No matter how hard Western countries try to rewrite our history, the two greatest events of the last century - the Parade of Hope and the Victory Parade - will never fade from people’s memory and from textbooks. After the Red Square march on 7 November 1941 soldiers departed directly for the front. The second event, which put an end to the most terrible of wars, was a parade of victors. It was the only parade in history, when army commanders, generals, marshals and ordinary soldiers marched in one line. Belarusians were among them.
Our fellow countryman among the organizers
The decision to hold the Victory Parade was made by Supreme Commander-in-Chief Joseph Stalin a few days after the act of surrender of Hitler's Germany was signed. On 24 May 1945, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR, Army General Aleksei Antonov sent a directive to the troops: each of the ten fronts should send one combined regiment to participate in the parade.
“The regiment consisted of ten companies: six infantry companies, an artillery company, a tank company and an air company, and a composite company of cavalrymen, sappers and signalmen, totaling 1,059 men + 10 back-up men. Only the best fighters were selected, only those who had distinguished themselves in battles. Much attention was paid to appearance: they had to be young men at least 176 centimeters tall. Each combined regiment was obliged to bring to Moscow 36 banners of the most distinguished formations and units, as well as any number of trophy banners and standards captured in battles with the enemy”, said Svetlana Pribysh, deputy chief curator of the holdings of the Great Patriotic War Museum, a granddaughter of one of the participants of the Victory Parade.
Preparations for the parade got underway in Moscow. More than 10,000 people were expected to arrive in the capital of the USSR.
“The preparations were truly large-scale,” said Svetlana Pribysh. “Literally all the ateliers and clothing factories in the city were engaged in sewing parade uniforms. These uniforms were first made for the Red Army back in 1943, but they were gray. When the war was coming to an end, a decision was made to use the sea wave color for them. The uniforms had a cropped bottom and were decorated with gold sewing. They were made of a special fabric - castor. Despite the tight deadlines, the tunics were of such high quality that even 80 years later they still look good and are fit for ceremonial events”.
One of the main organizers of the parade was Moscow Commandant Kuzma Sinilov, a native of Belarus. He was born in the village of Byvalki, Loyev District, Gomel Oblast. This village still stands, many namesakes of Kuzma Sinilov live there, but, unfortunately, we failed to find his relatives among them.
As soon as the regiments were formed, echelons carrying the parade participants rushed to the capital from all ten fronts. They passed through burned villages, stopped in ruined cities - and literally everywhere they were greeted by cheering crowds, flowers and music. It seemed that the whole huge country went out to welcome the liberators.
Arriving in Moscow, the parade regiments embarked on drills.
Battled-hardened and decorated soldiers and commanders were drilled like new recruits. Drilling was extremely grueling. Rehearsals began at five in the morning, and by lunchtime the participants of the parade were exhausted. But, of course, everyone understood the importance of what they were doing.”
Moscow was jubilant
The order to hold the Victory Parade was signed exactly four years after the beginning of the war - on 22 June. Ahead of the parade, all its participants were awarded the medal “For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945” and red-colored certificates.
As soon as the Kremlin clock struck 10:00 on 24 June, Marshal Georgy Zhukov rode out of the Spassky Gate on a white horse. Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky rode towards him on a raven horse. He reported on the readiness to start the parade. After the report and review of the troops Zhukov made a welcoming speech from the podium of the Mausoleum. Then the anthem of the Soviet Union was played. It was followed by a salute of 50 volleys. Military columns began a solemn march across Red Square. Several hundred Belarusians marched side by side with their comrades-in-arms.
The troops marched in the order in which the fronts were located at the final stage of the war. Marching first was the Karelian Front, then the Leningrad one, three Belorussian and four Ukrainian fronts. They were followed the combined regiment of the Navy. Each column carried a banner with the name of the front, made especially for the parade in the workshops of the Bolshoi Theater.
“After the march of all the regiments, 200 soldiers from a special battalion stepped into Red Square carrying trophy banners bent to the ground. Some of the soldiers chosen for this task were dissatisfied with their role, and some front-line soldiers were even offended,” Svetlana Mikhailovna noted. “Few people wanted to carry enemy banners during such a grand parade. It was difficult to convince them, as everyone had their own tragedy connected to the war. Thus, the Red Army soldiers were given leather gloves to carry the enemy banners. The trophies were thrown onto a special platform near Lenin's Mausoleum and later burned to the beat of drums.”
Fyodor Bobkov was one of those 200 soldiers. After the war, the veteran of the Great Patriotic War settled in Minsk. Recalling that day, the front-line soldier admitted that he remembered the trophy banner with a swastika and a big eagle forever. The names of cities captured by the enemy were written on the spearhead of the banner.
“Dragging the cloth across the paving stones of Red Square, the veteran was recalling another parade of 1941 in which he also participated. He reflected on the fact that, even then, when the soldiers went to the front lines, they believed: one day they would walk through this very square as victors,” the museum employee cited the memories of Fyodor Bobkov.
If you know a front-line soldier who took part in the Victory Parade on Red Square on 24 June 1945 and want to share their stories and photos, please contact us at +375 17 311-33-17 or ygavrilenko@belta.by.
Yulia GAVRILENKO
Our fellow countryman among the organizers
The decision to hold the Victory Parade was made by Supreme Commander-in-Chief Joseph Stalin a few days after the act of surrender of Hitler's Germany was signed. On 24 May 1945, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR, Army General Aleksei Antonov sent a directive to the troops: each of the ten fronts should send one combined regiment to participate in the parade.
“The regiment consisted of ten companies: six infantry companies, an artillery company, a tank company and an air company, and a composite company of cavalrymen, sappers and signalmen, totaling 1,059 men + 10 back-up men. Only the best fighters were selected, only those who had distinguished themselves in battles. Much attention was paid to appearance: they had to be young men at least 176 centimeters tall. Each combined regiment was obliged to bring to Moscow 36 banners of the most distinguished formations and units, as well as any number of trophy banners and standards captured in battles with the enemy”, said Svetlana Pribysh, deputy chief curator of the holdings of the Great Patriotic War Museum, a granddaughter of one of the participants of the Victory Parade.
Preparations for the parade got underway in Moscow. More than 10,000 people were expected to arrive in the capital of the USSR.
“The preparations were truly large-scale,” said Svetlana Pribysh. “Literally all the ateliers and clothing factories in the city were engaged in sewing parade uniforms. These uniforms were first made for the Red Army back in 1943, but they were gray. When the war was coming to an end, a decision was made to use the sea wave color for them. The uniforms had a cropped bottom and were decorated with gold sewing. They were made of a special fabric - castor. Despite the tight deadlines, the tunics were of such high quality that even 80 years later they still look good and are fit for ceremonial events”.
One of the main organizers of the parade was Moscow Commandant Kuzma Sinilov, a native of Belarus. He was born in the village of Byvalki, Loyev District, Gomel Oblast. This village still stands, many namesakes of Kuzma Sinilov live there, but, unfortunately, we failed to find his relatives among them.
Echelons flocking to Moscow
As soon as the regiments were formed, echelons carrying the parade participants rushed to the capital from all ten fronts. They passed through burned villages, stopped in ruined cities - and literally everywhere they were greeted by cheering crowds, flowers and music. It seemed that the whole huge country went out to welcome the liberators.
Arriving in Moscow, the parade regiments embarked on drills.
Recalling June 1945 years later, many veterans admitted that the most memorable thing about the parade was... a very tough and intensive drill routine,” Svetlana Mikhailovna said. “Grigory Zhitomirsky, a native of Rogachev, said that during the war many people got out of practice, and some front-line soldiers did not even know how to perform drills.
Battled-hardened and decorated soldiers and commanders were drilled like new recruits. Drilling was extremely grueling. Rehearsals began at five in the morning, and by lunchtime the participants of the parade were exhausted. But, of course, everyone understood the importance of what they were doing.”
There was something else that the young soldiers remembered for a lifetime. It was delicious meals they had in the capital city. A few weeks before, they were happy about a piece of bread on the frontline, but now they were treated to delicious meals, cigarettes and even a 100g of vodka.
Moscow was jubilant
The order to hold the Victory Parade was signed exactly four years after the beginning of the war - on 22 June. Ahead of the parade, all its participants were awarded the medal “For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945” and red-colored certificates.
As soon as the Kremlin clock struck 10:00 on 24 June, Marshal Georgy Zhukov rode out of the Spassky Gate on a white horse. Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky rode towards him on a raven horse. He reported on the readiness to start the parade. After the report and review of the troops Zhukov made a welcoming speech from the podium of the Mausoleum. Then the anthem of the Soviet Union was played. It was followed by a salute of 50 volleys. Military columns began a solemn march across Red Square. Several hundred Belarusians marched side by side with their comrades-in-arms.
The troops marched in the order in which the fronts were located at the final stage of the war. Marching first was the Karelian Front, then the Leningrad one, three Belorussian and four Ukrainian fronts. They were followed the combined regiment of the Navy. Each column carried a banner with the name of the front, made especially for the parade in the workshops of the Bolshoi Theater.
“After the march of all the regiments, 200 soldiers from a special battalion stepped into Red Square carrying trophy banners bent to the ground. Some of the soldiers chosen for this task were dissatisfied with their role, and some front-line soldiers were even offended,” Svetlana Mikhailovna noted. “Few people wanted to carry enemy banners during such a grand parade. It was difficult to convince them, as everyone had their own tragedy connected to the war. Thus, the Red Army soldiers were given leather gloves to carry the enemy banners. The trophies were thrown onto a special platform near Lenin's Mausoleum and later burned to the beat of drums.”
Fyodor Bobkov was one of those 200 soldiers. After the war, the veteran of the Great Patriotic War settled in Minsk. Recalling that day, the front-line soldier admitted that he remembered the trophy banner with a swastika and a big eagle forever. The names of cities captured by the enemy were written on the spearhead of the banner.
“Dragging the cloth across the paving stones of Red Square, the veteran was recalling another parade of 1941 in which he also participated. He reflected on the fact that, even then, when the soldiers went to the front lines, they believed: one day they would walk through this very square as victors,” the museum employee cited the memories of Fyodor Bobkov.
If you know a front-line soldier who took part in the Victory Parade on Red Square on 24 June 1945 and want to share their stories and photos, please contact us at +375 17 311-33-17 or ygavrilenko@belta.by.
Yulia GAVRILENKO
Photos courtesy of the Great Patriotic War Museum
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