Show of force: how the Victory Day Parade of 1945 was prepared

The date of the traditional military parade in honor of Victory Day in 2020 was postponed by the decision of the President of Russia. And there were more than good reasons for this: due to the outbreak of coronavirus, the risk to the health of participants and viewers was too great. 75 years ago, in 1945, the first parade on Red Square also took place only a month and a half after the country's victory in the Great Patriotic War. It took time for the ceremony to be held at the proper level. The historian Ilya Moshansky understood the specifics of preparing this historical event for Izvestia.

One month to prepare

Having won the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet Union turned from a "state of workers and peasants" into a superpower responsible for the fate of all mankind. In fact, on May 9, 1945, the concept of the "Third Rome" materialized, which was one of the most important ideological pillars of the existence of the Russian state. The epochal change in the country's status had to be demonstrated to the people of the USSR, to the newly acquired allies, and to numerous opponents. A military parade could not be better suited for this purpose — it was supposed to become a special, memorable event for the whole world. Therefore, the organization of its holding was approached with special care.

The decision to hold a victory parade on Red Square was made shortly after the surrender of the Third Reich on May 15. The Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Army General Sergei Shtemenko, recalled: "The Supreme Commander-in-Chief ordered us to think over and report to him our thoughts on the parade to commemorate the victory over Nazi Germany, while pointing out: 'We need to prepare and hold a special parade. Let representatives of all fronts and all branches of the armed forces participate in it..." The proposals of the General Staff for the Victory Day Parade were reported to Stalin on May 24. He accepted them, but did not agree with the timing — instead of the two-month training offered by the military, only a month was allocated for all events." Thus, on June 24, 1945, the victorious army was supposed to march triumphantly through Red Square.

How did this parade differ from the previous ones? First of all, there are special rituals that trace their history back to ancient times. The central event of the parade was the throwing of captured German banners on special platforms at the foot of the Mausoleum. This is what Roman soldiers did with barbarian standards, and the organizers of the parade were invited to implement this ritual on Red Square by the outstanding Soviet historian academician Yevgeny Tarle.

German banners of various formats and purposes (standards of the early model of 1935, flags of the National Socialist Party, the Hitler Youth, the paramilitary labor service, and even the Kaiser cavalry) were collected by captured teams of SMERSH in May 1945. On the instructions of the General Staff, 900 captured banners and standards were delivered from the location of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts (and specifically from Berlin and Dresden). Some samples were even withdrawn from the funds of German military museums. They were received in the gym of the Lefortovo barracks by the commander of the 181st Infantry Regiment of the 291st Infantry Division, Colonel Arkhip Korkishko. A special commission selected 200 of them, and then the Nazi symbols were placed in a special room, where they were taken under the protection of the military commandant of Moscow.

Strictly according to the standard

On the day of the parade, German banners and standards were taken to Red Square in secrecy and handed over to the personnel of a special "trophy company." This unique unit was formed on June 10, 1945. In ten ranks of 20 men each, the front-line soldiers had to carry 200 enemy banners from St. Basil's Cathedral to the Mausoleum and throw them at its foot. Senior Lieutenant Dmitry Vovka, deputy commander of the honor guard company, was appointed commander of the front box. The training took place with strut poles from soldiers' tents 1.8 m long. And here it turned out that not every war hero has the ability to drill. Therefore, some of the front-line soldiers were replaced by athletically built fighters of the 2nd and 3rd regiments of the F.E. Dzerzhinsky NKVD division.

Late on the evening of June 21, Marshal Zhukov, commander of the parade, inspected the readiness of the special consolidated company to march through Red Square and was pleased with what he saw. And on June 24, to the beat of 80 drums, 200 banners and standards of the newly-minted barbarians of the 20th century were thrown at the foot of the Mausoleum. An entirely new element of the Victory Day Parade were the ten standards under which the combined regiments of ten Soviet fronts were to march triumphantly across Red Square. Most likely, their creation was also not without the recommendations of professional historians — the appearance of the Red Army's front standard was clearly created with an eye to the labrum, a special military banner of the Roman and then Byzantine army. According to legend, the image of the labarum appeared to Emperor Constantine the Great in a dream on the eve of one of the most important battles in his life and subsequently became established as a victorious standard that accompanied the army on campaigns and triumphal parades.

The production of purple standards with gold embroidery was first assigned to a unit of Moscow military builders, commanded by engineer Major Maximov. But the sample they created was rejected by Stalin personally ten days before the parade. Then the specialists of the Bolshoi Theater's art and production workshops took over, who quickly developed the options that suited everyone and even completed the work ahead of schedule. However, the standard weighed more than 10 kg when assembled, and it was very difficult to carry it at arm's length when the combined regiment of the front was passing through Red Square. Then, at the suggestion of the standard-bearer of the cavalry regiment Luchaninov, the saddlery factory produced special shoulder straps in two days, similar to the structures that hold the unit's banner when troops move in mounted formation. The standard of the front was followed by 36 soldiers with the most distinguished banners of the units and formations of the consolidated regiment. The order's ribbons, fixed on their shafts, were also made in the workshops of the Bolshoi Theater. Each of the ribbons marked a collective feat, marked by a military order.

But the Victory Banner was not brought to Red Square on June 24, 1945. This was due to a number of factors. It is no secret that during the storming of the Reichstag, several groups of Red Army soldiers fixed their banners in various places of this huge building in a short period of time. And the army newspapers informed all soldiers of the 1st Belorussian Front about some of those who had already distinguished themselves in the status of standard bearers of victory. But there can only be one Banner of Victory, and the country's leadership had to announce its decision.

According to the organizers of the parade, the march of troops was supposed to begin with the removal of the Victory Banner, which was very solemnly delivered to Moscow from Berlin on June 20, 1945. But the banner group, consisting of flag bearer Stepan Neustroev and his assistants Mikhail Egorov, Meliton Kantaria and Ilya Syanov, showed an unsatisfactory level of drill. At the front, Neustroev received five wounds and injured his legs, but regardless of the reasons, the passage should be perfect. After all, there were many foreign guests at the parade, and a special film was being shot about this event, which was to be shown throughout the Soviet Union. So the actions of Marshal Zhukov, who removed the znamenny group from the passage and sent it to the spectator stands, were justified. And the marshal's moral responsibility for decisions on the choice of victory flag bearers cannot be written off either. At that time, it was a painful issue, which was stopped by sending the Victory Banner for storage in the Museum of the Armed Forces.

In a new guise

On June 10, trains with front—line soldiers participating in the parade began arriving in Moscow. The selection was tough so that the personnel of all 11 consolidated regiments (ten front-line and a consolidated regiment of the People's Commissariat of the Navy) could master intensive combat training. In addition to courage, bravery and military skill, physical parameters were also important — for example, in the order of May 24, 1945 for the 1st Belorussian Front, the age of candidates among soldiers, sergeants and petty officers, as well as junior officers, should not exceed 30 years, and height should not be lower than 176 cm. But in practice, there were many deviations from the requirements of the order among the front-line soldiers. Initially, according to the General Staff directive, the strength of each consolidated regiment (the regiment consisted of six infantry, one artillery, one tank, one aviation companies, as well as a consolidated company of cavalrymen, sappers and signalmen) numbered 1,059 people with ten reserves, but during the recruitment process it increased to 1,465 people with the same number of reserves.

The main task was to sew ceremonial uniforms for almost 15,000 front-line soldiers who arrived in Moscow from various theaters of military operations. Since the end of May, sewing enterprises in the capital and the Moscow region have been dealing with this issue, and by June 20, all participants in the parade were dressed in new-style ceremonial uniforms. As a rule, we are talking about the dress uniform introduced in 1943, but some changes were made for the Victory Day Parade for a number of categories of military personnel. At the end of May 1945, the Council of People's Commissars amended the dress uniforms of marshals and generals of the Red Army. The prototype of the new dress uniform was the 1943 uniform for the generals of the NKVD troops. Sea-green castor cloth was approved as the material for the cap, double-breasted uniform and trousers (which was very traditional for uniforms of the Russian Imperial Army), and the pattern of sleeve embroidery for generals was changed.

By June 24, more than 250 new general's uniforms had been sewn. In total, more than 10,000 sets for the parade participants were produced in factories, workshops and ateliers in Moscow in three weeks. It was also decided to single out representatives of various branches of the armed forces: infantrymen received steel helmets, tankers — overalls and tank helmets, sailors — capless and midshipmen. Generals and marshals went to the parade wearing caps. The personnel of the Polish Army from the composite regiment of the 1st Belorussian Front had special uniforms. The commander of the 1st Bulgarian Army, Lieutenant General Vladimir Stoichev, also marched in his uniform in the command crew of the combined regiment of the 3rd Ukrainian Front. In total, 24 marshals, 249 generals, 2,536 (according to other sources — 2,809) officers and 31,116 soldiers and sergeants participated in the Victory Day Parade.

A day in history

The Victory Day Parade was one of the last in Soviet history when top officials rode around the troops on horseback. Both Marshal Zhukov, who is hosting the parade, and Marshal Rokossovsky, who is commanding the parade, were career cavalrymen in the past, so they had no problems riding confidently and beautifully. Zhukov and his assistant were matched with light-gray stallions of the Tersk breed, named Idol and Celebs. Rokossovsky and his assistant pranced on a black Pole and an Eagle from Marshal Budyonny's personal collection. Despite their experience, both marshals spent a month training their horses, including teaching them not to be afraid of technology.

The musical accompaniment of the parade was provided by a combined orchestra conducted by Major General Semyon Chernetsky. Its structure includes 36 orchestras of military schools, military units of the Red Army, Navy and NKVD troops from 1,220 musicians with 50 bandmasters. A total of 1,313 musicians took part in the Victory Day Parade.

Two days before the parade, on June 22, 1945, Order No. 370 was issued under Stalin's signature, which determined that there should be a march of victorious soldiers across Red Square. On a cold, rainy day on June 24, at 10 a.m., with the Kremlin chimes striking, Marshal Zhukov rode into Red Square on a white horse. The parade has begun. After circling the troops, the commander went up to the podium, where Stalin and other members of the Politburo were. On behalf of the Central Committee of the Party and the Soviet government, Georgy Konstantinovich congratulated the peoples of the Soviet Union and its valiant armed forces on their victory. After that, the USSR national anthem was played by a combined orchestra, 50 volleys of artillery fireworks were fired and a mighty Russian "Hurrah!" swept over the square.

The parade of combined regiments of victorious soldiers, a special company with captured banners and units of the Moscow Military District lasted two hours (122 minutes), but its aerial part was canceled due to heavy rain. 216 aircraft — 81 La-7, 81 Yak-3 and 54 Yak-9 — remained on the ground. Due to bad weather, the workers' column was also canceled on Red Square. By evening, the bad weather had subsided and the celebration continued on the streets of Moscow. Brass bands thundered in the squares, and fireworks lit up the sky above the city. Searchlights formed five rings of light in the sky of the capital. At 23:00, 20,000 rockets flew in volleys from hundreds of balloons raised into the sky by anti-aircraft gunners. The finale of the celebration was a banner with the image of the Order of Victory illuminated by spotlights in the sky. The historic day has ended. And on June 25, 1945, a solemn reception was held in the Grand Kremlin Palace in honor of the participants of the Parade.

The Victory Day Parade was attended by representatives of the countries of the anti—Hitler coalition — the United States, Great Britain and its dominions, France, and many other states that joined the fight against Nazism, as well as a representative delegation of the Polish Army. Since Japan, the main enemy of our overseas allies, had not yet been defeated, and nuclear weapons were only undergoing the next stage of testing, the help of the Soviet armed forces was urgently needed by the Americans. The parade itself demonstrated to representatives of foreign countries that the USSR, contrary to their expectations, was not exhausted and drained of blood by the war, but, on the contrary, received the most powerful weapon — the psychology of the victors. And no amount of money can buy this quality. An army of such people could be a terrible enemy and an effective ally. Therefore, the British and Americans had to make concessions to the USSR in matters of the reconstruction of Eastern Europe and many other world problems. The relationship was cautious, but still a partnership. All sides still needed each other, and they were united by a common enemy in the East.