At Post No. 1

In winter and summer, in the cold and heat, guards stand by the Eternal Flame of the Brest Hero-Fortress memorial complex. Every day high school, lyceum and gymnasiums students keep the Memory Watch; for half a century, about a hundred thousand the Young Army members have taken part in the guard of honour in the Citadel. This year, the Brest Fortress Memory Post, which has become one of the hallmarks of Brest, was recognised with the President’s Spiritual Revival Award.

The best come out on Victory Day

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Igor Chikalov, who has headed the headquarters of Post No. 1 for more than two decades, says, “The decision to form Post No. 1 was made by the Education Department of the Brest City Executive Committee and the Komsomol City Committee on March 4th, 1972. And on May 9th of the same year, Brest schoolchildren took part in the Memory Watch for the first time.”
Every 20 minutes from the South-Eastern Barracks of the Central Fortification of the Brest Fortress, the relief commander leads the guard of honour to the Memory Post: two boys who serve as sentries and two girls who serve as relief sentries. The girls’ hair is braided tightly, always with white bows.


We follow the guard from the guardroom. Post No. 1 is characterised with army discipline. A soiled heel or a fold in clothes is immediately noticed. Igor Chikalov also controls the guards entering the post, with an experienced look of a reserve officer he notes ‘inaccuracies’, — “Distance! Fourth shift, pull up! Non-synchronous drill step. The relief commander, do not rush! You set a very fast pace, they do not keep up with you.”
It is tourists and honoured guests who see a beautiful picture. But all this is achieved through months of theory and drill. One must stand in one position, without moving, for 20 minutes. Then the sentries will be replaced by the next shift. Classes are held in the barracks, where durin­g the war there was a rifle regiment of the fortress. The chief of the guard gives marks, observing the intercession to the post. The results are summed up weekly, according to which the best guard of honour of the year is presented with the pos­sibility to stand at the Eternal Flame on May 9th.
Can anyone who wants to join the guard of honour? No. Every Brest school has a military-patriotic interest club. Among the members of the club, a memorial detachment is recruited, which includes 33 peop­le: 25 for the main team, eight for the reserve shift. Age — not younger than 14. A doctor’s approval is required.
Thus, once a year, for one week, each of the 42 educational institutions of the city delegates 25 members of memory watches to carry out the honorary Young Army mission. The watch runs from Thursday to Wednesday from 08:30 to 14:30.
How are the responsibilities distributed in the guard? The chief is always a young man, the assistant and commissar are a girl or a young man, the relief commanders and sentries are only young men, relief sentries are girls. Any of the group can be an orderly or a guide in the Museum of the Memory Post.
 The retired lieutenant colonel assures that all seven days for the Young Army members are busy, “In addition to the watch, we are engaged in pre-conscription training and patriotic education. Each of the groups visits the museums of the memorial complex, the Kizhevatov frontier outpost, the fifth fort, holds meetings with military personnel, publishes a mural newspaper.”

Dad, mom, and I are a Young Army family

For 50 years, dynasties of the Young Army members have already formed in Brest. For example, the mother and father of Yegor Amosov, the chief of the guard of honour, an eleventh-grader of School No. 9, were on the Memory Watch. Yegor says, “I have already stepped in for the fourth time. Of course, the parents suggested something, shared their memories.” Ilya Iovlev’s father and elder sister stood at the Eternal Flame of the Brest Fortress. Ilya Iovlev takes over the Memory Post for the sixth time, the fourth of them as the chief of the guard, “I will remember my first watch forever. There was excitement and experience, I did not want to let the friends, the guards, the school down. We are doing an important thing, we pay tribute to the memory of our soldiers. Following the example of my father, I plan to connect my life with the army.”
Igor Chikalov is sure that the Memory Posts are not only provide patriotic education, but also harden the body and spirit, as well as help in choosing a profession. Every year, 25–30 graduates enter military educational institutions, linking their lives with the border, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the army. The headquarters issues references and recommendations to applicants, which are taken into account by educational institutions. The lieutenant colonel told how one of the graduates entered the Russian military school, “Four people with the same scores, and one place. Who will be enrolled? Our cadet remembered my parting words: he put on our insignia, marched in line, and reported clearly. They began to ask him about the Memory Post, about the fortress. As a result, they enrolled him, and the competitors were offered to come next year.”

Let the generations know

There were 168 Memory Posts in the USSR. Igor Chikalov regrets that many ceased to exist in the 1990s, “In 1997 – 1998, some were restored. Now there are 50 posts, of which three of them in our country — in Brest, Minsk and Mogilev. We keep in touch, hold a rally once a year. In June, this will be held in the Brest Fortress and will be dedicated to our 50th anniversary.”


The retired lieutenant colonel admitted that he, the former military man, accepted the appointment as chief of staff of the Memory Post with pride, because from 2001 to 2004 the headquarters was headed by his father, Colonel Mikhail Chikalov. Once case also helped to verify the correctness of the decision, “A German delegation arrived at the fortress one day. The guests saw guys in uniform and decided to take a picture. We approached the guards, called out, but they did not react in any way: the relief commander was walking and did not pay attention to the tourists. Then they entered the guardroom with an interpreter. They asked permission to talk to the students. They asked a provocative question, in my opinion. They said something about how their ancestors were on our land in 1941. And now here they are. What do you think about it? One girl — the commissar of the guard — answers that ‘you came to visit us, and we welcome you as guests. And if you had come as in 1941, we would have met you just like our great-grandfathers’.”
Igor Chikalov admits, 

“I have no doubt that the Eternal Flame will never go out in the Brest Fortress, and that the guys and girls will stand in the Citadel at Post No. 1, saluting the feat of the fallen heroes, known and nameless, today, tomorrow and in another 50 years.”

By Valentina Kozlovich
Photos by Pavel Bogush