Defense of Brest Fortress

Battle of Brest
	Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
	; The Eastern Front at the time of the Battle of Brest.
Date	22–29 June 1941
Location	Brest, Belarusian SSR, Soviet Union
Result	German victory
Belligerents
Germany	Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Fritz Schlieper	Pyotr Gavrilov (POW); Ivan Zubachyov (POW); Andrey Kizhevatov †; Yefim Fomin
Strength
About 17,000, 2 panzer divisions	Over 9,000, 2 T-26 Infantry Tanks, BA-20 Bobik
Casualties and losses
429 dead, 668 wounded	More than 2,000 dead; about 6,800 captured

The defense of Brest Fortress was the first battle of Operation Barbarossa, the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union launched on 22 June 1941. The German Army attacked without warning, expecting to take Brest on the first day, using only infantry and artillery, but it took them a week, and only after two bombardments by the Luftwaffe. Many defenders were killed or captured.