June 21, 2016. The day before the start of the events, the 75th anniversary of which we commemorated with the whole world not so long ago. The scene is the Brest Fortress. Our guide was a wonderful person, Andrei Vorobei from the military-historical club "Rubezh". Not quite ordinary historians, they are called fortifiers in Brest. Lovers utterly in everything that was built in and around Brest. Accordingly, they can talk about the subject of their desire for hours. In general, in order to hear everything they know, they probably had to spend all three days with Andrey, taking breaks only to charge the recorder.
And we were lucky, at the request of our friend Dmitry from the "Brest Fortress" club, Andrey gave us a tour of the fortress, the results of which will become the basis for more than one material.
We did not enter the fortress through the main entrance or the North Gate. It would be quite simple. Our path lay across the "bridge to nowhere," as it is called. The closest point to the Kobrin fortifications of the fortress.
Why Kobrin's? Terespol fortifications are not easy to visit. We need approval from the border service a couple of weeks before the visit (which we simply did not know about, to be honest). The border is still …
However, the Eastern, or Kobrin, fortification remained virtually in the same state as 75 years ago. And we went through the entire eastern part of the fortress, before proceeding to inspect the citadel.
This is all that remains of the East Gate. A huge funnel that has become a pond. A pond was formed at the site of the gate in 1944, after an unsuccessful demining attempt. Then 16 sappers died, and the explosion was so powerful that glass flew out in half of the city.
The road from the Citadel to the North Gate. Here, on both sides, were the houses of the command staff and their families. From the garrison barracks - about a kilometer. By the standards of peacetime - not far. And in the conditions of shelling …
Fortifications of the Eastern Redoubt. Although today it is not part of the Brest Fortress memorial, order is also maintained here.
Our guide near the remains of the German trench.
The very presence of this trench in front of the fortifications occupied by Soviet fighters, once again suggests that an easy walk did not work, no matter what.
Alley of Memory. Laid back in 1955.
North gate. The only escape route in those days.
If you look closely, you can see that the arch of the gate is "corrected". They say that the Germans did it in order to smuggle captured equipment on the platforms before showing the fortress to Hitler and Mussolini.
From the outside, the gate looks no less impressive.
This is the rear of the fortress, in fact, the exit to the city. But fortifications, ditches and ramparts are present.
The firing point is at the top of the gate. There are two of them, on both sides. Directed into the interior of the fortress. Apparently in case of a breakthrough.
Today this place to the left of the Northern Gate is called "Gavrilov's Casemate". By the name of the last defender of the Brest Fortress, Major Pyotr Gavrilov, who took his last battle and was captured on July 23, 1941.
Today, access here is open to everyone.
Artillery position.
Ventilation well for removal of powder gases.
Traces of soot on the ceiling around the ventilation well. The Germans practiced this method: to drop homemade bombs from barrels of gasoline into the casemates.
An embrasure for the shooter.
And here once there was a gate … The hinges remained, and, by the way, are still strong. They knew how to build ancestors for centuries …
There will be many plans in our video tour, I will only say that, despite the fact that the casemates, caponiers and ramparts are thoroughly overgrown, it is here that you get an understanding of what happened. Not in the rather grandiose Citadel, just here. Among the silence of the silent fortifications …
Then we went to the citadel.
This is the well-known main entrance. Star.
The premises of the former artillery battery, in the 20th century - a bakery, today a cafe.
"Bayonet". The sculpture is 108 meters high. There is also the Eternal Flame.
"Thirst". The water tower was destroyed in the early hours of the war, and water was more than just a value. All approaches to Mukhavets were fired upon by the Germans on the very first day of the war.
The garrison temple, and 75 years ago - the Red Army club. It was it that the Germans sought to capture in the first place, because from the top of the temple the entire courtyard of the citadel was in full view.
In general, all these places have already been photographed and video so many times that we left our usual route. And here is the reverse side of the building, which houses one of the museums.
It was not for nothing that I said that the ancestors built on conscience. Not a single brick fell out of the wall just like that. Destroyed those that took the German bullets.
Novodels … Probably, this is very strong for an amateur.
We saw this already at the exit. There are no comments here, everything is clear and so, what and where.
On the whole, the visit to the fortress left a kind of double impression. Probably, the reason for this was the rehearsals of the solemn part, which plunged us into the already distant Soviet past. The scripts haven't changed much, to be honest. The bottom line is that it's best to be quiet here. Alone with what he saw. The way it was on the Kobrin fortifications.
The Brest Fortress is a place that cannot be devoted to an hour or two. Here you need to spend the whole day, walk all kilometers of roads and directions. See, hear, understand and accept. Plunging into this atmosphere of the memory of the past, one can try to understand what drove those who today lie under the slabs in the citadel, and who are still there, in their last positions throughout the territory of the fortress.
You can at least try to do it. But - definitely.
