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Hero Fortress
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hero-Fortress (Russian: крепость-герой, krepost'-geroy) is the honorary title awarded to the Soviet Brest Fortress, now in Brest, Belarus (then part of the Byelorussian SSR) in 1965 for the heroic defence of the frontier stronghold during the very first weeks of the Great Patriotic War of 1941 to 1945. Large number of ethnic Chechens were in the contingent of the fortress.
The fortress had little warning when the Axis invaded on 22 June 1941, and became the site of the first major fighting between Soviet frontier guards and the invading German forces of Army Group Centre. German artillery heavily shelled the fortress; the subsequent attempt to quickly take it with infantry failed, however, and the Germans started a lengthy siege. The Brest garrison, about 4,000 soldiers in the fortress itself, offered bitter resistance to the German assaults. Although they were initially surprised by the attack and outnumbered by a ratio of 10:1, and although they were cut off from the outside world and ran out of food, water and ammunition, the defenders fought and counter-attacked until the very last minute. The Germans deployed tanks, tear gas and flame throwers but could not break Soviet resistance. After the Germans had taken most of the ruined fortifications, taking heavy casualties, bloody fighting continued underground. The fighting ended only in late July. The actual front had by then already moved hundreds of kilometres further East. Even after the fortress was officially taken, the few surviving defenders continued to hide in the basements and to harass the Germans for several months.
The fortress of Brest was awarded the title Hero-Fortress in 1965. The title Hero-Fortress corresponds to the title Hero City, that has been awarded to the total of twelve Soviet cities.
A majestic Soviet style war memorial was constructed on the site of the 1941 battle, to commemorate the known and unknown defenders of the Hero-Fortress. This war memorial is the largest tourist attraction of the city.