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Moscow Victory Parade of 1945

The Moscow Victory Parade of 1945 was a victory parade held by the Soviet army (with a small squad from the Polish army) after the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War. It took place in the Soviet capital of Moscow, mostly centering around a military parade through Red Square. The parade took place 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 Marshal of the Soviet Union Joseph (Iosif) 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 at follows:

Order of the Supreme Commander in Chief, Armed Forces of the USSR and concurrent People's Commissar of State for National Defense

To mark the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War, I order a parade of troops of the Army, Navy and the Moscow Garrison, the Victory Parade, on June 24, 1945, at Moscow's Red Square.

Marching on parade shall be the combined regiments of all the fronts, a People's Commissariat of National Defense combined regiment, the Soviet Navy, military academies and schools, and troops of the Moscow Garrison and Military District.

My deputy, Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov will be the parade inspector. Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky will command the Victory Parade itself. I entrust to Col. Gen. Pavel Artemyev, the preparations and the supervision of the parade organization, due to his concurrent capacities as the Commanding General of the Moscow Military District and Commanding Officer in charge of the Moscow City Garrison.

June 22, 1945. Order #370
(signed) MARSHAL OF THE SOVIET UNION JOSEPH V. STALIN
Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Armed Forces of the USSR
And concurrent People's Commissar of National Defense of the USSR

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:

Order to the Fronts who will participate in the Victory Parade

The Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces has ordered that:

1. In order for the front to participate in the Moscow City parade in honor of the victory over Germany, each front will be represented by a combined regiment which is to be raised among them.

2. The following pattern will form the combined front regiment as follows:

5 two-company battalions with 100 men in the company (10 squads of 10 men each) will be the basis, accompanied by:
19 command staff officers from the front
One regimental commander
Two deputy regimental commanders for drill and ceremony and political training respectively
One regimental chief of staff
5 Battalion commanders
10 company commanders
36 color bearers and 4 escorting officers.
All in all the regiment will be composed of 1,059 male active personnel and 10 additional reserve personnel.

3. A combined regiment for the parade will have the following companies:

6 infantry companies
1 artillery company
1 tank company
1 air company
and 1 combined company (composed of cavalrymen, sappers and signalmen respectively).

4. The companies in attendance will be manned so as to have the middle-ranked officers commanding the squads, which are then composed of privates and sergeants.

5. The combined regiment will be armed in the following pattern on the parade:

3 infantry companies with rifles,
3 infantry companies with sub-machine guns,
the artillery company with slung carbines,
the tank company and the air company both armed with pistols,
and the combined cavalry, signals and sapper company also with slung carbines and with sabres for the cavalrymen in attendance.

6. The Front Commanders and all commanders including air and tank army commanders will arrive in Moscow for the Parade.

7. On June 10 of this year, the combined regiment of the front will arrive in Moscow having 36 combat colors from selected Front units that are the most distinguished in action, and all the captured enemy standards, whatever the number, selected to be carried in the parade proper.

8. The full dress uniform will be issued in Moscow for use on the parade by the regimental staff.

May 24, 1945
(signed) GENERAL OF THE ARMY ALEKSEI ANTONOV
Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces

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") 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.

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 later, as a counterargument to his theory, (although it apparently was in circulation earlier) that Stalin didn't lead the parade because he considered the war's results not worthy of the effort invested. Suvorov notes several inconsistencies in the story, along with plenty of 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, and Igor Bobylev (who took part in the preparations) claims hat the story never happened and that Stalin never visited the Manege at that time.

Displays of the Red Army vehicles were some of the focal points of the ceremony. One of the most famous moments at the end of the troops parade took place when various Red Army soldiers carried the banners of Nazi Germany and threw them down next to the mausoleum. One of the standards that was tossed down belonged to the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Hitler's personal bodyguard. Due to the bad weather that day the flypast segment and the planned civil parade were cancelled; if the weather had improved, the flypast would have been led by Chief Marshals of Aviation Alexander Novikov and Alexander Golovanov.

Parade participants

First Ukrainian Front in Victory Parade.
Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov (parade inspector)
Marshal of the Soviet Union Konstantin Rokossovsky (parade commander)
Military bands
Massed Military Bands of the Moscow Military District
Conductor: Major Gen. Semen Chernetsky, Senior Director of Music of the Central Military Orchestra, People's Commissariat of National Defense
Moscow A. Surovov Military Music School Corps of Drums

Ground Column

Fronts of the Soviet Army, Navy and Army Air Forces and Air Defense Forces composed of:

Ground Troops and Air Force officers and personnel of the following fronts:

Karelian - led by Regimental Commanders Maj. Gen. Grigory Kalinovsky and Marshal Kirill Meretskov
Leningrad - led by Regimental Commanders Maj. Gen. Andrei Stuchenko and Marshal Leonid Govorov
1st Baltic- led by Regimental Commanders Guards Lt. Gen. Anton Lopatin and General of the Army Ivan Bagramyan
1st Belorussian - led by Regimental Commanders Maj. Gen. Ivan Rosly and Col. Gen. Kusma Trubnikov
2nd Belorussian - led by Regimental Commanders Lt. Gen. Kosntantin Erastov and General of the Army Vasily Sokolovsky
3rd Belorussian - led by Regimental Commander Marshal Aleksandr Vasilevsky
1st Polish Army Color Guard Company led by Chief of the Army General Staff, General Władysław Korczyc (the only foreign army squad invited for the parade)
1st Ukrainian - led by Regimental Commanders Maj. Gen. Gleb Baklanov and Marshal Ivan Konev
2nd Ukrainian - led by Regimental Commanders Lt. Gen. Ivan Afonin and General of the Army Andrei Yeremenko
3rd Ukrainian - led by Regimental Commanders Guards Maj. Gen. Nikolai Biryukov and Marshal Rodion Malinovsky
4th Ukrainian - led by Regimental Commanders Guards Lt. Gen. Andrei Bonddarev and Marshal Fyodor Tolbukhin

Fleet, Land and Air personnel of the Soviet Navy, under Navy Contingent Commander Vice Adm. Vladimir Fadeev

Northern Fleet
Baltic Fleet
Dnieper River Flotilla
Danube Flotilla
Caspian Flotilla
Black Sea Fleet
Marine Infantry Command (Naval Infantry (Russia))
Coastal Defense Forces
Soviet Naval Aviation Service
Coastal Artillery Command

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

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
M.V. Frunze Military Academy
Suvorov Military School
Military Armored Troops Service School
Military Engineering Academy
F. Dzerzhinsky Military Artillery School
V. I. Lenin Political-Military Academy
Moscow City Soviet Border Protection Superior College
Moscow Military Infantry Training School

Infantary Units

1st Moscow Rifle Division
14th Rifle Division
27th Rifle Division
16th Rifle Division
84th Tula Rifle Division
55th Rifle Division
Kremlin Regiment
OMSDON 1st NKVD Internal Troops Mechanized Rifle Division (Special Duties) "Felix Dzerzhinsky"
Border Protection and Security Service of the NKVD
K-9 Units (engineering, medical troops, anti-tank)

Mounted Column

Army Cavalry Command and Cavalry Mechanized Groups Command
Army Horse Artillery
M1927
Canon de 76 M(montagne) modele 1909 Schneider
152 mm howitzer M1909/30
122 mm howitzer M1910/30 (also used by the regular artillery)
Army Horse Tachanka Brigades

Mobile Column

Army Air Defense Forces Command

Anti-aircraft guns (towed and truck-mounted)
AA Gun tachankas
72-K
61-K
52-K

Armed Forces Rear Services and AADFC Rear Services

Searchlight trucks
Acoustic range finders

Army Artillery Forces

Field guns
76 mm divisional gun M1942 (ZiS-3)
100 mm field gun M1944 (BS-3)
76 mm divisional gun M1936 (F-22)
Anti-tank guns
53-K
M-42
ZiS-2
Mountain guns
76 mm mountain gun M1938 (also used by the Airborne)
Katyusha rocket launchers of the Army Artillery Guard Mortars Corps
Howitzers
D-1
M-10
ML-20
M-30
B-4
A-19