Opposing Forces
The garrison in the fortress comprised approximately 9,000 Soviet soldiers, including regular soldiers, border guards and NKVD men. Soviet soldiers belonged to the elements of the 6th (under Colonel Mikhail Popsuy-Shapko) and 42nd Rifle Divisions (under General Ivan Lazarenko), the 17th Frontier Guards Detachment of the NKVD Border Troops and various smaller units (including the garrison hospital and a medical unit) inside the fortress. There were also 300 families of the servicemen inside the fortress as well.
The initial defense plan allowed for 12 hours to secure the area in face of the 45th Infantry Division (Austrian) (about 17,000 strong) as well as elements of the 31st, 34th Infantry Divisions and 2nd Panzer Group under Heinz Guderian (in total, about 20,000 men).
Read more about this topic: Defense Of Brest Fortress
Famous quotes related to opposing forces:
“As one who knows many things, the humanist loves the world precisely because of its manifold nature and the opposing forces in it do not frighten him. Nothing is further from him than the desire to resolve such conflicts ... and this is precisely the mark of the humanist spirit: not to evaluate contrasts as hostility but to seek human unity, that superior unity, for all that appears irreconcilable.”
—Stefan Zweig (18811942)