The Courage Monument is a large memorial that is also known as the Main Memorial Complex to the Brest Fortress, and it is located in the central courtyard of the Brest Fortress, in the western part of the City of Brest, within the southwestern part of the Republic of Belarus. The stern face of a Red Army soldier frowns down at the ruins of Brest Fortress, shattered by the Nazis' surprise attack in 1941. The defenders, surrounded, outnumbered and with no prospect of relief, fought on stubbornly and held up the German advance for several days. In recognition of this action, Brest earned the title "hero fortress." The laurel echoes the "hero city" titles given to Moscow, Leningrad (now St Petersburg), and Stalingrad (now Volgograd), sites of bloody and protracted battles thatultimately thwarted Hitler's invasion. Brest is in Belarus (or "White Russia"), which today is a separate country from Russia. The colossal war memorial is a dramatic reminder of how WWII is perceived in the former Soviet Union, and a startling piece of work.The monument is more than a hundred feet high. CNN jokingly included it in their list of the ugliest attractions in the world, but later apologized when they found the Belarussians did not regard a solemn monument to the courage of dead soldiers as a laughing matter.
