diff --git a/cores/esp8266/core_esp8266_main.cpp b/cores/esp8266/core_esp8266_main.cpp
index 0c1eb02bf..80d5294ca 100644
--- a/cores/esp8266/core_esp8266_main.cpp
+++ b/cores/esp8266/core_esp8266_main.cpp
@@ -127,6 +127,9 @@ static void do_global_ctors(void) {
 extern "C" void __gdb_init() {}
 extern "C" void gdb_init(void) __attribute__ ((weak, alias("__gdb_init")));
 
+extern "C" void __gdb_do_break(){}
+extern "C" void gdb_do_break(void) __attribute__ ((weak, alias("__gdb_do_break")));
+
 void init_done() {
     system_set_os_print(1);
     gdb_init();
diff --git a/cores/esp8266/core_esp8266_postmortem.c b/cores/esp8266/core_esp8266_postmortem.c
index 1af8f57ca..407ede2e2 100644
--- a/cores/esp8266/core_esp8266_postmortem.c
+++ b/cores/esp8266/core_esp8266_postmortem.c
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@
 #include "cont.h"
 
 extern void __real_system_restart_local();
+extern void gdb_do_break();
+
 extern cont_t g_cont;
 
 static const char* s_panic_file = 0;
@@ -184,11 +186,14 @@ void __assert_func(const char *file, int line, const char *func, const char *wha
     s_panic_file = file;
     s_panic_line = line;
     s_panic_func = func;
+    gdb_do_break();
 }
 
 void __panic_func(const char* file, int line, const char* func) {
     s_panic_file = file;
     s_panic_line = line;
     s_panic_func = func;
+    gdb_do_break();
     abort();
 }
+
diff --git a/libraries/GDBStub/src/internal/gdbstub.c b/libraries/GDBStub/src/internal/gdbstub.c
index 7ca195ea7..5c0bfc252 100644
--- a/libraries/GDBStub/src/internal/gdbstub.c
+++ b/libraries/GDBStub/src/internal/gdbstub.c
@@ -787,4 +787,9 @@ void ATTR_GDBINIT gdbstub_init() {
 #endif
 }
 
+void ATTR_GDBFN gdbstub_do_break_wrapper() {
+	gdbstub_do_break();
+}
+
+extern void gdb_do_break() __attribute__((weak, alias("gdbstub_do_break_wrapper")));
 extern void gdb_init() __attribute__((weak, alias("gdbstub_init")));