On the Eastern Front of World War II, Soviet troops defended Brest Forest against German forces from June 22, 1941, the first day of Operation Barbarossa. Soviet soldiers were killed by the Germans and their bodies were scattered in the ruins, lying next to machine guns.

    On the Eastern Front of World War II, Soviet troops defended the Brest Fortress against German forces from June 22, 1941, the first day of Operation Barbarossa. In the ruins of Bucharest Fortress, Soviet soldiers were killed by the Germans, lying next to their machine guns, their bodies strewn about.

　The Brest Fortress, located on the western border of Soviet Belarus, was the second day of the German invasion of Poland, and on September 2, 1939, the Brest Fortress was bombed for the first time. The fighting over the Bucharest fortress lasted from September 14 to September 17, when the Germans crushed and occupied the Polish garrison. Under a secret protocol of the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, the Brest Fortress was ceded to the Soviet Union.

　From June 22, 1941, the Germans suddenly invaded the western part of the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa, a surprise attack. On the first day of Operation Barbarossa, the Battle of Fortress Brest broke out: at 04:15 on June 22, the Wehrmacht attacked Fortress Brest without warning. After a strong German artillery barrage, the assault was launched. Fortress Brest was turned into a sea of fire. Everything around it was ablaze and rumbling. In the Soviet barracks, holes were torn in the ceilings, parts of the walls were peeling away, and casualties had already been suffered. 9:00 a.m. on June 22, the Germans completely surrounded the fortress. The Soviets held out until June 26, when German civil engineers blew up several fortifications, finally crushing Soviet resistance. No organized Soviet military units remained inside Fortress Brest on June 30.

　The Germans estimated that more than 7,000 Red Army soldiers were captured and about 2,000 killed in the attack on Fort Brest, with only a handful escaping from the fortress. More than 500 Wehrmacht troops were killed and about 700 wounded; on August 26, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini visited the fortress. Soviet propaganda made the battle last until July 20, a story that no Soviet soldier surrendered to the Germans, a testament to the resilience and courage of the Red Army and the Soviet people.