The Brest Fortress
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''Fortress of War'' (festival title: ''The Brest Fortress''; ) is a 2010 Russian-Belarusian war film recounting the June 1941
defense of Brest Fortress The defense of Brest Fortress was the first battle of Operation Barbarossa, the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union launched on 22 June 1941. The German Army attacked without warning, expecting to take Brest on the first day, using only infantry ...
against invading
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
forces in the opening stages of
Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...
,
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
's invasion of the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Events are narrated from the perspective of 15-year-old Sasha Akimov, centering on three resistance zones holding out against the protracted German siege. The defending forces are led by regiment commander Major
Pyotr Gavrilov Pyotr Mikhaylovich Gavrilov (; 30 June 1900 – 26 January 1979) was a Soviet officer known as the hero of the Defense of Brest Fortress.Heroes of Soviet UnionГаврилов Пётр Михайлович Biography Pyotr Gavrilov was an eth ...
(44th Rifle Regiment of the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
), with Regimental Commissar
Yefim Fomin Yefim Moiseyevich Fomin (; ; 15 January 1909 – 26 June 1941) was a Soviet political commissar. He is known for his part in the 1941 Defense of Brest Fortress, during which the German Army captured and immediately executed him. Early life ...
(84th Rifle Regiment of the Red Army), and the head of the 9th Frontier Outpost, Lieutenant Andrey Mitrofanovich Kizhevatov. The film makers claim that the plot is as close as possible to historical fact, and that the Brest Fortress Museum supervised the plot thoroughly.


Plot

The film opens on Saturday, June 21, 1941. Sasha Akimov, a 15-year-old musician, and his older brother, Andrey, whose parents were killed in the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
, are serving in the 333rd Rifle Regiment of the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
at the
Brest Fortress Brest Fortress (; ; ; ), formerly known as Brest-Litovsk Fortress, is a 19th-century fortress in Brest, Belarus. In 1965, the title Hero Fortress was given to the fortress to commemorate the defence of the frontier stronghold during the fi ...
. Elsewhere, a
commissar Commissar (or sometimes ''Kommissar'') is an English transliteration of the Russian (''komissar''), which means ' commissary'. In English, the transliteration ''commissar'' often refers specifically to the political commissars of Soviet and ...
, Yefim Fomin, discovers he is unable to bring his family to Brest due to a shortage of train tickets. Another officer, Gavrilov, continues to express concern about the readiness of the fort's defenses should an attack come, despite warnings from his friend, officer of the NKVD Special Department Lieutenant Vainshtein, about an imminent war with Germany. That evening, the fortress loses power due to sabotage by German
Brandenburgers The Brandenburgers () were members of Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht special forces unit during World War II. Originally, the unit was formed by and operated as an extension of the military's intelligence and counter-espionage organ, the ''Abwehr''. ...
(commandos). The next morning, at 3:58, German forces begin
Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...
the invasion of the Soviet Union. The fortress is bombarded by German artillery and
Stuka The Junkers Ju 87, popularly known as the "Stuka", is a German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft. Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, it first flew in 1935. The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion during the ...
dive-bombers, killing many Soviet soldiers and civilians. At 6:30, German infantry attack the fortress, capturing hospital staff and patients, massacring many of them. Fomin takes command of the defenders around the
Kholm Gate The Kholm Gate (, ) is a gate of the citadel of Brest Fortress in Brest, Belarus. Originally built in the 19th century during Russian rule, as one of the four fortified gatehouses, leading into the Citadel of the Russian Brest Fortress. The exter ...
, while Gavrilov rallies the defenders around the Eastern Fort. Elsewhere, NKVD border guards under command of Lieutenant Kizhevatov, repel a German sortie into the fortress and Vainshtein thwarts a German commando's attempt to undermine the defense of the 132nd Independent NKVD Convoy Battalion barracks. As the siege commences, Sasha finds himself stranded in one of the barracks. During the fighting for the East Fort, Junior Lieutenant Andrey Akimov (brother of Sasha) is killed while destroying two
Panzer III The ''Panzerkampfwagen III (Pz.Kpfw. III)'', commonly known as the Panzer III, was a medium tank developed in the 1930s by Nazi Germany, Germany, and was used extensively in World War II. The official German ordnance designation was List of Sd.K ...
s with a 45 mm anti-tank gun, helping Gavrilov repel a German attack. By the end of June 22, the Soviet defenders are divided into groups: one force under Fomin defending the Kholm Gate, a second force under Gavrilov defending the Eastern Redoubt, while Kizhevatov defends the 9th Frontier outpost, along with a group of civilians and Vainshtein holds on to the barracks of the 132nd NKVD Battalion. The next day, fighting continues for the fortress and Sasha makes it to the Kholm Gate. An I-16 Soviet fighter aircraft of the 123rd Fighter Aviation Regiment is shot down over the fortress and the pilot is rescued by Fomin's men. He reveals that the Red Army is retreating toward
Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...
and Fomin realizes that the men must leave the fortress or die. On June 24, Sasha leaves the Kholm Gate to alert the other pockets about Fomin's plan for a breakout. While Sasha finds the 132nd has been overrun and Vainshtein dead, he manages to deliver the message to Kizhevatov and Gavrilov. That night, a breakout is attempted by all three remaining groups but is driven back by the Germans, suffering many losses. The next morning, realizing he can't properly defend them, Kizhevatov reluctantly orders the surviving civilians (including his wife and daughter and also Sasha) to vacate the fortress during a cease-fire. On June 26, the Germans drop a two-ton bomb on the fortress, causing massive damage. The Germans quickly move to eradicate the surviving pockets. The defenders at Kholm Gate are forced to surrender and Fomin is immediately shot under the
Commissar order The Commissar Order () was an order issued by the German High Command ( OKW) on 6 June 1941 before Operation Barbarossa. Its official name was Guidelines for the Treatment of Political Commissars (''Richtlinien für die Behandlung politischer Ko ...
by a German firing squad, as a Jew, a communist and a commissar. Gavrilov orders his remaining men to attempt to break out individually. Kizhevatov and his surviving men manage to regroup in the barracks; Sasha returns to meet them there. After ordering Sasha to take the
regimental colors In military organizations, the practice of carrying colours, standards, flags, or guidons, both to act as a rallying point for troops and to mark the location of the commander, is thought to have originated in Ancient Egypt some 5,000 year ...
and remember the truth about the defenders, Kizhevatov takes a machine gun to cover his men while they attempt a breakout. The breakout fails and the remaining defenders, including Kizhevatov, are killed as Sasha manages to escape. Years later, an elderly Sasha pays tribute to memorial of Brest Fortress, accompanied by his grandson, to remember the good days and memories of the life before the Nazis took everything.


Cast

* Aleksey Kopashov as Alexander 'Sashka' Akimov *
Andrey Merzlikin Andrey Ilyich Merzlikin (; born 24 March 1973) is a Russian film and theater actor. Early life Andrey Merzlikin was born in Kaliningrad near Moscow. In the first education – radio engineer of space engineering, then earned a degree in econom ...
as Lieutenant Andrey Kizhevatov *
Pavel Derevyanko Pavel Yurievich Derevyanko (, born 2 July 1976) is a Russian theatre and film actor. Biography Pavel Derevyanko was born in the city of Taganrog, Rostov Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. His parents, Yuri Pavlovich and Tatiana Vasilievna Derev ...
as Regimental Commissar
Yefim Fomin Yefim Moiseyevich Fomin (; ; 15 January 1909 – 26 June 1941) was a Soviet political commissar. He is known for his part in the 1941 Defense of Brest Fortress, during which the German Army captured and immediately executed him. Early life ...
* Alexander Korshunov as Major
Pyotr Gavrilov Pyotr Mikhaylovich Gavrilov (; 30 June 1900 – 26 January 1979) was a Soviet officer known as the hero of the Defense of Brest Fortress.Heroes of Soviet UnionГаврилов Пётр Михайлович Biography Pyotr Gavrilov was an eth ...
* Mikhail Pavlik as Lieutenant of the
NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...
Vanshtein * Kirill Boltaev as Lieutenant Anatoly Vinogradov * Sergey Tsepov as Captain Ivan Zubachyov * Benik Arakelyan as ''
Starshina ( rus, Старшина, p=stərʂɨˈna, a=Ru-старшина.ogg or ) is a senior military rank or designation in the military forces of some Slavs, Slavic states, and a historical military designation. Depending on a country, it had differen ...
'' Samvel Matevosyan ''Самвел Матевосян'' amvel Matevosyan/ref> *
Yevgeny Tsyganov Yevgeny Eduardovich Tsyganov (; born 15 March 1979) is a Russian stage and film actor, director, screenwriter and composer. Early life Yevgeny Tsyganov was born in Moscow in the family of employees of the Moscow Research Institute. Yevgeny gra ...
as Senior Political Officer Ivan Pochernikov * Yana Esipovich as Katya Kizhevatova, Andrey Kizhevatov's wife * Veranika Nikanava as Anya Kizhevatova, Andrey Kizhevatov's daughter * Maksim Kostromykin as Nikolay ′Kolka′, projectionist * Anna Tsukanova-Kott as Sonya


Production

The film's score was composed by Yuri Krasavin.


References


External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fortress of War Films directed by Alexander Kott 2010 films 2010s war films 2010s Russian films 2010s Russian-language films Belarusian drama films Russian action war films Russian action drama films Russian war drama films Russian-language action drama films Russian-language war drama films Eastern Front of World War II films Films set in fortresses Films set in the Soviet Union Films set in Belarus Belarusfilm films Mosfilm films Films shot in Belarus Russian World War II films World War II films based on actual events Belarusian World War II films Films set in 1941