Brest Fortress

Brest, Belarus, Belarus

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Brest Fortress, now officially called the Brest Hero-Fortress, is a 19th-century Russian military fortress in the city of Brest, Belarus, built on the confluence of the Bug and Mukhavets rivers between 1833 and 1842 and designed as a large star-shaped citadel with extensive outer defences spread over more than four square kilometres.

It was originally intended to protect the western frontier of the Russian Empire and later became part of the Soviet border fortifications, and its most famous moment came in June 1941 when, during the first days of Operation Barbarossa, a small group of Soviet soldiers and civilians held out for several weeks against a massive German attack, becoming a celebrated symbol of Soviet resistance in World War II.

Although the fortress itself was largely destroyed in the war and the town of Brest was devastated, the site was not rebuilt as an active military base but instead turned into a huge memorial complex, with the title “Hero Fortress” granted in 1965 to honor the heroic defence.