is one of the officers in charge of the fortress defenses. often visits the monument to her father on the outskirts of brest. this picture shows what he looks like me of the even today i guess nervous when i come here words fail me if i see those events in my mind's eye as if they were yesterday. today children play war in the old case me but in the first days of the real war the unit under the command of luck. was holding out in one of them within two days the defenders had exhausted their ammunition. her saw the germans trying to capture her father. of the roof suddenly there was a noise it seemed that the had caught him because he had jumped on to the rain and some plunged into the river by the germans began firing asked him besant death in captivity he shouted those were the last words he addressed to his family.

in accordance with their plan to attack the soviet union the germans had amassed three armies close to the border among these army groups or was the most powerful its mission was to encircle and destroy soviet troops and belorussia and move on to moscow vyas months. the german strategy relied on surprise attack to demoralize the adversary from the opening second. the sound of the explosions was deafening before that i had seen war only in films . i thought it was an earthquake but i just couldn't believe there was a war going on. the first hours of june twenty second one thousand nine hundred one. of a member of the military band asleep in his barracks on the second floor abreast fortress. within minutes of the attack bullets and shell fragments and riddled the

barracks walls. i remember dosed all over the place. well. i could barely breathe iraq myself in a blanket but almost literally then i heard an order grab your rifles and get downstairs. i barely had time to pull all my clothes before rushing downstairs with my platoon were. only a few hours later the german plan to move through a russian territory had. every week covered from the initial shock. offered stubborn resistance despite being number nearly two to one by their attackers. and one of our rifle regiments counterattacks the germans faltered and tried to roll back to the gates

but they were met with a shower of bullets there too. money of the fastest started there. the beginning of huns edmund shone back was born in munich on june twenty second one thousand nine hundred one he was among the german troops who entered the russia . shortly before that he had been called up from high school and sent to the eastern front to serve in a panzer unit. a huge fourth terrifying wave of german artillery move from all sides. into russian territory and when they were done we knew we had to go in. the tank. but i saw the first horribly injured german soldiers and it wasn't just me we all knew what would happen it was terrible.

the border between them follows the same line along which. deployed. it was they who bore the brunt of the nazi invasion for several days small arms were the only weapons the border guards can nevertheless they held up the advance of german troops and tanks for some time and they billing the fortress garrison to organize. yes can come on the german command allowed thirty minutes for the destruction of the frontier posts but some held out from one to seven days repulsing one attack after another. these pillboxes on the border were built shortly before the war but they were never used supplies and ammunition for the machine guns had been scheduled to arrive the day after the nats invasion of soviet territory. was in command of one of the pill boxes he was officer on duty the day before the start of the war this picture shows

or so i would encourage his friend nikolai a fellow servicemen returning from a night of dancing in breastplate on june twenty first. the news. vladimir. i have something terrible to tell you. his thoughts. when i was there my girlfriend told me. that a war would break out to morrow she was four in the morning. all those nine hundred thirty nine two years before the start of the war. between the soviet union and germany have become noticeably warmer foreign ministers of the two states mullet of an ribbentrop sign a non-aggression pact. in

september one thousand nine hundred ninety german troops invaded poland. this is german commander. his tanks captured the breast fortress at that time part of polish territory. this is rare footage joint so that in german military parades in accordance with a secret deal to divide europe the german military hands breast over to soviet troops in less than two years time. will again launch an assault on breast fortress fighting against the same troops. in the interim dispenser units will have gained valuable experience in successful offensive operations in europe. and. assured we have the most insane knowledge ain't to communicate between the time. headphones. and that allowed us to react small quickly. the russian tanks couldn't communicate with each other and whereas we could for example

withdraw and then attack from the sides. june twenty fourth one of the most tragic days for the defenders of the fortress during another attempted assault used russian officers wife and children as a human shield on this bridge. they told us women and children to lie down on the bridge close to want to be pieces. can you imagine full of five guns firing it's a time it can shatter your brain. my son slava had one of his it. now he can't hit anything it's all in that's here yes i saw my daughter's hand nina turning gray one after another. she was only a little kid. alexander was only six years old in one

thousand nine hundred forty one he and his parents were living in brest fortress he spent two days in the so-called powder magazine at the start of the war he was wounded and lost his entire family. at. the gravity of the situation but. who. was standing in. with that's when we got scared over blue. and when i saw my mother and sister killed while sitting right here. i talked myself away as far as i cooled and the fate of those who were in the cellar. in essence the entire territory of the fortress. this is a monument to the victims of the wars of first days numbers building houses a museum. at its center

a famous exhibit and alarm clock the stop ticking as soon as the war began. another exhibit is dedicated to the children of red army commanders who fought in the fortress many of them were murdered by s.s. task forces in one thousand nine hundred two a year after german troops attacked the soviet union. forces. him of nine hundred forty two the fascists massacred fifty four children at an older financially abreast their parents had already died in the war. amanda was the children's teacher she and the children the forced out of the orphanage and kilt all of them. a vigil of commemoration and sorrow takes place each year in the breast fortress on the ninth of june twenty first candles are lit in the embers yours veterans come here from all over the former soviet union

a slide show features pictures of the red army commanding officers who took part in the defense of breast fortress after the ceremony border guard soldiers. in the western movie river to commemorate the people whose lives were cut short in breast fortress in june one thousand nine hundred one the names of many of them are still unknown.

question is that so much given to each musician on the market from spring to be uprisings and at least a fast becoming vicious civil war. the second. eight hours after the german attack most of the surviving defenders of the breast fortress moved into cellars under the barracks. and his comrades spent about

three days there back in the nineteenth century the cellars withstood direct hits in the aerial bombardment. in for the year there was a hospital for the wounded here but while the makeshift mortuary was over there at the end of the chorus or more. the german command demanded that the defenders lay down their arms and surrender when they turned down the ultimatum german assault groups used flame throwers to flush them out. the heat was so intense that even bricks began to melt. the fighters continued their resistance as they shifted from one place to another. this is how the german war correspondents pro-trade the event but cameraman. where unable to fill men emerging from cellars with their hands raised as a sign of surrender none of them did back. their word this russian surrender.

your. will let you live don't be afraid they say that. when some of the spot of the loudspeaker they hit it with a machine gun fire. that was the end of the propaganda that's. a shortage of water was the biggest problem the defenders faced. the western river was nearby but german troops were in control of all approaches to it still haven't other fighters managed to reach the river several times under the cover of darkness . to reach the west we were sometimes crawling sometimes running. trying to make no noise we had to do with the germans fired flares all the time

they certainly would have opened fire if they. know days mining engineers. time ammunition in the western. one of the latest finds is a german two hundred millimeter artillery shell. is just as dangerous today as it was sixty eight years ago. slowly slowly turning over. to shell could go off at any moment if it's not handled properly if it does judging by its size it will obliterate everything within a radius of about five hundred meters. on the average. three to ten objects relating to the first days of the war. fortress was long considered impenetrable. but in the twentieth century it was in effect.

all the fortress gates were continuously under and machine gun fire they were also blocked by attacking enemy troops as a result fewer than half of the men who were here on june twenty second were able to leave the fortress and protect the border. on. the german plan to seize soviet territory. but most of the soviet leaders as hitler would target britain first before unleashing any attack on this will be. but a. and was already aware of the. problem with the germans. initially it was fifteen men while stalin was trying to kill.

where the first assault was launched actually consisted of several. of the most resistance. most of the fortress defenders still expected reinforcements to the end they did know they were already well behind enemy lines germans has seized the town of brest within hours. abreast residents lived under occupation for nearly three years when the germans came she was told that she was not. a second rate person. even public told this in hospitals could not be used by everybody johns had decent food this were not so lucky. if they don't name every way you could see signs saying. only oh. no and it's already during the first days of the war

many people in breast and its environs started sneaking out of town. in the forests they formed groups of guerrilla warfare. learn new skills those. here in the forest in june one thousand nine hundred. children women. and all of us lived here. all of us were hoping. stayed in the force for. a time. and so you could monitoring of the enemy in the evening they were engaged in special operations. forces use this railway to bring military hardware to the front line. the german reconnaissance parties to check the tracks but that didn't help. as the

train came closer we singled out the military equipment to be. quick and the wagon was no more. than the german forty fifth division. and. german troops and already swept across poland. and much of europe. they encountered the most ferocious to date. weapons with the best in the world. we were the strongest anyway. and we believed it. of all successes in western europe and in france but it was far from the truth.

these for so with memorials commemorate fighters whose bodies have been recovered by search parties. searching for missing soldiers is a long and complicated process. first the head of a search group asks locals where exactly the fighting took place. where there are also. many of our fighters particularly the partisans died in the swamps but i just . see the dead lying in groups of ten or twelve they never made it out of the forest. then a group of volunteers sets out on an expedition they comb the site meter after meter. weapons and other objects made of metal. underground. this is a soviet helmet it was a direct hit. you can see where the shot entered and exited.

the base. these are small cases containing all important papers they carry the information that will help identify the soldier his age rank and the name of town or village where he was called up. there just so happens there were from the same places the dead soldier were going to look for his relatives now one more fallen soldier has a name. if papers identifying the dead are found they are sent to officials us state archive each year as more names to the list of breast fortress defenders. this is the personal record of one of the fighters still. keep his identity was verified

just a few years ago. you know his name is inscribed on the memorial wall in the central alley of breast fortress it has replaced another plate saying unknown soldier. he's nice is his only surviving relative just recently did she learn of her uncle's fate. that people want to at least see the grief of somebody they loved least laois in it and think about that person there is nothing more painful than the missing so when my uncle's name was finally written on the memorial plate it was a very touching moment for my family. the last defenders of breast fortress german attacks for nearly a month in the one nine hundred sixty s. the museum received a fragment of the inner wall of one of the case mates of the eastern for an inscription discovered on it dates from july twentieth one thousand nine hundred

forty one scribbled with a knife and said. i'm dying but i'm not surrendering. nobody surrendered of their own accord in the way all of those captured people. were unable to use their weapons. but nobody raised their hands before to the death to the last minute. hitler and mussolini arrived in august one thousand nine hundred one for a visit to brest fortress despite official reports claiming that there were no surviving defenders. it's secure repercussions were put in place. on the eve of the top level visit to german soldiers patrolling an area near the fortress had disappeared. hitler and mussolini entered the fortress through a bridge that used to be right here what hitler saw here is known to have made

a strong impression on him but even took a stone lying amongst the ruins. after the fall of berlin the stone was found in hitler's office at the chancellor of the third reich. church fortress. there are traces of shells on the walls and inside. it was from here that the defenders of breast fortress launched their first counterattack . scores of german and soviet soldiers died here. the time has come for mutual forgiveness. we must live in peace. it's not that we should forget that must not be forgotten. we might forgive. children play in best fortress where military hardware dating back to the one nine hundred forty s. is on display they knew about that war only from books and films. on holidays

veterans told tourists about the war. of another survivors of the first battles in the fortress regard these rooms as the cornerstone of their faith in the ultimate victory over troops. comrades lived to see that victory in one thousand nine hundred five nearly four years after those tragic events fortress.

more than a month. in one of the most extreme environments on the planet this is and people have to be aware that they are far away from civilization. thomas discovers flight makes antarctica so special and attractive for many wildlife. and from the. expedition to the bottom of the earth.

one on t.v. experts to gauge the cause of the plane crash in northwest russia the disaster claims another life death toll to fourteen. at the site of the tragedy family and friends gave the last respects to monday's victims before the details in a few moments. operation is underway the north caucasus and reports suggesting special forces have suffered losses after an attack on a militant compound all the details are coming up school. degree government wins a vote of confidence in. the truth squad to secure a new. say their voices heard. on the former soviet republics remember the millions of people who gave their lives

to lead the war against fascism wednesday marked the seventieth anniversary of the nazi invasion of the u.s.s.r. . for good morning for me kevin oh it's now one am he. this is our top story the number of people killed in the plane crash in northwest russia has now risen to forty five young boy died of his injuries and. examining the black boxes to establish the cause of the family and friends of. specks. has been an emotional and tough day for the friends of the victims and the survivors many of them had gone to. the bodies of the victims a few of them to coming here to the site where the crash had happened to pull one three four carrying fifty two people had landed here at the road right behind me

they've put together a small memorial where locals family members friends have been coming in bringing flowers and candles and also there was a small service earlier today where it was attended by officials of the. investigation itself it's still ongoing. still. take some time before it is fully investigated this point still looking at all possibilities nothing is. being looked at. statements made by various authorities. and bad weather conditions as possible. of the crash but again speaking to the family members for the blame game really takes a backseat at this point because they really just want to try and deal with their own grief. struggling to keep her composure that is in disbelief at the sudden death of.