| Brest-litovsk Fortress |
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Information AboutBrest-litovsk Fortress |
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The construction lasted from 1836 till 1842. The fortress changed hands twice during the Polish-Soviet War and eventually stayed inside Polish borders, a development that was formally recognised by the Treaty Of Riga in 1921 . During the Polish September Campaign in 1939 the city was defended by a small garison of four infantry battalions under Gen. Konstanty Plisowski against the XIX Panzer Corps of Gen. Heinz Guderian . After four days of heavy fighting the Polish forces withdrew southwards on September 17 . The territory was attached to the Belarusian Soviet Republic in 1939 in accordance with the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact . In the summer of 1941 it was heroically defended by Soviet soldiers against the German Wehrmacht in the first days of Operation Barbarossa , earning it a title of Hero-Fortress . The core of the fortress is the Citadel in the shape of a red-brick two-storied ring barrack, 1.8 km long, with 500 rooms to accommodate 12 thousand soldiers. The Citadel is on the island, formed by the Bug River and the two branches of the Mukhavets River . The three manmade islands, Bridgehead s around the citadel are formed by the branches of the Mukhavets River and Ditches ( Moats , fortified by Earthworks , 10 m high ramparts with casemates inside the defense works. The Kobrin fortification is the northeastern biggest island, featuring 4 Fortification Curtain s with detached 3 Ravelin s and a Caponier . The Terespol fortification is the western island, featuring detached 4 Lunette s. The Volyn fortification is the southeastern island, featuring 2 Fortification Curtain s with 2 detached Ravelin s. EXTERNAL LINKS
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