Saturday 9 May 2015

Victory Parade


"Order of the Supreme Commander

In celebration of victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War, I call for a parade on June 24th, 1945, in the Red Square in Moscow with the active army, navy, and the Moscow garrison, a Victory parade.

Bring the following to the parade: combined regiments from the fronts, combined regiment from the People's Commissariat of Defense, combined regiment of the Navy, military academies and schools, and forces of the Moscow garrison.

The parade will be reviewed by my deputy, Marshall of the Soviet Union, Zhukov.

The victory parade will be commanded by Marshall of the Soviet Union Rokossovskiy.

The commander of the Moscow Military District and garrison chief, Colonel-General Artemyev, will organize the parade.

Supreme commander, Marshall of the Soviet Union, I. Stalin
June 22nd, 1945"

Parades are a big deal, and the Victory Parade was an enormous deal. On June 24th, 1945, every care was taken to ensure that things would go perfectly.


"Plan of preparatory measures
  1. First rehearsal of infantry present in the parade. June 12th, 7:00-9:00, central airstrip.
  2. Dress rehearsal of infantry and cavalry present in the parade. June 17th, 7:00-9:00, central airstrip.
  3. Inspection of all artillery units present in the parade. June 13th, 3:00-5:00, Sadoviy Crescent from Smolensk Square to Krimskiy Bridge.
  4. Inspection and training of all armoured and mechanized units participating in the parade. June 13th, 16:00-18:00, Kuzminki (proving grounds).
  5. Inspection of all vehicles (artillery and moto-mechanized units). June 15th-16th, at night 3:00-5:00, Red Square.
  6. Training of the battle and combined orchestra. June 15th-16th, 3:00-5:00, Red Square.
  7. [Illegible scribble, something about tanks and artillery] June 11th, 2:00-5:00.


"Timing of the Victory Parade on June 24th, 1945

The parade starts at 10:00
  • Reviewer entry: 0 minutes 50 seconds
  • Report of the parade commander and presentation of the list of units present to the reviewer: 00:20
  • Reviewer inspection of forces: 15:00
  • Speech: 10:00
  • Salute: 3:30
  • Commands for a celebratory march: 1:30
  • Movement of infantry: 36:00
  • Time to build up distance for cavalry: 2:00
  • Movement of cavalry: 4:00
  • Movement of artillery: 29:00
  • Movement of armoured and mechanized forces: 21:00
  • Assembly and marching of orchestras: 6:00
Total length: 2 hours 9 minutes 10 seconds
Parade ends at: 12:09:10"



Here is a map of the forces lining up on Red Square. 298 company-sized units would march through it on this day, including engineering units, military academies, artillery, mortars, motorized infantry, and, what interests us the most, a regiment of SU-76 SPGs, a brigade of T-34-85 tanks, a regiment of SU-100s, a regiment of IS-2 tanks, a regiment of ISU-122 SPGs, and a regiment of ISU-152 SPGs.

There was also a little something from German tank units. Not the tanks, of course, as those were rusting from Moscow to Berlin, but their banners. Flags of many German units were thrown to the ground in front of the mausoleum. Unlike the banners of SS units, they were not burned, but distributed among museums. The following tank units had their banners disgraced, out of a total of 26 regimental banners, 138 battalion banners, and 36 squadron banners.
  • 9th tank battalion
  • 1st battalion, 2nd tank regiment
  • 1st battalion, 31st tank regiment
  • 2nd battalion, 68th SPG regiment
  • 1st battalion, 27th tank regiment
  • 1st battalion, 1st tank brigade
  • 1st battalion, 15th tank brigade
  • 67th tank battalion
  • 11th AT gun squadron
  • 15th AT gun squadron
  • 9th AT gun squadron

1 comment:

  1. пешие по-танковому
    17 (no idea)
    и пешие артиллеристы

    tank and artillery crews rehearsing their routes on the red square without vehicles, 11 june 45 from 2 am to 5 am

    ReplyDelete