The city was well organized for defense, and in the Battle for Brest Middleton's units went about capturing it methodically. The defense of the city was under German Generalleutnant Hermann Ramcke with whom Middleton carried on a dialog during the siege. Ramcke sent Middleton a map showing where several hundred American prisoners were being held in the city, but also slyly placed on the map a number of red crosses where the Allies knew some good bombing targets were located, such as ammunition depots. Middleton wrote back to Ramcke telling him to remove some of the bogus red crosses, or some terms of the Geneva Convention might have to be ignored. Middleton also reminded Ramcke of the Allies' superior artillery and air power.