The Belarusian film "Brest Fortress", which premiered in Moscow on November 4, 2010, is a recent war film with a relatively large impact. This film is adapted from the documentary work of the same name by former Soviet writer Sergey Smirnov completed in 1957 and supplemented in 1964. In 1957, the Soviet Union made the book into the film "Stay for the Fortress". , In the same year, the Shanghai Film Translation Factory was released in my country after being translated. "Brest Fortress" released in 2010 is the second time this book has been made into a film. The film is basically faithful to the original, and in order to highlight the character's image and plot, the character's deeds have been refined and modified. This film is based on the memory of Alexander Akimov (the prototype is called Peter Kreba), a platoon student of the 333th Infantry Regiment, from the perspective of several Red Army commanders and fighters including Fu Ming, the political deputy commander of the 44th Infantry Regiment. The battle for the Brest Fortress, which lasted the longest and most intensely in the first border regions of the Soviet-German War in 1941, highlighted the tenacious and tenacious heroism of the Soviet Red Army. Once it was released, it caused a great sensation. China has also won the love of a considerable audience. However, since this film has not been officially introduced in my country, it is limited by the level of translation of subtitles, and the film is limited by time. Many background and detailed introductions in the original work have been omitted, so that domestic audiences who do not know the Soviet history have seen it. After that, a lot of doubts and incomprehensions were left, and a lot of discussions were triggered on the Internet. Here, I want to do my best to interpret some of the details of this film from a historical perspective.
1. What are the meanings of the different colors and symbols on the Soviet army's collar, cap, and trousers in the movie?
In the movie, the different costumes of Soviet soldiers of different branches of the military, different professions and positions have caused a lot of confusion to the audience. Similarly, there have also been many wrong and unintelligible explanations. In the movie, nine services including infantry, artillery, border guard, Ministry of Internal Affairs, military music, military doctors, tanks, air force, political work, and professional Soviet soldiers appeared in the film. Now I will interpret their costumes one by one.
Infantry-Major Gavrilov, commander of the 44th Infantry Regiment. The military cap is a khaki cap with a red ring, and the collar is red with gold trim. There are professional symbols of infantry cross rifles superimposed on the bullseye and two red enamel lengths. The rank symbol of the major of Fangtiao (in the movie, both the infantry officer of the 44th Infantry Regiment Logistics Deputy Commander Zubachev and the 125th Regiment Commander of the Infantry Regiment Captain Shabrovsky both have a rectangular bar).
Artillery-the protagonist Akimov's brother, the military cap is a khaki cap with a black cap ring, the collar is black with gold rim, on it is the professional symbol of the artillery crossed bronze guns and a red enamel square military rank symbol.
Border Guard-Lieutenant Kizhevatov, the commander of the 9th post of the Hongqi 17 Border Guard Corps. The military cap is green with a black cap and the collar is green with red rim. The professional symbol is the same as that of the infantry. The military rank symbol is three red enamels. Square (the collar in the movie is the rank of the captain, I don't know if it is an omission in the costume or because the literal translation of the Russian captain is the senior lieutenant)).
The Ministry of Internal Affairs-Lieutenant Wenstein, the military cap is a blue cap with a red ring, the collar is red with a red border, the professional symbol is the same as that of the infantry, and the military rank symbol is two red enamel squares. The shield and sword badges on the arms of Lieutenant Lieutenant Weinstein’s uniform indicate that he is not a general officer of the People’s Committee of the Interior (equivalent to the Internal Guard of the Armed Police), but an officer of the People’s Committee of National Security (KGB). The prototype of this character should be the chief of the fortress political police Feotir Kuchkalov. The name was changed to a German name probably because the original literary works contained descriptions of German-born Red Army commanders fighting steadfastly.
Military Music-Alexander Akimov, a platoon student of the 333 Infantry Regiment, wears the same clothes as his armies (in the movie, it is an infantry soldier's collar with red and black borders), and his professional symbol is a golden harp.
Military doctor-a military medical lieutenant who was taken hostage by the German army. The collar is light green with red borders (similar to the border guards, but the color is different. During the battle of the Brest Fortress, there were captured Soviet medical soldiers who were mistaken for the border guards by the Germans. , Almost shot directly), the professional symbol is the snake of Yasgunik.
Tank-the officer who reported to Major Gavrilov, gray uniform and military cap (other army arms are khaki), black hat ring, uniform leather jacket (work clothes), black collar with gold trim, professional symbol It is a small golden tank, and the rank symbol is a square. It seems to be a second lieutenant.
Air Force-the pilots who parachuted into the fortress are different from the simple red star crest of the army. The red star of the air force crest is shaped like a leaf, and there is also a small crest consisting of flying wings and five stars on the cap tile. The collar is blue with gold rim, and the professional symbols are propellers and flying wings. In addition, there is an armband composed of propellers, flying wings and crossed swords on the left arm. The service service of the Air Force is khaki like the Army.
Politics—Fu Ming, the political deputy head of the 84th Infantry Regiment, the regiment-level political commissar. There are only two differences in clothing between political and industrial officers and commanding officers of the same arms. One is the collar of the collar (the Fuming collar is black in the movie It is not golden, but the professional symbol is the same as the commanding officer of the same army. It is also an infantry. The four red enamel rectangular strips on the collar are the rank of the delegation-level political commissar-equivalent to a colonel); the second is that the armband of the military uniform of the political worker has a sickle. The red star with a hammer pattern, and the commanding officer's armband is the military rank represented by the gold and red broken lines.
One thing to point out here is that in the Soviet Red Army’s 1940-style military uniforms, the breeches of the officer’s service uniform are all blue, which does not represent a certain service category or profession. The khaki breeches of the same color as the uniform are worn by soldiers. Officers wear khaki breeches only when they wear field uniforms.
2. Why are there obviously juvenile soldiers in the Red Army?
The appearance of young soldiers like Akimov who are obviously not old enough to join the army in the movie is related to a historical tradition of the Soviet Russian army. The Russian army has always used the army instead of the government and society to care for and educate the orphans and soldiers of the martyrs. The tradition of the children (according to the movie, his parents were both Red Army martyrs who died in Spain). The imperial Russian era was in the form of a juvenile military academy. After the October Revolution, the juvenile military academy was banned, but the Red Army troops still retain this The tradition of adopting the survivors of martyrs, these children were adopted and educated by the army as trainees when they were minors, and they are generally trained to become officers when they are adults-just like Akimov's older brother. After the outbreak of the Soviet-German War, accompanied by a large number of deaths and injuries among soldiers, more and more martyrs orphans and children of soldiers who were not properly cared for and educated, did the Soviet army restore the juvenile military academy (the Suvorov Military Academy of the Army and the Army’s Suvorov Military Academy). Ushakov Military Academy of the Navy).
3. Was the Soviet army's vigilance and combat readiness very poor before the war?
At the beginning of the movie, there were a large number of Red Army officers from various services and arms dancing and walking in Brest Park. Although the singing and dancing were peaceful and the atmosphere was relaxed, from the point of view of the officers being fully armed, carrying pistols and image capsules, the border area The garrison's awareness of combat readiness is still relatively strong.
In the movie, the German commando disguised as the Soviet army sneaked into the plot by a freight train (the movie did not say whether it was the night of the 21st or the early morning of the 22nd, but in history, the last freight train sent from Germany to the Soviet Union was at 2 am on June 22nd. Point crossing the border into Brest Station), there is actually no evidence, just a speculation based on some data collected by the Soviet Union after the war. It is well documented that the Soviet troops in the Brest area, especially the border guards and internal forces, have been aware of the frequent cross-border activities of the German spies and reconnaissance units, and the internal forces have repeatedly captured disguise. As a German spy for Soviet soldiers, the border guards have repeatedly received warnings from local Polish civilians that the German offensive is imminent. Because of this, the border guards and internal forces that are directly responsible for handling these situations have maintained a high level of vigilance against the actions of the Germans. ——The German spies who gave false orders to the barracks of the internal forces in the movie were quickly seen through; relatively speaking, the regular troops who did not need to directly face and deal with these situations were less vigilant, and were still on the eve of the outbreak of the war. According to the regulations, the technical equipment was overhauled on weekends, so that in the German offensive the next day, most of the technical equipment was destroyed without being reinstalled.
Of course, the regular Red Army is not not at all vigilant against the Germans. In the movie, Major Gavrilov, the commander of the 44th Infantry Regiment, was called by Lieutenant Winstein of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to talk because he predicted that Germany would start a war. Major Frilov mentioned to Lieutenant Winstein about his ideas and concerns about the German offensive.
There is another noteworthy detail about the first day of the battle in the movie, that is, the forces commanded by Fuming Political Commissar and Major Gavrilov are pieced together. There are all arms and units. It can be seen in the original German army. Under the attack, the regular Red Army, which was relatively weak in combat readiness and work, has basically been disbanded. On the other hand, the border guards and internal forces commanded by Lieutenant Kizhevatov and Lieutenant Winstein, because of their high vigilance, basically did not leave the personnel, and maintained the integrity of the organizational system, especially the internal forces, which were everywhere in the regular Red Army troops. Even the heavy machine gun was dragged out before the running and clothes were worn. Although the units of the NKVD have a higher awareness of combat readiness than the regular Red Army, they are not good at this type of regular combat. As shown in the movie, in the first few positions of the Soviet army, the defense of the internal forces was the first to collapse. When night fell on the first day of the war, the defenses organized by the political commissar of Fuming and Major Gavrilov were still stable, and the direction of the internal forces was no longer able to withstand it. However, the direction of the border troops was equipped with a large number of automatic firearms (early Soviet Almost all the submachine guns equipped by the army were given to the border guards. In the movie, Lieutenant Kizhevatov took a PPD34 submachine gun.) The situation is not bad.
4. The well-prepared and heavily armed German army was retreated by the Soviet army, which had just recovered from the panic of being attacked, and was not fully armed. Is it an exaggeration of the movie?
A close analysis will reveal that Lieutenant Kizhevatov and Major Gavrilov organized two counterattacks near the Terespil Gate and the East Gate of the Kobrin Fortress respectively, the timing and the deployment. All are quite clever.
In the movie, Lieutenant Kizhevatov of the Border Guard, after the shelling ended, was unable to take care of his family, and quickly rushed to the barracks of the 17th Border Guard Corps 9th Outpost, facing the west gate of the fortress (Telespil Gate). At this time, the 3rd Battalion of the 135th Regiment of the German Army, which was attacking from the west, had broken the weak resistance of the border guards on the West Island, broke into the fortress from the Terespol gate, and was searching and advancing in the direction of the border guard barracks. Kizhevatov Seeing that it was too late to take out the weapon, the lieutenant let the border guards conceal in the barracks. When the Germans approached, they suddenly rushed out. The Germans were caught off guard by the Soviet counterattack. They only fired two rounds of rifle shooting, but before they had time to mount the bayonet. In a hand-to-hand melee, they were killed and wounded by the Soviet army wielding engineering spades, iron rods, furniture and even kitchen knives in addition to the bayonet rifles.
This battle can well reflect the different characteristics and habits of the Soviet and German armies in infantry combat. The German army has a tradition of focusing on firepower from the time of Frederick the Great. In this battle, although the German army was caught off guard, However, in the face of the crisis, they did not chaos. In the face of the Soviet counterattack launched at close range, they still maintained a strict skirmish line formation to meet the enemy. In a short period of time, they carried out two rounds of rifle salvos, and the Soviet army was charged. Defeated a piece, and the Soviet army's shooting in the charge was basically unorganized, and the accuracy was also much worse. In addition to the gap in the discipline and technology of rifle shooting, the German submachine guns used in large quantities aggravated the disparity in firepower between the two sides. ; On the other hand, compared with the relatively weak hand-to-hand combat capabilities of the German army, the Russian army has believed in "Bayonet is a good man, bullets are stupid" since the Suvorov era, and its hand-to-hand combat ability has always been among the best in the European army. . Lieutenant Kizhevatov knew very well the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy and us, so he came up with such a small trap that directly attacked the strengths and circumvented weaknesses without fighting firepower. As a result, the incompetent Soviet army defeated the fully armed German army. Fart peeing.
In another battle, Major Gavrilov, commander of the 44th Infantry Regiment, rushed to the east gate of the Kobrin Fortress by shelling, stopped the rout soldiers who were trying to escape from the fortress, and organized them. Arrange defenses on the spot. The 4th Battalion of the 134th Regiment of the German Army in this direction initially received the task of cutting off the connection between the fortress and the city of Brest, preparing to block the Soviet reinforcements coming from the eastern city of Brest. Major Frilov’s troops attacked. Later that day, the Soviet army in the border area had either collapsed or retreated hastily under the sudden attack of the German army. The possibility of sending reinforcements to the Brest Fortress no longer existed, so the German army started to the east gate of the Kobrin Fortress. Launched an offensive, and got the support of Goodry to install a cluster. Facing the German forces advancing in coordination with Butan, Major Gavrilov wisely ordered the Soviets to leave the strong but clearly-targeted fortifications, go out and hide, to avoid the direct fire of German tanks, and to get as close as possible to the Germans so that they can enter the blade as quickly as possible. The melee, counteracting the German firepower advantage, prepares to use cluster grenades against German tanks. Before he could use the cluster grenade, Alexander Akimov’s brother operated a 45mm anti-tank gun concealed on the side of the German attack and fired suddenly. After destroying two tanks in a row, he was turned by the last remaining German tank. The fire was overturned, and Alexander Akimov's brother died. The Soviet army from the front seized the opportunity of the Germans’ attention to the side and rushed to blow up the last German tank with a cluster grenade. The German infantry, who lost the tank support, was unsurprisingly led by Major Gavrilov. The Soviet army launched a hand-to-hand charge from close range to repel.
5. In the movie, why did the Soviet commander wait and be attacked and surrounded by the German army, behaving so passively?
In fact, the real situation of the first day of the battle was much more complicated than that shown in the movie. On the day of the war, the core fortresses were basically still controlled by the Soviets, and the German forces invaded by the three outer fortresses and scattered Soviet forces were also in a kind of situation. A state of canine teeth. The personnel on both sides were flowing and the front line was constantly changing. It was not until a few days later that the German army divided the Soviet army into several relatively fixed positions. Later, he came to the Holm Gate to command the battle; and Major Gavrilov also rushed into the core fortress from the three-arched gate, braving the German machine gun blockade, and rushed into the core fortress to gather troops. After several battles, he came to the eastern position of the Kobrin Fortress. of. However, in order not to make the plot too complicated, the movie directly brought these characters to the place where they finally stick to.
Even in the movie, the commander of the Soviet army did not wait while holding the fortress and organizing troops to block the German army. Instead, he kept trying to get in touch with his superiors and neighbors. Fuming ordered the radio station to keep calling, sending out the message "This is the Brest Fortress, this is the Brest Fortress, and we are still fighting...We need assistance!", but there was no answer. As a last resort, he had to send the secretary of the 84th Infantry Regimental Committee and deputy political instructor, Ma Jiewoxiang, to take an armored car, attempting to rush out of the fortress from the north gate and get in touch with the main Soviet forces outside the fortress. On the way, he met Changsha, the 125th Infantry Regiment Battalion who was asking for help. Captain Brovsky's wife, because of the more important task, Matevosian could not stop to help them, so she had to drive away. When he rushed to the north gate under the artillery fire, he found that a German tank appeared outside the gate, and he had no choice but to return. At this time, Captain Shablovsky, who was surrounded by the German army in the officer’s dormitory and resisted only with a pistol, had already burnt out the bullets. In order not to be a prisoner, he and his wife raised a gun to commit suicide. The plot of this section of the movie is artistically processed. , The real situation is that Matewoxiang failed to break through armored vehicles, but rescued many besieged soldiers and their families along the way (not only one armored vehicle as shown in the movie, but three), and Shabrovs Captain Kee’s sacrifice was not with a pistol, but was wounded and captured in battle, and drowned himself in water while being escorted by the Germans.
On the second day of the battle, after parachuting Soviet pilots learned that the main Red Army had been defeated and wiped out by the Germans from the border area, the Soviet commander in the fortress made a decisive decision to organize troops to break through and cross the battle line to find large troops. ——Only after the breakout operation failed, he had no choice but to defend himself.
Of course, in the Soviet Red Army after the Great Purge, officers generally lacked too much reliance on higher-level instructions and lacked initiative, and it is also a fact that they dare not make their own decisions without the approval of higher-levels.
6. Since Brest is called a fortress, why does it have neither strong fortifications nor strong firepower allocation?
This question starts with the history of the Brest Fortress.
Brest is located on the east bank of the Burg River at the junction of Belarus and Poland. It is an important transportation link between Warsaw-Moscow and Lithuania-West Belarus-West Ukraine. It is also an ancient city with a long history. Its name first appeared in European history books. It was in 1017, and its name was Berestiya. Due to the special geographical location of Brest, it has become a major battleground for military strategists. In the eleventh century, Kievan Rus occupied the area, and in 1319 it was occupied by Lithuania. Renamed as Brest-Litovsky, also known as Brest-Litovsk. In 1569, Brest belonged to the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania. Incorporated into Russia in 1795. After the War of 1812, Tsarist Russia built Russia's first-class fortress in the old city of Brest. In order to build the fortress, the original Brest city was moved to three kilometers east of the fortress. In December 1917, in order to end the war, Russia negotiated with Germany, and later signed the Brest Peace Treaty. Red Russia withdrew from the First World War, so Brest was famous all over the world. In February 1919, Poland occupied Brest. In 1920, Soviet Russia attacked Poland. In August, it regained the fortress and established Soviet power. In the same month, the Polish army defeated Soviet Russia and reoccupied Brest. For this reason, Soviet Russia has always been brooding about it. In 1939, Germany invaded Poland. The Soviet army launched the "West Belarus Liberation March" in accordance with the secret provisions of the "Soviet-German Non-aggression Pact". The Soviet army and the German army joined forces in Brest. Abe retreated from here in accordance with the agreement, and the two sides also held a celebration ceremony here. Since then, Brest and its fortress have become Soviet territory again, and Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union have bordered on the Bug River here.
The Brest Fortress was completed in 1842. It consists of four independent islands separated by the Bug River and the artificial canal. The central castle is located in the center of the entire fortification area. To the southwest of the central fortress is the Terespil Fortress, to the south is the Warren Fortress, and to the north is the Kobrin Fortress as a barrier. The central fortress is a ring-shaped building made of red bricks that combines military barracks, warehouses, command and defense functions. Its outer wall is two meters thick. The remaining three fortresses are the outer positions of the central fortress and are made of rammed earth. Dikes and bastions are formed, and each fortress is surrounded by rivers, and the fortresses are connected by bridges. After the completion of the Brest Fortress, it played an important role as the most important military stronghold of the Russian Empire in the western provinces. However, with the development of military science and technology, the defensive role of the fortress continued to decline in the face of the power and range of new artillery. ; And the development of transportation technology has made the fortresses that were guarding the main roads no longer geographically difficult to avoid; coupled with the continuous expansion of the imperial border to the west, the fortresses have gradually become a relatively deep position, and the military value of the fortresses has continued to decline, reaching a world Before the war, except for the central fortress which was still used as a barracks and warehouse, the three outer fortresses were already in a semi-destroyed state. For more than twenty years after 1915, the fortress changed hands continuously between Russia, Germany, Poland and the Soviet Union. After many battles and destruction during retreat, the fortress building was seriously damaged, although the Soviet Red Army took over the fortress in the second half of 1939. Restoration works have been going on, but until the eve of the outbreak of the war, the central fortress has not been completely restored. In the movie, when the protagonist enters the fortress by truck from the Terespol gate, it is clear that the white eagle of the Polish army still remains above the gate. The relief of the military emblem, the three outer positions are basically abandoned. Among them, the old city of Brest in the northern Kobrin fortress has the fortress garrison officer’s quarters, and the Warren fortress in the south has a border hospital and some warehouses. , And the Terespil Fortress on the west bank of the Bug River was too close to the German occupied area, so there were only some guard posts set up by the border guards.
7. Why is the Soviet army in the fortress so chaotic after being attacked?
In 1941, the garrison of the Brest Fortress was the 42nd Infantry Division and the 6th Orlov Red Banner Division, which belonged to the 28th Infantry Corps of the Western Special Military Region of the Soviet Union. Part of the combat troops have left the barracks in the fortress and entered the existing positions on the outskirts of Brest to deploy defenses. All regiments in the fortress (army and division commanding agencies are all located 3 kilometers east of the fortress). Apart from the Brest City) and scattered service units, there are only a few detachments on duty, with a total strength of no more than two regiments. In addition, there is only the 33rd independent engineering and construction regiment, except for the above-mentioned regular Red Army. The fortress is also stationed with the 17th Red Banner Brest Border Defense Corps under the People’s Committee of the Interior, and a part of the 132nd Battalion of the Internal Forces, with a total of about 8,000 people. It can be seen that although the number of Soviet troops in the fortress is not small, the organization is fragmented, the affiliation is complicated, and most of them are service troops that lack weapons and actual combat experience (the border defense and internal forces are experienced, but their duties are also It is not fighting against the enemy's regular army. In this case, it may not be more effective than the service unit). In the face of sudden blows, it is naturally difficult to organize and resist in a unified manner.
In addition, in addition to the soldiers, a large number of family members of the soldiers gathered in the fortress. Major Gavrilov, commander of the 44th Infantry Regiment, as a veteran of the Civil War and the Soviet-Finnish War, an experienced military commander (the major in the movie wears a Red Army’s 20th Anniversary Medal on his chest), Lieutenant Winstein confessed that he was worried about the situation at the fortress-a large number of military family members were in the fortress, but most of the combat troops were not in the fortress. Once an attack occurs, the civilians in the fortress will inevitably flee outside the fortress. The only way to go is the north gate of the Kobrin Fortress. Crowded people will inevitably lead to chaos. On the other hand, the soldiers and officers of the troops are not together (an explanation is that the combat troops are in the field, and the commanding organs of the regiments But it is inside the fortress; another explanation is that the soldier barracks are in the red brick circle of the core fortress, and the officer’s quarters are in the Kobrin fortress on the North Island). If the soldiers lose the officer’s organization, they will panic and run around. As a result The next day Major Gavrilov’s prophecy was fulfilled.
8. Why is there a major commander in the Soviet army?
This is not a mistake in the props or translation, but an objective reflection of the true history.
Because of the loss of a large number of high-level commanders in the Great Purge, the surviving officers were often promoted at an abnormal speed. Therefore, in the Red Army on the eve of the war, there appeared the ranks of major commander, lieutenant battalion commander and even deputy commander. Disproportionate positions are very common (compared to promotion, the requirements for qualifications, academic qualifications and other standards are much more rigid than for promotion). Although the ages of Major Gavrilov and Captain Zubachev are not very disproportionate to their positions, according to the introduction of the original work of the same name, the two Red Army officers are both low-educated and not systematically trained. "Worker and peasant cadres", if there is no major purges, it is impossible for them to be promoted to positions such as head and deputy head of the regiment.
9. The Soviet army in the direction of Holm Gate occupies the advantage of the terrain and has a "big killer" such as a heavy machine gun. Why can the German army persist at the bridgehead facing Holm Gate and lacking cover?
Under the command of the Fuming political commissar, the Soviet army blocked the bridge outside Holm with firepower in time, and the 1st Battalion of the 130th Regiment of the German Army, which was coming from the direction of the Warren Fortress in the south, blocked the fortress. After the first tentative offensive failed, the German army took the Soviet wounded and medical personnel captured in the Warren Fortress as hostages and blocked the front and marched towards the Hallwood Gate in an attempt to force the defenders to yield, but they were blessed. Ming political commissar rescued. Although the German army's several attacks were repelled by the Soviet Maxim M1910 heavy machine gun, the German army erected two MG34 general machine guns at the bridgehead. The Soviet Maxim M1910 heavy machine gun has a rate of fire of only 500-600 rounds/min, while the MG34 has a rate of fire as high as 900 rounds/min. Although the Soviet heavy machine gun has a strong ability to fire continuously, the amount of bullets fired per unit time is only that of the Germans. 1/3 of the two MG34s, not to mention suppressing the German firepower, if it weren't for the condescending terrain and thick walls as a cover, it would definitely be suppressed by the German machine guns and unable to fire, so the Germans could not be forced back from the bridge with the machine gun firepower. It makes sense for the two armies to fall into a confrontation across the river.
10. At the end of the movie, what do the different endings of the protagonists show?
Although the border guards and internal forces of the Soviet Union are military in nature, they are all under the NKVD. Although Lieutenant Wenstein is an officer of the KGB, the two units have always been divided. Separation and reunification (After the outbreak of the war, the National Security People’s Committee was merged by the NKVD into the State Administration of Political Security under the Ministry of Internal Affairs), so it can be regarded as the same department-so these two armed forces are one of the targets of their dictatorship. One of the regular Red Army (In the movie, when some of the Red Army raised the white flag and walked out of the fortress after the German broadcast, the officers of the border guard wanted to shoot at them, because as the armed forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, they were responsible for supervising the general army and Compared with the responsibilities of soldiers), they are more political and more determined and tenacious in combat. In the movie, the positions of the internal affairs and border guards were lost after all the personnel were killed. No surrender, no capture (at least not shown in the movie), two commanders-Lieutenant Winstein and Key Lieutenant Revatov also all died. This is also true in real history. The border guards are recognized as the most determined group of the defenders of Brest (probably because the internal forces, as they did in the movie, are not good at regular warfare, so although they resisted stubbornly, they quickly died and wounded. It was not mentioned very much because of the exhaustion), so that the Germans shot them on the spot as soon as they caught the border guards (maybe because they were not regular soldiers?). There were even captured Soviet health soldiers because their collars were similar to the border guards. , Was almost killed by mistake-it can be seen that even if they don't fight to the end, these soldiers under the Ministry of Internal Affairs have no good end.
Major Gavrilov, Fuming Political Commissar, and Captain Zubachev were eventually captured, but their fate was different after being captured. Major Gavrilov ushered in the end of the war in the prisoner-of-war camp, Captain Zubachev died of illness in the prisoner-of-war camp, and Fuming political commissar was shot directly by the wall of the core fortress. In fact, the real Fuming’s death was not like in the movie. It was an automatic stand up to the German military officer who was responsible for identifying the status of prisoners and frankly confessed the identity of Jews and political commissars. The real situation is that Fuming had changed the military uniforms of political cadres when he was captured, wearing a soldier uniform without any rank symbols, but was identified because of the traitor’s informant and was shot to death. It can also be seen in the movie that when Fuming was captured, the collar and rank symbols have been torn off. This shows that the screenwriter of the film also wants to show that Fuming concealed his identity from the side, just to cater to contemporary people’s heroism. Concepts arranged for him a heroic death method of self-recognition. Among Soviet soldiers defending the Brest Fortress, it was a common practice to conceal their identity when captured, especially for party members, military officers, political workers, and border guards and internal affairs soldiers affiliated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. This is not a fear of death, but a method of fighting against the enemy. In real history, the first thing Major Gavrilov thought of after being captured was to recall whether the party card was destroyed. As for Stalin's order to prohibit the Red Army commanders from tearing up the rank symbols when the battle is unfavorable, otherwise they are equivalent to deserters, that is a few months later.
In fact, it was not the original creation of the Germans to treat prisoners, political workers, border guards with semi-police status, and military personnel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs from ordinary prisoners, and even kill them. In fact, the Soviets did not invent the Polish captured by the "Victory March" in 1939. The prisoners were also screened and killed according to almost the same standards. As a prisoner of some countries, it’s not that the higher the rank and position, the more secure and the more favorable they can get. The Soviet Army Lieutenant General, Doctor of Military Engineering, and Bliss, who was once locked up in the same prisoner-of-war camp with Major Gavrilov Karbyshev, the chief designer of the special fortress restoration project, was watered by the SS in the cold winter, and was frozen alive into ice.
11. How long did the Soviet defenders of the Brest Fortress persist in fighting?
The introduction to the story of this movie is like this-the Soviet-German War broke out, the small Belarusian city of Brest near the Polish border was the first to be attacked by German artillery fire, but the guards contained dozens of times more than their own in the projectile. German forces. On the 30th day of the war, the Brest garrison that started the battle still stood by and sent the message "Here is a fortress and fighting" to the rear headquarters. The last Soviet soldier who had been fighting for more than a year in the tunnel of the Brest Fortress, which had been lost, was found by the Germans. He was almost blinded by the dazzling sunlight from the crypt. Facing the interrogation of the German general, his answer was: "General, now do you know how far is one verst?" ) This film is adapted from the true story of this battle-but the film only showed the battle for a week or so before it was over. The story of "how far is a mile" was not shown in the film.
According to German documents captured by the Soviet Union after the war, the fortress resisted for 9 days and fell on the night before July 1, 1941. During the German offensive on June 30, most of the Brest fortress was occupied. Lieutenant Zubachev and regiment-level political commissar Fuming, who was seriously wounded and exhausted, were captured, and Lieutenant Kozvatov of the border guards also died on this day. Although it is generally believed that the large-scale resistance of the Soviet army has collapsed after June 30 (the movie is only played here), the battle has not ended. According to the memories of many participants in the fortress defense battle, they were on July 10 or 15. When captured, fighting continued on individual defensive areas. Residents of Brest said: By the end of July or the first few days of August, the gunfire from the fort could still be heard. The 45th German Infantry Division did not submit the fortress to the Central Army until July 8. The report was occupied, and Major Zavrilov, who was one of the main organizers of the fighting on the Soviet side, was not captured until July 23. For a long time thereafter, both the German and Soviet sides took Zavrilov Major Love promoted as the last Soviet soldier in the fortress, but there was no direct evidence to prove its authenticity on the date of July 23.
In 1950, when a scientific researcher of the Moscow Museum was investigating the western barracks, he found another inscription carved on the wall: "I am going to sacrifice, but I will never surrender. Goodbye, motherland!" It has been blurred, but there is a clearly identifiable date at the bottom-"July 20, 1941". In this way, we found direct evidence that the fortress continued to resist on the 29th day after the war. But witnesses still held their own opinions, confirming that the fighting lasted more than a month.
The story of "how far is a mile" is not recorded in the original "Brest Fortress", but is another Soviet novel about the defense of the Brest Fortress-Boris Vassilier The prototype of the story in "Not on the Register" written by the husband in 1974. After all, "Brest Fortress" was completed in 1957. At that time, many materials about the battle had not yet been discovered, and Boris Vassily When Yev wrote "Not on the Roster", the information was much richer. Perhaps the story of "How Far is a Verst" was unearthed during this period (the Soviet and German sides also appeared in the battle on the Crimean Peninsula. In the past, the disintegrated Soviet soldiers withdrew into the depths of the mine and stood there for months or even a year until the Soviet army returned to the counterattack).
12. Does the hot screening of "Brest Fortress" reflect an ideological reflection and return to the Soviet era?
Although many people in many CIS countries, including Russia, reflect on the ups and downs that have gone through since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, they think that the disintegration of the Soviet Union was a mistake and a pity, just like the former Russian President Putin said in 2007. "Whoever does not regret the disintegration of the Soviet Union has no conscience." But at the same time, don't forget that Putin also said that "Whoever wants to restore the Soviet Union in the past has no brains." In the field of film, a mere "Brest Fortress" does not reflect how nostalgic the Soviet era is in the minds of the former Soviet citizens who have come from the Soviet era and are now of different nationalities. Don’t forget. , Just a year before this movie, Russia also launched a blockbuster like "Fearless Admiral Kolchak" praising the anti-Soviet White generals, and the response was also very enthusiastic. Could it be that people despised the Soviet era in their ideology at that time, and only a year later turned in the opposite direction? It is obviously wishful thinking and naive to think that just based on the hot screening of "Brest Fortress", it reflects the CIS countries' ideological reflection and return to the Soviet era.
In my opinion, the appearance of the movie "Brest Fortress" does not involve any issues in the field of ideology. It is actually a manifestation of a mature and rational historical outlook of the former Soviet republics including Belarus. They have at least Breaking out of the logic of simply dividing right and wrong, good and bad based on a class standpoint, even in the Soviet era, they were able to adhere to a concept of judging right and wrong from the standards of human morality and national state interests over class interests. (Of course, in the eyes of other nations, their heroes are very likely to be inexcusable robbers and demons). Although it was the current regime that ended the Soviet Union, since in the Soviet era, they were able to publicly sacrifice the imperial Russian soldiers who died in Lushun’s battle for the Tsar, and were able to film movies like "Ivan the Terrible" to praise the Tsar who laid the foundation for this country. So now, without involving ideological confrontation, they have filmed films like "Ninth Company" and "Brest Fortress" to celebrate the expansion of the country during the Soviet period and desperately defending the fruits of aggression. (Speaking of which, the Russians are defending The courage, determination, tenacity, and perseverance shown when stolen goods are always unimaginable. Soviet soldiers from Sevastopol to Lushun and then to Brest are also reasonable.
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