Belarus: Brest Fortress

Brest Fortress is the westernmost Belarusian town of Brest was built as a defensive outpost of the Russian empire in the 18th century. The fortress is more known however for what happened in 1941. When the Nazi Germany invaded the USSR, it was here that the attack began and with the launch of Operation Barbarossa at 4:15AM on June 22, 1941. Within just 5 hours the fortress was completely surrounded, and 8 days later Nazis had occupied almost the entire territory of Belarus. Yet, the Brest fortress stood in resistance until July 20, when the last its  2901 soldiers was killed.