Metravel city quest
City Brest: free walking route “Order No. 1: Three Days of the Brest Fortress” along the sights. 8 points. Approximately 2 h. Quests and legends - straight
Late in the evening of 21 June 1941, Captain Ivan Zubachev came home to the fortress. He had supper with his family and talked with his children, and only after midnight did the household fall asleep. A few hours later he was woken by explosions.
Communications were destroyed, the passages were under fire, and the defenders found themselves split into separate groups. Zubachev set off for his regiment. Over the next three days he and the other commanders had to do something almost impossible: find one another in the midst of battle and try to unite the defense.
This route is a documentary investigation. At each stop you will restore one fragment of events. At the end you will learn how a scrap of paper, found under the ruins nine years later, gave the story back the names of its participants.
The route points in order — what these places are and why they are interesting. Tasks and answers stay inside the quest.
At about four in the morning on 22 June, the artillery barrage began. Zubachev woke to the explosions and hurried to his regiment's quarters.
To understand what happened on the morning of 22 June, it helps to picture the fortress the day before. It was not a deserted military site but a real little town: soldiers lived in the barracks, clubs and canteens stood nearby, and families and children slept in the officers' houses.
Opening hours: Daily 10:00–21:00
On the first day there was no unified command in the fortress. Soldiers defended individual barracks, gates and fortifications, often without knowing what was happening right next to them.
On 24 June, the defenders gathered in the engineering regiment's barracks. They decided to establish a joint headquarters and a combined combat group led by Ivan Zubachyov and Yefim Fomin.
Uniting people by an order was possible. Bringing back water was not.
The ring barracks encircled the Citadel for almost 1.8 kilometres. Their thick brick walls served both as the garrison's living quarters and as a defensive wall.
The walls of the Kholm Gate have kept traces of what no single document can convey. Step closer: the surface of the brick has itself become a witness to the battle.
You have reached the centre of the Citadel. Before the revolution this was the garrison church.
This route is part of Metravel city quests. Below are the other quests in this city and cities with quests nearby.
Traveller articles about this city will help round out the walk.