1945 Moscow Victory Parade Explained
The 1945 Moscow Victory Parade (Russian: Парад Победы|r= Parad Pobedy), also known as the Parade of Victors (Russian: Парад победителей|r= Parad pobediteley), was a victory parade held by the Soviet Armed Forces (with the Color Guard Company representing the First Polish Army) after the defeat of Nazi Germany. This, the longest and largest military parade ever held on Red Square in the Soviet capital Moscow, involved 40,000 Red Army soldiers and 1,850 military vehicles and other military hardware. The parade lasted just over two hours on a rainy June 24, 1945, over a month after May 9, the day of Germany's surrender to Soviet commanders.
Stalin's order for the observance of the parade
The parade itself was ordered by Joseph Stalin on June 22, 1945, by virtue of Order 370 of the Office of the Supreme Commander in Chief, Armed Forces of the USSR.This order is as follows:
This was preceded by another letter by General of the Army Aleksei Antonov, Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces to all the participant fronts in attendance on the 24th of the previous month which is as follows:
Parade training
Intensive preparations for the parade took place in late May and early June in Moscow. The preliminary rehearsal of the Victory Parade took place at the Central Airfield, and the general rehearsal on Red Square on June 22.[1]
Marshals Georgy Zhukov, who had formally accepted the German surrender to the Soviet Union, and Konstantin Rokossovsky, rode through the parade ground on white and black stallions, respectively. The fact is commemorated by the equestrian statue of Zhukov in front of the State Historical Museum, on Manege Square. Zhukov's stallion was called Кумир ("Idol") while Rokossovsky's was called Столб ("Pole"). The General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, stood atop Lenin's Mausoleum and watched the parade alongside other dignitaries present.
According to certain editions of Zhukov's memoirs, Stalin had intended to ride through the parade himself, but he fell from the horse during the rehearsal and had to yield the honor to Zhukov, who used to be a cavalry officer. However, this story is disputed by former Soviet spy Viktor Suvorov. He claims that the story was inserted into Zhukov's memoirs as a counterargument to his theory, (although it apparently was in circulation earlier)[2] that Stalin didn't lead the parade because he considered the war's results not worthy of the effort invested.[3] Suvorov notes several inconsistencies in the story, along with numerous evidence that Zhukov was intended all along for the role of leading the parade; for example, the memoirs of Sergei Shtemenko, the man responsible at the time for the preparation of the parade, state that the roles were decided from the start,[4] and Igor Bobylev (who took part in the preparations) claims that the story never happened and that Stalin never visited the Manege at that time. Another planned part of the parade was the march of the Victory Banner, which was delivered to Moscow from Berlin on June 20 and was supposed to begin the procession of troops. Despite this, the weak drill training of Mikhail Yegorov, Meliton Kantaria and Stepan Neustroev forced Marshal Zhukov to not go ahead with this portion of the parade.[5]
The parade
Displays of the Red Army vehicles were some of the focal points of the ceremony. It was one of the few times in which Cossacks took part in a victory parade, with personnel from the 4th Guards Cossacks Cavalry Corps taking part in the procession of troops as part of the 2nd Ukrainian Front's combined regiment.[6] One of the most famous moments at the end of the troops parade took place when soldiers from the Separate Operational Purpose Division of the NKVD carried the German standards and threw them down next to the mausoleum. One of the standards that was tossed down belonged to the LSSAH, Hitler's personal bodyguard.
The next day, a reception was held in the Grand Kremlin Palace in honor of the participants in the Victory Parade. Due to the bad weather that day the flypast segment and the planned civil parade were cancelled. Nonetheless, this two-hour parade remains the longest and largest military parade in Red Square's history, and involved 40,000 soldiers and 1,850 military vehicles and other military hardware.
Band and music
The procession had musical accompaniment that was provided by the massed bands of the Moscow Garrison, led by Major General Semyon Tchernetsky, Senior Director of Music. The combined band consisted of 38 military bands coming from Moscow military schools, as well as military units of the Red Army and the NKVD. The combined band numbered 1,220 musicians under the direction of 50 bandmasters. In total,the parade saw the participation of 1,313 musicians, the youngest of whom was 13 years old.
The parade repertoire was finalized for approval on 5 June 1945. The final list included 36 tracks, including the Soviet anthem, fanfares and slow marches. Twenty works that were performed at the parade were written by Tchernetsky himself. The inspection part of the parade commenced with Tchernetsky's Jubilee Slow March "25 Years of the Red Army"[7] and ended with the performance of Slavsya. The first song after the conclusion of the inspection was the Moscow ceremonial fanfare under the direction of conductor Vasily Agapkin. The parade was opened by the young drummers of the Corps of Drums from the Moscow School of Musicians, wearing uniforms similar to those of the Moscow Suvorov Military School and led by a bandmaster, which after marching past soon took its place behind the massed bands to provide additional support. The parade ended with the Glory to the Motherland march. Additional marches have included Jaeger March, March of the 92nd Pechersk Regiment, March of the Leningrad Guards Divisions, March "Joy of Victory", March "Hero".[8]
Parade participants
Ground column
- Fronts of the Soviet Army, Navy, Army Air Forces and Air Defense Forces composed of:
- Ground Troops and Air Force officers and personnel of the following fronts:
- Flag Disposal regiment of the 1st Internal Troops Division of the USSR NKVD "Felix Dzerzhinsky" composed of captured enemy standards and colors carried by the fronts
- Maj. Gen. Mikhail Duka was entrusted with carrying the symbolic key to the defeated city of Berlin[9]
- Moscow Military District, Armed Forces of the Soviet Union contingent under Garrison and District Commander Col. Gen. Pavel Artemyev
- Military Schools and Academies Combined Joint Division
- Infantry Units
- Kremlin Regiment
- OMSDON 1st NKVD Internal Troops Mechanized Rifle Division (Special Duties) "Felix Dzerzhinsky"
- 2nd NKVD Internal Troops Division
- Border Protection and Security Service of the NKVD
- K-9 Units (engineering, medical troops, anti-tank)
Mounted column
- Army Cavalry regiments within the Moscow area
- Army Horse Artillery
- Tachanka battalion
Mobile column
- Soviet Air Defence Forces
- Anti-aircraft guns (towed and truck-mounted)
- Searchlight trucks
- Acoustic range finders
- Army Rocket Forces and Field Artillery
- Army Infantry - joint regiment of motorized infantry formations
- Army Airborne Forces
- Army Tank Forces contingent
- Army Artillery self-propelled artillery contingent
Legacy
- Outside the 1945 parade, the only parade to be held on 24 June was in 2020 in honor of the 75th anniversary of the victory.[10] [11] Elements of the 1945 parade were included in the 2020 parade, the most notable of which being the bands playing the Jubilee Slow March "25 Years of the Red Army" at the outset of the inspection stage.[12]
- A statue of Zhukov on his parade horse is located near the State Historical Museum on Manezhnaya Square.[13] There was an original debate over where to place the statue, with many saying that it should be located at the site of the parade, Red Square.[14]
- During the 2010 Moscow Victory Day Parade, the contingent from Turkmenistan, upon request from the government of Turkmenistan, was led by an officer riding on horseback, with the horse being a descendant of the horse used during the 1945 parade.[15]
- In 2008, during the celebrations of the Independence Day of South Ossetia, the annual military parade in Tskhinvali saw Georgian flags being thrown to the ground by South Ossetian militiamen, resembling how Soviet soldiers threw German flags on Red Square during the parade of 1945.[16]
- In 2020, during a Victory Parade in the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinval, equestrian team from the Russian FSB took part, with the equestrian ranks being led by an officer on a stallion called Brilliant, a direct descendant of Idol.[17]
- In the 2017 Moscow Victory Day Parade, officers wore the new standing-collar tunic for the first time, which was supposed to resemble the uniforms officer corps in the 1945 Parade of Victors.[18] At the 2020 parade, the Mongolian contingent wore a modified version of those uniforms[19] and later that year, officers of the Korean People's Army wore uniforms based on those worn at the 1945 parade at a military parade on Kim Il-sung Square.[20]
- In the Kazakh city of Almaty, there is a street near Abay Avenue on called 24 June Street, named in honor of the first Victory Parade.[21]
See also
References
Works cited
- Черток . М. . Музыка парада победы . . 2015 . 2 . 1–5.
External links
Notes and References
- Web site: Состоялся Парад Победы на Красной площади. Президентская библиотека имени Б.Н. Ельцина.
- Web site: http://lib.rus.ec/b/181472/read . ru:Святое Дело . Viktor Surorov . 2011-07-17. ru.
- Web site: http://militera.lib.ru/research/suvorov3/01.html . ru:Последняя Республика . Militera.lib.ru . 2011-07-17. ru.
- Web site: ВОЕННАЯ ЛИТЕРАТУРА --[Мемуары ]-- Штеменко С.М. Генеральный штаб в годы войны]. militera.lib.ru.
- Web site: The first victory parade of the year. Victory Parade History: How It Was. pnisintek.ru. 2020-06-30. 2021-02-25. https://web.archive.org/web/20210225145332/https://pnisintek.ru/en/pervyi-parad-pobedy-god-istoriya-parada-pobedy-kak-eto-bylo/. dead.
- Web site: Кубанские казаки - участники парада Победы в Москве 24 июня 1945 года. www.slavakubani.ru. 2020-07-07. 2020-07-07. https://web.archive.org/web/20200707140319/http://www.slavakubani.ru/p-service/military-service/history-units/kubanskie-kazaki-uchastniki-parada-pobedy-v-moskve-24-iyunya-1945-goda/. dead.
- Web site: Парад Победы в Москве начнется с исполнения «Юбилейного встречного марша». Дмитрий. Кузнецов. June 2, 2020. Daily Storm.
- Web site: Музыка : Министерство обороны Российской Федерации . Главная . 2016-09-05 . ru . 2021-02-04 . 2020-09-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200904155844/http://stat.mil.ru/winner_may/media/music.htm . dead .
- Web site: Дука Михаил Ильич. www.warheroes.ru.
- News: 2020-05-26. Russia to hold Victory Day Parade on June 24 — Putin. TASS. 2020-05-26.
- News: 2020-05-26. Putin Orders June 24 Victory Day Parade as Russia Flattens Virus Curve. The Moscow Times. 2020-05-26.
- Web site: Кузнецов. Дмитрий. June 2, 2020. Парад Победы в Москве начнется с исполнения «Юбилейного встречного марша». Daily Storm.
- Web site: Marshal Zhukov monument . izi.TRAVEL . 1945-06-24 . 2021-02-04.
- Web site: Fifty Years Later, Russia Finally Honoring World War II Hero. AP NEWS.
- Web site: Гундогар :: Россия-Туркменистан: 65-летию Победы в Великой Отечественной войне посвящается. gundogar.org.
- Web site: Civil.Ge Tskhinvali Celebrated 'Independence Day'. Georgia. Civil. www.civil.ge. en. 2017-08-08.
- Web site: В Цхинвале в параде примут участие более тысячи военнослужащих. June 23, 2020. Яндекс.Новости.
- Web site: Степовой. Александр Круглов, Богдан. 2018-06-22. Парадная стойка. 2020-03-07. Известия. ru.
- Web site: ТЭД УЛААН ТАЛБАЙД .... gsmaf.gov.mn. 19 June 2020 .
- Web site: Kim Jong Un Just Showed The World The War Machine He Built While Feinting Diplomacy. Tyler. Rogoway. The Drive. 10 October 2020 .
- Web site: Казахстан, Алматы, улица 24 Июня. Яндекс.Карты.
