nine thirty pm in moscow these here are t. headlines the muslim brotherhood's mohamed mercy has been named egypt's next leader claiming fifty one percent of the vote these are alive pictures of thousands cheering in cairo's tahrir square and in the country's first post mubarak presidential. turkey denies spying insisting its military jet shot down by syrian forces friday was on a training mission as nato is said to investigate syria maintains it was protecting its sovereignty as the plane crossed into its territory. the world's top whistleblower awaiting his fate to be decided by ecuador after he asked for asylum

in the country's london embassy at the end of may the u.k. supreme court rejected an appeal against julian assange extradition to sweden borden's wanted for questioning over claims of sexual assault. next we take a look back at the brutal siege of the belorussian fortress whose defenders stood their ground to the last man and bullet in the face of the overwhelming power of the nazi army during the second world war. brest fortress today it's on the territory of the sovereign republic of bella roots formerly the soviet republic of belarus the fortress was once the western most outpost of the soviet empire each day school children in the town of brest take part in a ceremony by a local monument to commemorate what happened there. on june twenty second one nine hundred forty one german fashion forces invaded the soviet union without a declaration of war the defenders of the breast fortress found themselves in

a dead end situation it is here that the myth about the invincibility of the german army was broken after the end of the war and the rest fortress as a name became synonymous to perseverance courage and belief in victory for years to come. the early hours of june twenty second nineteen forty one german artillery unleashes a massive barrage from the breast garrisoned. german warplanes some ultimately dropped hundreds of bombs on the fortress soon after infantry assault groups launched the initial ground attack. is one of the officers in charge of the fortress defenses. is dodger i.e.c.

often visits the monument to her father on the outskirts of rest. shows what he look like me at the even today i guess nervous when i come here what's family 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 lucky. was holding out in one of them within two days the defenders had exhausted their ammunition. daughter saw the germans trying to capture her father. over the roof suddenly there was a noise it seemed that father had caught him because he had jumped on to the rain in some plunged into the river by the germans began firing i asked him bess and deaths in captivity he shouted those were the last words he addressed to his soldiers. 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 other russia and move on to moscow vyas money. the german strategy relied on surprise attack to demoralize the adversary from the opening seconds. 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 shells fragments and riddled the

barracks walls. i remember dust all over the place. where. i could barely breathe. myself open a blanket. then i heard an order from your rifles and get downstairs. now i barely had time to pull all my clothes before rushing downstairs with my platoon where. only a few hours later the german plan to move through bella russian territory heads. every week covered from the initial shock the soviet soldiers remaining in the garrison offered stubborn resistance despite being number nearly two to one by their attackers. and one of our rifle regiments counterattacked the germans faltered and tried to roll back to the gates

but they were met with a shower of bullets there are too. many of the fastest style there. at the beginning of the huns edmund shown 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 force terrifying wave of german artillery moved from it. into russian territory and when they were done we knew we had to go in. the tanks initially but i saw the first horribly injured german soldiers and it wasn't just me we all knew what would happen and it was terrible. the border between belarus and poem follows the same line along which soviet fun to

your post were once 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 its defense. 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 pill boxes 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. chance thoughts. when i was there my girlfriend told me. that a war would break out tomorrow should be a four in the morning. on this one nine hundred thirty nine two years before the start of the war relations between the soviet union and germany had become noticeably warmer foreign ministers of the two states motto of an ribbentrop sign a non-aggression pact. in september one nine hundred thirty nine german troops invaded poland. this is german

commander hines good video on his tanks captured the breast fortress at that time part of polish territory. this is rare footage joint saw that in german military parades in accordance with the secret deal to divide europe the german military hands breast over to soviet troops in less than two years time good any on will again launch an assault on breast fortress fighting against the same troops salutes 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 next 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 sites.

june twenty fourth one of the most tragic days for the defenders of the fortress during another attempted assault by nancy hughes the 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 repeat is. can you imagine full of five guns firing it's a time you can shut your brain with like. my son slava had one of his it arms bust now he can't hit anything it's all in that's here you know that i saw my daughter's hand nina turning gray the one after another. she was only a little kid. alexander was only six years old in one 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 here. at all since an arrest the gravity of the situation but you didn't. who. was standing in this nation with you so that's when we got scared over blue. and when i saw my mother and sister killed while i was sitting right here. i took myself away as far as i cood and the fate of those who were there in the cellar with. in essence the entire territory 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 an alarm clock that stopped 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 in the awesome of one nine hundred forty two the fascists massacred fifty four children at an orphanage me abreast their parents had already died in the war. that wife a french army commander was the children's teacher was she and the children the forced out of the orphanage and killed all of them in. a vigil of commemoration and sorrow takes place each year in the breast fortress on the night 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 flowed rees 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. i am to to. speak as.

if the sanctions. admission free accreditation free. for charges free the maintenance free. free. free. download free broadcast quality video for your media projects a free video dog party dot com. the second day eight hours after the german attack most of the surviving defenders of the breast fortress moved into cellars under the barracks. and its comrades spent about three days there build 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. 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. down the plughole thinking beach 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 german war correspondents pro-trade the event but cameramen were unable to film an emerging from sellers with their hands raised as a sign of surrender none of them did that. there were at this russian surrender

german shouted through loud speaker. we know that we'll let you live don't be afraid. when some of the spotted the loudspeaker that they hit with a burst of machine gun fire is pretty real that was the end of the propaganda that's a pretty good. a shortage of water was the biggest problem the defenders faced the western bluegrass very 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 western boob we were sometimes crawling sometimes running some filled flasks with water or mess tins or helmets then we would go by trying to make no noise we had to do without way the germans fired flares all the time they certainly would have opened fire if

they'd spotted else. no days mining engineers look for wartime ammunition in the western. one of the latest finds is a german two hundred ten millimeter artillery shell. is just as dangerous today as it was sixty eight years ago. careful slowly slowly but don't turn it over. most of the show 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 day divers pick up three to ten objects relating to the first days of the war. in the nineteenth century the brest fortress was long considered impenetrable they outer walls were two meters thick but in the twentieth century it was in effect a death trap for the seven thousand strong soviet garrison. from the start of the

war all of the fortresses gates were continuously under artillery and machine gun fire but 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. operation barbarossa the german plan to seize still the territory was ready in december nineteenth fourteenth but most of the soviet leaders as soon as hitler would target britain first before unleashing any attack on the soviet union. but a. stalin was already aware of the bobber also plan by february not in forty one before the problem was that the germans regularly postponed the. initially it was i proven my fifteen min while stalin was desperately trying to delay war until autumn with the. present fortress where the first assault was launched actually consisted

of several forts situated on islands around the main fortification in the center of the eastern seaboard offer the most stubborn resistance. most of the fortress defenders still expected reinforcements down 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 now and. a second rate person there's a toilet that will eat by jail in this even public tell this in hospitals could not be used but everybody johns had decent food the others were not so lucky the germans felt they were of the domain everywhere you could see signs saying no germans only oh i entreat football to know and train is already during the first days of the war many people in breast and its environs started sneaking out of town

. in the forcible russia they form groups of guerrilla warfare. learn new skills those a machine gunner here in the forest dug outs in june one thousand nine hundred thirty could have. children and women was hiding in there and if all of us lived here and all of us were helping each other. the partisans stayed in the force for about three hours in the daytime they carried out reconnaissance and secret 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. expose it were placed under this truck so that nobody could see them and. the germans sent reconnaissance parties to check the tracks but that didn't help

a lot of scouts in trouble but all as the train came closer we singled out the way in carrying military equipment to be blown up. quick and the wagon was no more. this image or a for soldiers of the german forty fifth division i peered soon after the assault on the fortress and takeover of the town of brest german troops had already swept across poland france and much of europe but in storming the russia they encountered the most ferocious resistance to date. and. the best bit solace that our weapons were the best in the world's alex. we were the strongest anyway invest and we believed it i. loosely because of our successes in western europe and in france but it was far from the truth and fell. these for so with memorials commemorate fighters whose bodies have been recovered

by search parties since the war 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. when there are also protests on it many of our fighters particularly the partisans died in this home but i'm just looking through the woods you can 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 combed the site meter after meter. weapons and other objects made of metal keep fairly well underground. this is a soviet helmet it was a direct hit. you can see where the shot entered and exited. the returns to base the objects are carefully examined the latest expedition has

turned up to a flask and metals. but the searchers regard so-called medallions as the most valuable find. 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 too and it just so happens that we're from the same place as the dead soldier we're 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 a state archive each year as more names to the list of breast fortress defenders. this is the personal record of one of the fighters stip keep his identity was

verified just a few years ago. no his name is inscribed on a memorial wall in the central alley of breast fortress it has replaced another plate saying unknown soldier study slops he's nice is his only surviving relative just recently did she learn of her uncle's fate. of sick that people want to at least see the grief of somebody they loved least flourescent 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 repelled 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 farewell my. i'm dying but i'm not surrendering.

nobody surrendered in their own a code in the way all of those captured wounded people then just because there were unable to use their weapons. but nobody raised their hands before to the death to the last moment there were. hitler and mussolini arrived in august one thousand nine hundred one for a visit to breast fortress despite official reports claiming that there were no surviving unpresidential defenders. security precautions were put in place. on the eve of the top level visits 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 where hitler saw here is known to have made a strong impression on him before he even took

a stone lying amongst the ruins with him. after the fall of berlin the stone was found in hitler's office at the chancellor e. of the third reich. church in breast fortress. there are traces of shells on the walls and inside the dome. 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 always to forget the past it must not be forgotten. but we might forgive. children our plane 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 fascist troops. could make of it his comrades lived to see that victory in one thousand nine hundred five nearly four years after those tragic events and rest fortress. it is.

you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew.