov died.”
Heroes of Brest. Mn., 1991, p. 116-119.

Avakyan Gedeon Arsenovich, R. in 1919 in the village. Yeghvart of the Kafan district, Armenia, drafted into the Red Army on 2/23/1939 by the Kafan RVK, sergeant, no. platoon commander of the 84th joint venture, died 6/23/1941.

AVANESOVA-DOLGONENKO Nina Ignatievna, R. in 1923 in Baku, the wife of Lieutenant Avanesov Rafail Gaevich, company commander of the 84th joint venture, died on June 22, 1941.

AGAGULYAN Arshavir Arzumanovich, R. in 1918 in the village. Chakaten, Kafan district, Armenia, drafted into the Red Army on 23.2.1939 by the Kafan RVK, veterinary assistant of the 84th joint venture, died on 26.6.1941.

AKIMOCCHKIN Ivan Filippovich, R. in 1910 in the village of Krutoye, Ignatovsky s/s, Lyudinovsky district, Kaluga region, drafted into the Red Army in 1931 by the Lyudinovsky RVK, lieutenant, chief of staff of the 98th department. anti-tank artillery battalion, died 4/7/1941.

...Lieutenant Akimochkin He was always in the most difficult areas of defense, inspiring the fighters by personal example. And when a new column of attackers moved to the position, he passed the order down the chain: “Don’t shoot without a command!” The Nazis went to full height and, without aiming, fired from machine guns. There were many, many of them, and they were getting closer. When the attackers approached grenade throwing range, the defenders met them with friendly volleys, machine-gun fire and grenades. The attack failed and the enemy rolled back again.
This is how the first day of defense passed. The division's soldiers held firm in the following days.
...On June 27, senior political instructor N.V. Nesterchuk died. Together with Lieutenant Akimochkin, he led the battle in repelling the Nazi attack from the highway. In a fierce battle on the rampart, the senior political instructor was killed by an enemy grenade.
Lieutenant Akimochkin continued to lead the defense. The soldiers loved their commander. He was broad-shouldered, fair-haired, a real Russian hero, and distinguished by his courage. In critical situations, the artillerymen did not take their eyes off their chief of staff and more than once saved him from certain death. From the memoirs of former private of the 98th OPTAD M. S. Dubinin: “Having repelled the attack, a group of division fighters in an open area came under mortar fire. They lay down in craters. And when the shelling stopped, they saw the Nazis nearby. The soldiers jumped up at once and, without waiting for the command, shouted “hurray” and rushed at the dumbfounded Nazis. The lieutenant overtook the fighters, took aim at the nearest fascist, but there was no shot - the clip was empty. Then Akimochkin hit him with all his might with the handle of his pistol. The artillerymen arrived in time and disarmed the enemy soldiers.”
...It was the 12th day of defense. There were only a few fighters left alive in the division, and even those could hardly move their legs from hunger and thirst. The guns were knocked out, the shells were exhausted, every cartridge counted. The soldiers settled in the barracks and, under the leadership of Lieutenant Akimochkin, continued to offer stubborn resistance. The forces were unequal, and the moment came when the fascists burst into the room. A final hand-to-hand fight ensued. The Nazis captured the wounded and shell-shocked Lieutenant Akimochkin.
The big soldier searched the lieutenant and took a party card from his breast pocket: “Oh, communist!” Immediately reported to the officer. He leafed through the ticket, stared coldly into Akimochkin’s face and, distorting Russian words, suggested that the Soviet commander break with the party and abandon it.
Bleeding, Lieutenant Akimochkin contemptuously rejected the vile proposal. The fascists shot the defiant communist. In the fall of 1942, in occupied Brest, the Nazis brutally killed the children of I. F. Akimochkin - six-year-old Vova, four-year-old Anya and his wife’s mother. He died at the age of 31, a glorious death as a warrior, patriot, and communist. His posthumous award is the order Patriotic War 1st degree - now kept in the museum.
Heroes of Brest. Mn., 1991. pp. 180-181.

AKSENOV Sergey Emelyanovich, R. in 1919 in the village. Nikolskoye, Sapozhkovsky district, Ryazan region, drafted into the Red Army in 1939, sergeant, department commander of the regimental school of the 455th joint venture, died 06/27/1941.

ANDREEV Ivan Ilyich, R. in 1919, corporal, cavalryman of the 9th border outpost of the 17th border detachment, died in June 1941.

ANOSHKIN Nikolai Ivanovich, R. in 1900 in the village of Sherstino, Gaginsky district, Gorky region, drafted into the Red Army in 1919, battalion commissar, deputy. commander for political affairs of the 333rd joint venture, died in June 1941.

ARAKELYAN Sergey Pavlovich, R. in 1919 in Anapa Krasnodar region, drafted into the Red Army in 1939 by the Novorossiysk GVK, sergeant, chemical instructor of the rifle battalion of the 333rd joint venture, died 06/23/1941.

ARKHAROV Petr Alekseevich, R. in 1921 in the village. Nikitkino, Yegoryevsky district, Moscow region, drafted into the Red Army in 1940 by the Yegoryevsky RVK, private in the sapper platoon of the 17th border detachment, died in June 1941.

ASATIANI Onisim Ivanovich, r in 1918 in Kipota, Zestafoni district, Georgia, called up in December 1939 by the Zestafoni RVK of Georgia, deputy. political instructor, deputy commander of a mortar company for the political unit of the 333rd joint venture, died in June 1941.

AKHVERDIEV Khalil Hamza-ogly, R. in 1919 in the village. Chaldash, Gadabay district, Azerbaijan. He graduated with honors from a rural secondary school, Gadabay Pedagogical College, worked as a teacher of Azerbaijani language and literature in the village. Chaldash. Drafted into the Red Army in 1939 by the Kedabek RVK, private of the 84th joint venture, died on June 22, 1941.

BABALARYAN Ashot Samsonovich, R. in 1919 in the village. Khidzorsk, Goris district, Armenia, drafted into the Red Army in 1939 by the Kafan RVK, Armenia, sergeant, squad commander of the 94th joint venture, died 06/22/1941.

BABKIN Stepan Semenovich, R. in 1898 in the Maloarkhangelsk district of the Oryol region, drafted into the Red Army in 1918, military doctor of the 2nd rank, head of the hospital of the 28th SC, died 06/22/1941.

BAGHDASARYAN Tavadi Arshakovich, R. in 1913 in the village. Shikaog, Kafan district, Armenia, drafted into the Red Army in 1939 by the Kafan RVK, Art. sergeant, squad leader of the 84th joint venture, died in June 1941.

BADYASHKIN Vasily Anisimovich, R. in 1915 in the village. Wide Buerak, Voroshilovsky district, Saratov region, drafted into the Red Army in 1937, graduated from the military-political school in Gorky in 1940, political instructor, deputy. company commander for the political unit of the 84th joint venture, died 06/23/1941.

DRUMMERS Petr Ivanovich, R. in 1920 in the Leninsky district of the Stalingrad region, drafted into the Red Army in 1940, private, horse handler of the 132nd department. battalion of NKVD convoy troops, died 06/22/1941.

BARANOV Boris Ivanovich, R. in 1920 in the village of Morozovka, Gorokhovetsky district, Vladimir region, drafted into the Red Army in 1939 by the Gorokhovetsky RVK, private, telephone operator of the communications platoon of the 132nd department. battalion of NKVD convoy troops, died in June 1941.

BARDIN Mikhail Danilovich, R. in 1913 in the village of Voronovo, Rognedinsky district, Bryansk region, drafted into the Red Army in 1940 by the Rognedinsky RVK of the Bryansk region, private, conscript doctor of the 84th joint venture, died 06/25/1941.

BAREIKO Ivan Naumovich, R. in 1914 in the village of Rakomsy, Vetrinsky district, Vitebsk region, drafted into the Red Army in 1940 by the Drissensky RVK, Vitebsk region, ml. sergeant, commander of the mine battery crew of the 3rd rifle battalion of the 44th joint venture, died in June 1941.

BARINOV Alexander Ivanovich, R. in 1920 in the village. Starkovo, Volodarsky district, Gorky region, drafted into the Red Army in 1940 by the Gorokhovets Military Commissariat of the Vladimir region, private, storekeeper of the baggage supply warehouse of the 132nd department. NKVD search convoy battalion, died in June 1941.

BASTE Ayub Vayukovich R. in 1919 in the village of Panakhes, Teuchezhsky district, Adygea, in 1940 he graduated from the Kharkov artillery school, lieutenant, platoon commander of the 84th joint venture, died 6/22/1941.

BAUCHIEV Sultan Dzhumukovich, R. in 1916 in the village of Verkhnyaya Teberda, Karachayevsky (now Mikoyanovsky) district of the Stavropol Territory, drafted into the Red Army in 1940 by the GVK of the city of Palchik, Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, private, clerk of the 45-mm cannon battery of the 455th joint venture, died 6/22/1941.

From the memoirs of a former fellow soldier, Private Matvey Dmitrievich Khristovsky:“In 1940, I was called up for active service in the Red Army. We were sent to the town of Bereza Kartuzskaya to serve in a battery of 45-mm guns of the 455th Infantry Regiment. Here we met with Sultan Bauchiev. He was a battery clerk and at the same time served as a deputy. political instructor I remember him well, because Sultan conducted political classes with us more often than others. At that time, few conscripts had a higher education. He conducted the classes in a very interesting way, accessible to us Red Army soldiers, and at a high level. He was a very good comrade, enjoyed authority and respect among soldiers and commanders.
In the spring of 1941, our unit was transferred to the Brest Fortress. This is where the war found us.
Throughout the first half of the day on June 22, we fought defensive battles, firing at the enemy’s attacking chains from all types of weapons, protecting the approaches to our barracks. Bauchiev was in our group, which took up defensive positions not far from the battery control platoon. Around sixteen or seventeen, I don’t remember exactly, the battle in our sector died down. And we decided to leave a very unfavorable line and move to the other side of Mukhavets. About five or six people, in short runs, we began to descend to the river. Here we divided into two groups so that one would cover the other at the crossing. Dressed and with weapons in their hands, the fighters, among whom was Sultan Bauchiev, jumped into the water and swam. We already thought that their crossing was successful and wanted to follow, when suddenly a machine-gun burst hit the water, fountains of spray from bullets were getting closer and closer to our comrades. Attempts to reach the enemy machine gunner were unsuccessful. It was well covered by the bridge trusses. A burst of machine gun fire covered the first group, then the second. Before our eyes, all the fighters went down...
This is how our fellow soldier Sultan Bauchiev died on the very first day of the war...”
In one of his letters, the Sultan wrote: “... I don’t have a son! This is still a major life mistake... It was necessary to leave a person who would be proud (!) that his (or her) father died the humble death of a warrior of his Fatherland!.. May 2, 1941.”
Heroes of Brest. Mn., 1991. P. 82-85.

BELOV Ivan Grigorievich, R. in 1919 in the village. Dunny, Chernsky district, Tula region, drafted into the Red Army in November 1939 by the Podolsk RVK, Moscow region, sergeant, department commander. regimental artillery batteries of the 44th joint venture, died 6/22/1941.

BELONOVICH Pavel Alexandrovich, R. in 1918, drafted into the Red Army on February 20, 1940 by the Kuibyshev RVK of Leningrad, in June 1941 - sergeant, commander of the regimental school department of the 33rd department. engineering regiment, died 6/22/1941.

BELYAKOV Vasily Pavlovich, R. in 1918 in the village of Afoninskaya, Razinsky s/s, Vologda region, drafted into the Red Army in 1938 from Leningrad, sergeant, commander of the tractor department of the engineer platoon of the 17th border detachment, died in June 1941.

IMMORTAL Pavel Pavlovich, R. in 1919 Cheerful Victory, Azov district, Rostov region, drafted into the Red Army in 1940, GVK Rostov-on-Don, sergeant, squad commander of the 125th joint venture, died 6/22/1941.

BOBKOV Alexey Maksimovich, R. in 1907 in the village. Stolbovoye, Znamensky district, Oryol region, ml. lieutenant, company commander of the 37th division. communications battalion, died 6/22/1941.

BOBKOVA Azalda Alekseevna, R. in 1939, daughter Jr. Lieutenant A. M. Bobkov, died 6/22/1941.

BOBKOVA Raisa Nikanorovna, R. in 1914 in Orel, wife of Jr. Lieutenant A. M. Bobkov, died 6/22/1941.

BOGATEEV Nikolay Semenovich, R. in 1895 in the village. Sukhovetye, Gzhatsky district, Smolensk region, in June 1918 he volunteered to join the ranks of the Red Army, battalion commissar, deputy. head of the army hospital, died 6/22/1941.

From the memoirs of Praskovya Leontievna Tkacheva, former senior officer. hospital surgical nurses:“On June 21, at about 12 o’clock in the afternoon, the commissioner of the hospital, Bogateev, called me and warned me that within two hours it was necessary to prepare the patients for departure (our hospital was relocated to Pinsk). It was necessary to prepare 80 patients for the move. On Sunday, the medical staff was supposed to follow the patients to Pinsk. By this time, some of the patients had already been transferred to the 95th medical battalion. Bogateev told me to think about who from the previous staff we would take with us. Then the commissioner went home, and I went to the May Day Park.
I returned home late. There was an unusual silence in the fortress. Before I could fall asleep, there was a terrible roar. Looking out the window, I saw that the therapeutic department was on fire. The hospital was heavily bombed. There have already been many victims. The surgical building was also destroyed. A fire was raging on the hospital grounds. The medical staff on duty began evacuating patients from hospital buildings to a safer place - casemates located in the shaft. We managed to safely transfer the first batch to these shelters. I decided to go up to the second floor. On the stairs I met the battalion commissar Bogateev. He was wounded (blood was visible on his cheek) and stunned. It turns out that Bogateev had managed to visit several departments by this time. He burned documents and organized the transfer of the wounded from the burning buildings. But before Bogateev had time to get out of the building, several Germans jumped out to meet him. Got started hand-to-hand combat. Bogateev died in an unequal battle on June 22, 1941.”
Bug is on fire. Mn., 1977. P. 52.

BOYKO Fedor Fedorovich, R. in 1908 in the city of Ordzhonikidze, military technician of the 2nd rank, chief of artillery supply of the 84th joint venture, died on June 22, 1941.

BONDAR Ivan Andreevich, R. in 1913 in the village of Khopashi, Konovalovsky s/s, Volokonovsky district, Kursk region, drafted into the Red Army in 1939 from the Moscow region, quartermaster technician 2nd rank, head of military-economic supply of the 75th department. reconnaissance battalion, died in June 1941.

BOSTASHVILI Irakli Alexandrovich, R. in 1920 in Tbilisi, drafted into the Red Army in 1940 by the Stalinist RVC in Tbilisi, private battery of the regimental artillery of the 44th joint venture, died 6/22/1941.

BYTKO Vasily Ivanovich, R. in 1907 in the village of Abinskaya, Krasnodar Territory, drafted into the ranks of the Red Army in 1931, art. lieutenant, head of the regimental school of the 44th joint venture, died on June 25, 1941. Awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, posthumously.

VAVILOV Vasily Petrovich, R. in 1914 at the Balajal mine in the Zharminsky district of the Semipalatinsk region, Kazakhstan, drafted into the Red Army on October 14, 1940 by the Zharminsky RVK, private, clerk of the machine gun company of the 1st SB of the 44th joint venture, died on June 23, 1941.

VASILIEV Pavel Vasilievich, R. in 1918 in the village of V Syatry, Morgaushsky district, Chuvashia, called up on September 27, 1940 by the Sundyrsky RVK of Chuvashia, art. sergeant, department commander motorized rifle company of the 75th division. reconnaissance battalion, died in June 1941.

VASILIEV Petr Fedorovich, R. in 1923 in the village of Suvodskaya, Balykleysky district, Stalingrad region, voluntarily in the Red Army since January 1941 (Traktorozavodsky RVK of Stalingrad), a student of the musician platoon of the 333rd joint venture, died in June 1941.

VAKHRUSHEV Kondraty Semenovich, R. in 1921 in the village of Teploukhovo, Shatrovsky district, Chelyabinsk region, in 1940 he graduated from the NKVD school in Ordzhonikidze, lieutenant, head of the 3rd reserve outpost of the 17th border detachment, died in June 1941.

VENEDIKTOV Vasily Lukyanovich, R. in 1920 in the city of Kimry, Kalinin region, called up in February 1940 by the Kimry RVC, Art. sergeant, acting deputy political instructor of the 5th rifle company of the 333rd joint venture, died in June 1941.

VENEDIKTOV Viktor Yakovlevich, R. in 1906 in the village of Konny Bor, Polotsk district, Vitebsk region, battalion commissar, deputy. commander of the 75th department reconnaissance battalion for political affairs, died in June 1941.

VETROV Grigory Vasilievich, R. in 1918, conscripted into the Red Army in 1939 by the Voroshilovsky RVK of Minsk, sergeant of the road and bridge company of the 33rd department. engineering regiment, died 6/22/1941.

VINOGRADOV Ivan Yakovlevich, R. in 1920 in the village of Krestovo, Dukhovshchinsky district, Smolensk region, drafted into the Red Army in 1939 by the Dukhovshchinsky RVK, Smolensk region, deputy. political instructor of the 84th joint venture, died 6/22/1941.

VOLKOV Sergey Vasilievich, R. in the village of Ekaterinovka, Dubensky district, Tula region, private, gunsmith, died in June 1941.

VOLOVIK Vasily Grigorievich, R. in 1916 in the Sumy region, private, driver of the transport company of the 17th border detachment, died in June 1941

VOLOKITIN Vasily Alexandrovich, R. in 1919 in the village. Milyatino, Smolensk region, drafted into the Red Army in 1940, corporal, gunner of the 98th separate anti-tank artillery division, died 6/22/1941.

Current page: 11 (book has 18 pages total) [available reading passage: 12 pages]

The remnants of the Melnikov and Cherny groups broke through to the northeastern part of the Kobrin fortification. At the same time, out of 40 people, 27 died. Having secured themselves in a casemate in an earthen rampart between the Northern and Eastern gates, the detachment continued to fight until June 28. On this day, senior lieutenant F.M. died. Melnikov, and senior lieutenant A.S. Black was shell-shocked and captured.

The last defenders of the Terespol fortification were 18 soldiers led by Lieutenant A.P. Zhdanov - they swam to the southwestern part of the Citadel. On the night of July 5-6, when 8 people remained in the group, the lieutenant decided to withdraw his detachment from the fortress and link up with units of the Red Army. Four broke through enemy barriers; two weeks later, three border guard fighters miraculously reached their troops in the Mozyr region; one, Hero of the Soviet Union M.I., reached Victory. Myasnikov.

At the beginning of hostilities, the Volyn fortification housed the district hospital, the 95th medical battalion of the 6th Infantry Division, the main part of which went to summer camps, the regimental school of the 84th Infantry Regiment, which was also taken to the artillery range the day before, squads of the 9th th border posts. On the earthen ramparts at the South Gate there was a duty platoon of the regimental school. The total number of defenders is estimated at 180 “men with guns.”

Ruins of the hospital.

As a result of artillery and mortar shelling, many hospital buildings were destroyed, fires started, and many patients were killed and injured. Medical staff and patients ran out of buildings and hid in basements and casemates of the main shaft. But in the surgical department on the second floor of the burning hospital there were many bedridden patients. The civilian nurse P.L. tried to save them until the roof collapsed. Tkachev. Head of the hospital, military doctor 2nd rank B.A. Maslov gave the order to the medical staff on duty to organize the removal of the sick and wounded to the casemates of the earthen rampart. His deputy battalion commissar N.S. Bogateev tried to organize resistance. However, this attempt was quickly stopped by soldiers who burst into the hospital territory, and in a short battle Bogateev was killed.

Patients in the surgical department, who had taken refuge in one of the casemates, opened fire. In response, grenades flew, and within twenty minutes it was all over. In another casemate, a large group of women, children and those wounded during the shelling, led by military doctor Maslov, took refuge. Putting on white robe, the head of the hospital went to the Germans and “signed the surrender.” After inspecting the premises, the Germans left Maslov’s group alone for a while, continuing their combing.

The cadets of the regimental school and the soldiers of the medical battalion under the leadership of the deputy head of the school, Lieutenant M.E. Piskarev and senior political instructor L.E. Kislitsky managed to gain a foothold in the casemates of the main shaft and in the two-story school building at the South Gate: “It became clear to everyone that the war had begun, but no one believed that it would last long. They consoled themselves with the thought that the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs would sort everything out and there would be silence. The first desire of each of us was to break through the ramparts and take refuge behind the brick wall of the Citadel. But fierce artillery fire blocked the way there. In his hands is an SVT rifle, five blank cartridges and three explosive packages. And so it is for everyone. The commanders have empty holsters.”

Nevertheless, already on June 22, the commander of the 98th artillery regiment, Colonel Welker, was wounded on the South Island, and moved his command post. And the next day, the commander of the 133rd Infantry Regiment reported that a critical situation had developed on the island and asked for an armored car. There are no armored vehicles in the division, and sappers begin to blow up individual buildings and casemates.

According to some evidence, the enemy used hospital patients and medical staff as a barrier, driving the soldiers ahead of those attacking the Kholm Gate. Deputy commander of the communications company of the 84th Infantry Regiment, Lieutenant L.A. Cochin, defending the ring barracks: “From the side of the hospital, we noticed a group of people moving in our direction. Through binoculars, German machine gunners were clearly visible, driving people in hospital gowns and civilian clothes in front of them. These were patients from the hospital and medical staff, whom the Nazis decided to use as a human barrier. They drove them in front of them, knowing that we would not shoot at our own people. The Germans shot those who resisted, the patients shouted something to us, waved their arms, and when we approached, we heard their calls to shoot, not paying attention to anything. The Germans managed to get close to the river, and there they gained a foothold. Then we went on the attack and destroyed most of them with grenades.” Private A.M. Fil claims that the enemy tried to infiltrate the Citadel in civilian clothes or under the guise of patients from the hospital, “in underwear and dressing gowns. We identified one of them; we found a machine gun under his robe.”

From point of view today- the story is unlikely. But the memoirs were written by people who suddenly turned from “traitors to the Motherland” into heroes. They wrote at a certain time and under a certain order. Therefore, on the pages of published collections and unpublished letters there are real tragic events, experienced by the participants in the defense, are intertwined with outright fantasy: flocks of enemy bombers are constantly hovering over the fortress, dozens of tanks with flamethrowers are ironing its territory, parachute landings are landing from the sky, between battles in the casemates, captured German colonels are interrogated, party meetings and Komsomol fly-outs are held, and the enemy - always a “well-fed SS man with skull and crossbones stripes on his sleeves” - runs cowardly, throwing away his weapon, from the thunderous Red Army “Hurray!”

The Germans cleared the main part of the Volyn fortification on the third day of fighting. Some defenders managed to move to the Citadel, and only a few - Kislitsky's group - escaped the ring. Most died or were captured.

Since the military operations, several defense areas have emerged at the Kobrin fortification. On the territory of this fortification, the largest in area, there were many warehouses, hitching posts, and artillery parks. The barracks, as well as the casemates of the earthen rampart, housed the personnel, and the families of the commanders were housed in the residential town. In addition, on the island there were tents of the assigned personnel of the 44th Infantry and 33rd Separate Engineer Regiments.

In the first hours of the war, part of the garrison broke through the Northern Gate to the assembly points. Commander of the 125th Infantry Regiment, Major A.E. Dulkeit, under the explosions of shells, managed to withdraw his units to the concentration area through the North-West Gate. Covering the exit from the fortress, and then defending the barracks of the 125th Infantry Regiment, was headed by battalion commissar S.V. Derbenev. In the Western Fort, a group of Lieutenant P.I. entered the battle. Davydova.

In the area of ​​​​the residential buildings of command personnel, in building No. 5, having failed to break into the location of their regiment, a group of commanders of the 125th regiment, led by battalion commander Captain V.S., entrenched themselves. Shablovsky. Women and children also found refuge here, among them the wife of the foreman from the 75th reconnaissance battalion S.I. Nozdrina: “We ran from house to house several times. In the last house where we stayed, there were military men and women. The military were in the attics and fired from there. Shablovsky was the eldest, everyone knew him and listened to him. They were armed with pistols."

From the memoirs of military doctor 3rd rank M.N. Gavrilkina: “Captain Shablovsky wanted to withdraw the remaining group of military personnel from the fortress; he believed that defense was pointless. They tried to run across to the Northern Gate, ran to the park and were fired at from a machine gun from the Northern Gate. We turned back and returned to the house. There were 20–25 of them. We went up to the attic. We sat there until evening. From the attic window we could see the bridge over Mukhavets at the Brest Gate, littered with corpses. At about 3-4 o'clock, Nazi machine gunners tried to approach the house, but they were fired upon. At night, a group of fighters from the territory of the 125th Infantry Regiment snuck into the house.”

The fighting in the area of ​​the Eastern Gate, where soldiers of the 98th separate anti-tank division fought, became intense. Its commander, Captain N.I. Nikitin, trying to bring the unit to the concentration area, gave the order to load shells and secret documents into tractors and cars. However, time was lost. As the column of vehicles with guns attached moved through the Kobrin Gate, it was met by concentrated fire from machine guns and anti-tank guns from the 1st Battalion, 130th Infantry Regiment.

Deputy battery commander Lieutenant V.S. Chesnokov: “When we got into the wedges and just crossed the gates of the Eastern Fort, the Germans met us with hurricane fire anti-tank artillery. The first cars caught fire, causing a traffic jam for three. We tried to take a detour - there was nowhere to go. We had to give the command to save ourselves, take up defensive positions in the ditch and be the last to retreat back to our fort.”

The wife of political instructor E.S. Kostyakova: “Only one tractor managed to break out of the fortress; the rest were shot down along with the cannons immediately outside the gate on the hill. Almost all of the soldiers sitting on the tractors died. I saw it myself when I left the fortress.”

As a result, it turned out that the division commander left, and most of the crews were unable to escape from the ring of fire. Chief of Staff Lieutenant I.F. Akimochkin and senior political instructor N.V. Nesterchuk, having gathered the remaining fighters, organized a perimeter defense. The defenders equipped firing positions for 45-mm cannons and machine guns on the ramparts and in front of the headquarters premises, and brought ammunition from the warehouse.

In the northeastern part of the main rampart in the area of ​​the Northern Gate, a detachment of fighters and commanders from different units fought for two days under the leadership of the commander of the 44th Infantry Regiment, Major P.M. Gavrilova. Having made his way into the fortress in the first hour of the artillery raid, he failed to withdraw his regiment and led the defense in this area. The energetic major subdued the scattered groups and, dividing them into three companies of more than a hundred people each, ordered them to take positions along the line of the main rampart and the Western Fort. Having met the commander of the 18th separate communications battalion, Captain K.F. Kasatkin, appointed him chief of staff. Having learned that many people had accumulated in the Eastern Fort, Gavrilov and Kasatkin went there. At the fort there was part of the 393rd separate anti-aircraft artillery division, a transport company of the 333rd rifle regiment, a training battery of the 98th anti-tank division, soldiers of other units - about 100 people in total. The families of the commanders also took refuge here. Gavrilov sent fifty fighters to defend the ramparts, left fifty in reserve, kept two border guards with him and quickly carried out an audit of the “economy” he had inherited. A quadruple anti-aircraft machine gun was discovered on the second floor of the inner barracks, a radio station, telephone sets, a food warehouse with an icebox, and most importantly - ammunition:

“From the soldiers of the 333rd joint venture I learned where the ammunition depot was. The door is iron, cannot be broken into. He ordered to break through the wall. They began to get weapons and ammunition from there. There was a lot - without counting. The regiment was provided with three ammunition loads. This is 360 rounds of ammunition (120 b/k) for each fighter, from 6 to 10 grenades. And we have a battalion of about 500 people. Moreover, every day 20-30 people were out of order. I gave the quad machine gun first. My soul immediately felt lighter.”

At the foot of the outer rampart there were positions of two anti-aircraft guns; slightly to the west, two anti-tank guns were installed, the crews of which were commanded by Lieutenant P.G. Makarov.

P.M. Gavrilov: “We made a staircase above the medical unit leading to the outer shaft. I climbed over the rampart to the anti-aircraft gunners - there were 60 shells per gun. He ordered direct fire at the tanks if they appeared.”

The stables of the fortification contained up to 200 horses, which caused a lot of trouble for the garrison.

The command post was established in the counter-scarp gallery. A hospital was also set up here, headed by military paramedic R.I. Abakumova. Telephone communication was carried out between departments. Trenches were dug in the earthen ramparts surrounding the fort, machine gun points were installed, and a quad machine gun mount was moved to the crest of the inner rampart to ensure all-round fire. The political instructor of the machine gun company of the 333rd Infantry Regiment S.S. was appointed commissar of the fort. Skripnik, chief of supplies - Lieutenant A.D. Domienko.

All enemy attacks on the first day were repelled. On the second day, the Germans completely captured the main rampart, the command staff's houses and tightly blocked the Eastern Fort. The bulk of the fighters of Gavrilov’s group moved into the casemates of the outer rampart of the fort. From this point on, German loudspeakers continuously broadcast calls to surrender, but these calls were invariably rejected.

In the Citadel, the largest center of resistance, by the end of the day on June 22, the command of individual defense sectors was determined. In the western part, in the area of ​​the Terespol Gate, it was headed by the head of the 9th border outpost, Lieutenant A.M. Kizhevatov, lieutenants from the 333rd Infantry Regiment A.E. Potapov and A.S. Sanin, senior lieutenant N.G. Semenov. The soldiers of the 132nd battalion were commanded by Lance Sergeant K.A. Novikov. The group of Red Army soldiers who took up defensive positions in the tower at the Terespol Gate was led by Lieutenant A.F. Naganov. To the north of the location of the 333rd regiment, in the casemates of the defensive barracks, soldiers of the 44th Infantry Regiment fought under the command of the assistant regiment commander for economic affairs, Captain I.N. Zubachev, senior lieutenants A.I. Semenenko, V.I. Bytko. At the junction with them at the Brest Gate, soldiers of the 455th Infantry Regiment fought under the command of the head of the chemical service, Lieutenant A.A. Vinogradov and political instructor P.P. Koshkarova. In the barracks of the 33rd separate engineer regiment, the combat operations were led by the assistant chief of staff of the regiment, senior lieutenant N.F. Shcherbakov, in the White Palace area - Lieutenant A.M. Nogai, “a man with an iron will and some kind of satanic endurance,” and Private A.K. Shugurov.

Defense scheme of the Brest Fortress in June – July 1941

At the location of the 84th Infantry Regiment and the Engineering Directorate building, command was assumed by the regimental commissar E.M. Fomin. A working walkie-talkie was found in one of the compartments of the barracks. The commissioner composed several coded radiograms addressed to the command, but there was no response. Then Fomin ordered to go on air in plain text: “I am a fortress, I am a fortress! We are fighting. There is enough ammunition, losses are insignificant. We are waiting for instructions..."

Lieutenant A.M. Kizhevatov (1907–1941), head of the 9th border outpost

At 5 am on June 23, a hurricane of artillery and heavy mortar fire fell on the central and southern parts of the North Island. In addition to Schlipper's cannons, mortar battalions from neighboring divisions of the 12th Corps fired at the fortress. The strikes from the Karl installation shattered the half-tower at the Terespol Gate, hit the border post building, the barracks of the 333rd Infantry Regiment, and the White Palace. The defenders of the fortress perceived the destructive effect of the unprecedented two-ton shells as explosions of heavy high-explosive bombs, although the Germans did not use aircraft. Private M.P. Gurevich recalls: “Another bombing began, so strong that it seemed that the walls of the basement were shaking and the eardrums were about to burst. Someone took out an old cotton wool, we pulled the cotton wool out of it and plugged our ears.” The basements of the 455th Infantry Regiment “swayed like baby cradles... the blast wave caused bleeding from the ears and nose...”

Until nine o'clock in the evening, systematic targeted shelling of individual objects was replaced by powerful fire raids, followed by calls for surrender transmitted by radio propaganda machines:

“Comrades! Besieged in the citadel of Brest-Litovsk! Attention attention!

The German command is contacting you last time and calls upon you to surrender unconditionally. Your situation is hopeless. Do not shed your blood needlessly, as exit from the siege is impossible. You are cut off from the rest. More than 100 kilometers separate you from them. Your troops are leaving in a hurry, several military units run away. No one will arrive to unblock you...

You fought honorably - you will be treated accordingly. You are given one hour of time to think...

Red warriors! Send envoys! Put down your weapons! Further resistance and bloodshed are pointless. Show compassion to yourself and your families!”

On this day, Efim Fomin moved his command post from the basement of the Engineering Directorate to the barracks of the 33rd Engineering Regiment. The defenders of the Kholm Gate gradually moved here. The soldiers of the 132nd NKVD battalion went into the basements of the 333rd regiment. The Commissioner, apparently, had already realized that there would be no outside help, and decided to make a breakthrough. Ivan Dolotov notes:

“On the morning of the 23rd, a man appeared in the uniform of a private, but it was clear that he was a commander. Then we found out that this was regimental commissar Fomin. Together with him there are 2-3 Red Army soldiers and one commander from the Caucasians. They delivered several heavy machine guns here, one of which was installed on the landing near the window on the Mukhavets side. From that day on, we formed a kind of headquarters for the defense of the ring barracks, a command post appeared. Fomin was always in the left wing in the corridor of the first floor.”

Medical instructor of the 84th regiment V.S. Solobozov: “Commissar Fomin ordered the defenders to move to the area at the Brest Gate. Our forces were concentrated there to break out of the encirclement.”

To cover the retreat in the area of ​​the Kholm Gate, only a few machine-gun crews remained. In one of them, the first number was the commander of the ammunition supply platoon, Sergeant Major A.I. Durasov:

“Gradually the defense moved to the barracks of the sapper and separate reconnaissance battalion. Fomin ordered two or three machine guns to delay the advance of the Germans from the side of the hospital, and all other defenders at that time were to retreat to the barracks of the engineer battalion. There were no machine gunners among the remaining fighters, so I had to fire myself... After some time, the tapes in stock were shot. The barracks are almost empty."

The wounded were left in the basement of the Engineering Department, among them the thrice wounded Komsomol organizer Matevosyan.

From the very morning, Sergeant Lerman’s group, having installed a cannon behind a round latrine (a solid brick structure, designated on pre-revolutionary plans as a “stone latrine”), tried to smoke the enemy out of the engineer regiment’s dining room: “They shot at the windows of the kitchen and dining room. The entire spent supply of shells did not produce any result, since all the shells hit the side wall of the window opening. It was also impossible to knock out the Germans with a direct attack: the windows of the room were covered with iron bars.” And indeed, the attack carried out in the afternoon along the outer wall from Mukhavets also failed. Finally, by 19:00 the problem was resolved. Some fighters broke a hole in the wall from the barracks corridor to the kitchen, while others blew up two bunches of grenades on the floor of the headquarters building, which was located on the floor above. After a short battle, some of the Germans were destroyed, and several people were taken prisoner. The path to the Three Arch Bridge was open.

But the German “methods of persuasion” also bore fruit. There was a split in the ranks of the defenders into those who were ready to stand to the end and those who decided to capitulate. Whole groups with raised hands and white rags reached out to the German positions.

According to General Schlieper's report, in the evening, after the artillery fire ceased, about 1,900 people surrendered. Thus, the garrison of the fortress was reduced by almost half, and there was simply no one to defend many areas. The first to surrender were the guards, who were called up in early June from the western regions of the country for retraining and were located in a tent camp and casemates of the Kobrin fortification. Among them were young people who had not taken the oath, and those who had previously served in the Polish army. Participants in the defense remember the “Westerners” with hostility and directly talk about treason. Thus, a fighter of the anti-aircraft company of the 84th Infantry Regiment G.P. Leurda wrote to S.S. Smirnov:

“When the war began, there was not a single officer in the fortress, they were all in the city of Brest. And our company commander ran to the fortress, swam across Mukhavets, ran into the eastern gate, and was hit by an enemy bullet. He fell in a safe place. We look - the “Westerner” is dragging his boots off. Regimental Commissar Comrade Fomin says: “Leurda, beat the bastard!” I kissed him and wounded him. When I approached him and said: “What are you doing, you bastard? You’re ripping off your brother!” I gave it to him again and finished him off, ripping him off.

Sergey Sergeevich! You probably know that in 1939 we liberated Western Ukraine from the Poles. So we call them “Westerners”. In 1941, they took the assigned personnel into the cadre regiments and sent them to us for training, and they were captured by the war in the fortress. They, these “Westerners,” betrayed our Motherland. We fought double battles: with the Germans and with them. They shot us in the back of our heads. They collected various trophies and went home. But it doesn’t matter that they left, otherwise they shot us in the back of the head. Comrade Fomin issued an order: “Remove all traitors to the Motherland.”

Military paramedic N.S. reported the same. Gutyrya: “All participants in the defense took an oath to fight the enemy even harder. Some of the followers from the western regions could have let us down. We called them “Westerners”. But we understood these in a timely manner and brought them to a general order.”

And the clerk of the 84th Infantry Regiment A.M. Fil speaks with an unkind word about a certain “vile part of the Poles” who tried to hang white sheets in the windows of the ring barracks.

Since at the time when the saga of mass heroism was being created, it was not accepted to write that some Soviet people “shot in the backs of the heads” of other Soviet people, many memoirs feature mythical “fascist saboteurs” in Red Army uniforms. For example, the commander of a rifle platoon of the 455th regiment, Lieutenant M.A. Makhnach went out into the yard on the morning of June 23 to shoot a brand new PPD found in a warehouse: “Suddenly I felt as if an electric current had pierced my left leg. Overcoming severe pain, he looked back. Behind me, a fighter was lying with a pistol in his hands. Just as I wanted to ask him who could have been shooting from the direction of our barracks, he opened fire on me again. Without aiming, I fired a whole disk at him. It turned out that it was a German non-commissioned officer dressed in a Red Army uniform.” About the same thing - Lieutenant A.A. Vinogradov: “In the morning we discovered fascist saboteurs dressed in our uniforms. Obviously, they had the task of disabling commanders and political workers. Sergeant Major Popov was shot in the back and Makhnach was seriously wounded in the leg. On the same day, a grenade was thrown at our feet by the hand of a disguised enemy, but it did not have time to explode thanks to the resourcefulness of deputy political instructor Alexander Smirnov, who managed to throw it away in time.”

Mini “civil war”, according to S.T. Bobrenka, played out in the basements of the 333rd Infantry Regiment: “It was he, the kulak degenerate, who harbored his anger for years and in difficult times shot in the backs of my comrades here, in the Brest Fortress... Through the noise and ringing in my ears I hear Kizhevatov’s voice: “For the traitor Motherland." There is one less scoundrel on our land.” We must think, not alone.

Similar events - recalls A.P. Bessonov - took place in the sector of the 44th Infantry Regiment: “Some tried to swim across Mukhavets and surrender to the Germans, but they all found shelter at the bottom of Mukhavets; some had to be dealt with inside the fortress... If the Nazis had not been cowardly and stormed the western part of the barracks in the same spirit as they did in the first days of the siege, they would have easily killed us all.”

In general, it was not without reason that on the second day of defense, regimental commissar Fomin put on a Red Army tunic and thought about the prospects.

Therefore, local natives practically “do not appear” in the lists of participants in the defense of the Brest Fortress. There were not so few of them, but all their lives they preferred to remain silent about their military exploits. Some, having escaped from the Citadel, made their way to their villages; others, who surrendered, were ransomed from the German camp by relatives. They remained alive, but did not rush to catch up with the Red Army, which was rolling back to the east, but settled at home and, therefore, were deserters in the eyes of, frankly speaking, the Soviet power that did not become their native one. Some managed to serve in the police, and when priorities changed, they became partisans. As one of the former enlisted men said in a conversation with the author: “The heroes of the defense were those who had far to run.”

The warriors from the Central Asian republics did not show resistance and easily surrendered; military service). Thus, in the 455th Infantry Regiment, 40% of the soldiers did not know the Russian language and had appropriate combat training.

Captain Shablovsky’s group surrendered on the Northern Island: you can’t fight much with pistols without cartridges. Two commanders shot themselves. Then a chain of people stretched out from house No. 5; Shablovsky, wounded in the arm, walked ahead.

From the memoirs of M.N. Gavrilkina: “They surrounded us and showed us where to go. There is calm throughout the fortress. They took us out onto the rampart. They put us in prison, and the women and children were taken down to the bank of the ditch. Submachine gunners approached and tore off insignia. Then they left the families, and we were lowered from the shaft and led in a chain. Shablovsky walked ahead. We approached the bridge, the depth is about 1.5 m, here the ditch flows into the pond. The bridge is plank, without railings. Shablovsky shouted: “Follow me!” - and threw himself into the water. There was a movement to rush after him, but the machine gunners cut him off. They shot at him. The place was shallow, half a meter of water, his tunic and blood were visible..."

After counting the prisoners, General Schlipper perked up: “It seemed that the Russian will to resist had weakened and that through propaganda combined with artillery fire the fortress could fall without further losses.” However, as darkness fell, “the Russians made powerful forays towards the city to the northeast and east and drowned out the loudspeaker with heavy artillery and machine gun fire. After attempts to make sorties and the resumption of Russian fire, it became clear that only some of their units had surrendered. Other units, ready to continue the fight, rejected any offers of surrender.” Interestingly, late in the evening one propaganda machine was sent to the twice “captured” South Island, but the propaganda was not successful here.

The rest of the garrison decided to fight to the end. The defenders believed that any day now the Red Army would throw out the invaders from Soviet soil with a mighty blow and they just had to hold out until it arrived, or, as a last resort, break through to the east. It was not for nothing that in the first day of defense, the Red Army soldiers took prisoners, and the commanders tried with messengers to transmit combat reports, interrogation reports with the obtained “valuable documents” and nominations for awards to the most distinguished soldiers to the division headquarters in Brest. It was not possible to establish contact via radio; the entire airwaves were filled with German speech. However, rumors regularly arose in the fortress and instantly spread about the beginning of a large Soviet offensive and the imminent appearance of red star tanks.

“Powerful forays” launched after dark were uncoordinated attempts by individual groups to break out of the fortress. They started back in relatively daylight hours, during periods given by the Germans for reflection after the next offer to surrender.

The 333rd Infantry Regiment decided to fight their way towards the Southern Town, to link up with the 22nd Tank Division. One detachment, which was to leave through the Kholm Gate and the Volyn fortification, was led by the head of the chemical service of the regiment, Senior Lieutenant N.G. Semenov, another, numbering about 100 people - Lieutenant A.E. Potapov. Potapov’s group was supposed to break through the dam to the Western Island, then swim across the Bug and reach the hospital area. It is unknown whether the actions of the two groups were coordinated with each other. Hardly. Apparently, it was never possible to create a unified leadership in the basements. For example, Lieutenant Sanin and Private Alekseev remember Lieutenant Semenov, but not a word about Potapov and Kizhevatov.

After listening to the next ultimatum, Potapov and the soldiers ran to the compartments of the ring barracks adjacent to the Terespol Gate.

“At the moment when the ultimatum expired,” recalls a student of the musician platoon P.S. Klypa,” and the Germans began to fire at the center of the fortress with redoubled force. Potapov commanded: “Follow me, forward!” - and rushed out of the window. Everyone rushed after him to the bank of the Bug... They fled without firing a single shot, and therefore the enemies did not immediately notice this attack.”

But only the lead group managed to get through the dam unhindered, then German machine guns and mortars struck.

Private musician platoon M.P. Gurevich: “We still broke through first through the gate, and then through the dam. They fled in scattered directions so that they would be less susceptible to damage. It turned out to be very difficult to overcome the dam. At the very top of it lay huge stones. People kept falling and slipping and sliding down...

The fire from the opposite bank became so strong that we were forced to turn left and lie down in the swamp. After some time, it was reported down the chain that the Nazis were bypassing us from the right flank. On command, we began to retreat to the dam.

Here again many were killed, since the Germans were very well camouflaged and fired heavily. At the Terespol Gate we were also greeted by a stream of hot lead from the side rooms of the tower, and shots were fired from the island in the back. Firing back, we reached the gate, and from there we returned back to the basement.

So the breakthrough ended in failure. Only a few people returned."

Lieutenant A.L. Petlitsky: “After passing the Terespol Tower, we walked near the bridge along the stones blocking the riverbed, and began to move further. However, there was a German ambush on our left side. Turning around, our group took up the fight, trying to get closer for hand-to-hand combat. The group suffered extremely heavy losses from the artillery shelling that began.

The survivors left as best they could.

Several fighters and I began to make our way to the left towards the river, but there we were fired upon. Then we crawled to the right to the embankment, on which, I remember, there was a broken-down passenger car, then we ran across to the log building that could be seen behind the embankment; they wanted to get into the barn, but it turned out to be tightly boarded up. Without wasting any time, I crawled to the dam, took a sip of water and started running. I saw rows of bullets laying down near me, but everyone had already managed to hide behind the wall of the power plant, and then go into the basements of the 333rd regiment.”

13 people reached the South Island, but they were also captured. Lieutenant A.E. Potapov went missing, senior lieutenant N.G. Semyonov was killed at the Kholm Gate. While covering the attack, Lieutenant A.M. died. Kizhevatov. During the shelling, Lieutenant A.S. received a severe concussion. Sanin. There were almost no defenders left in the basements of the 333rd Regiment: “There were wounded there who could not break through. They crawled to the firing lines and fired, often right there on the spot, dying from loss of blood and thirst.”