Moscow. Red Square. Three parades

“Parade, be quiet! To the solemn march! Battalion-wise! At one linear distance! The first battalion straight ahead, the rest to the right! On the shoulder! Right alignment! Step march! – after these commands, which are given by the commander of the parade on Red Square, the solemn passage of troops begins on May 9, on Victory Day.

The first mention of military reviews and paintings of regiments in Kolomna (before the Battle of Kulikovo) dates back to 1380. Parades were also held in Russia in tsarist times, these were solemn events with the participation of troops on some significant occasions. For example, the opening of the Pillar of Alexandria in St. Petersburg in 1834, where, after a prayer service, a parade was held, in which regiments that distinguished themselves in the war of 1812 participated.

The first military parade of the young Soviet Republic was held in Moscow on May 1, 1918. Its venue is Khodynskoye Pole, but it began on Red Square, where since then all the main parades of our country have been held.

May 1, 1918. In the morning the sky was gloomy, a fresh wind was blowing. The first columns of Muscovites entered Red Square. Troops of the Red Army marched ahead of the work columns with battle flags and rifles. Carts with Maxim machine guns rushed by. Horse-drawn guns still with royal eagles moved. The people enthusiastically greeted each column of the Red Army.

The sky gradually cleared up, and an airplane appeared over Red Square. He was slow-moving, “whatnot”, flying low, greeting people on the square, and scattering leaflets.

Directly from Red Square, military units, subdivisions and cadets of red courses along Tverskaya went to the Khodynka field for a military parade.

The plan for holding the May Day celebrations provided for a general parade of the troops of the Moscow garrison with an air festival on Khodynka. There, the first nationwide review of the new, socialist army, the army of liberated workers and peasants, was scheduled in the history of the young Soviet state.

The parade was scheduled for 4:30 p.m. It was commanded by the head of the Latvian division, Joakim Vatsetis, who in July 1918 became the commander of the Eastern Front, and then the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the RSFSR. General management of the preparations for the parade and its conduct was carried out by the commander of the Moscow Military District, Nikolai Muralov.

Before the parade, V. I. Lenin arrived at the Khodynka field. The columns were still assembled. At the other end of the field, near the hangars, airplanes were lined up, ready for the air parade. Ilyich went there. He inspected the hangars, talked to the pilots and technicians, and then went to the troops.

Commands given. The orchestra played a counter march. The solemn march began. It was opened by cadets of command courses. The fighters, the defenders of the socialist Motherland, had a concentrated, valiant look. Cadets of new military schools and courses, cavalrymen, and a detachment of sailors were especially admired. About 30 thousand Red Army soldiers and cadets participated in the parade. The solemn march was closed by scooters on special field bicycles adapted for military use. After the parade, the air festival began.

Planes took to the skies, demonstrating aerobatics, pilots in the sky showed risky aerial pirouettes.

The military parade and air festival continued until late in the evening. It was an impressive display of the army. The military parade in Moscow in 1918 was intended to show the whole world that the young republic has an army capable of defending the gains of October, defending the freedom and independence of the Motherland.

On November 7, 1941, a military parade was held on Red Square in honor of the 24th anniversary of the October Revolution. The solemn march of troops on Red Square was opened by cadets of the artillery school. With unfolded banners, artillerymen and infantrymen, anti-aircraft gunners and sailors walked along the main square of the country. Then the cavalry, machine-gun carts and the T-34 and KV-1 tanks, which later became famous, moved along Red Square.

This parade, in terms of impact, is equal to the most important military operation, it was held during the Battle of Moscow, when the front line passed just a few tens of kilometers from the capital. The parade was of great importance for raising the morale of the army and the whole country, showing the whole world that Moscow does not give up and the army is not broken.

On June 24, 1945, to commemorate the Victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany, a Victory Parade took place on Red Square in Moscow. The decision to hold the parade was made by I. V. Stalin on May 24, 1945, after the defeat of the last group of German troops that did not surrender on May 13, 1945. The parade was hosted by Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, and Marshal of the Soviet Union Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky commanded the parade.

Commanders of fronts and armies walked ahead of the consolidated regiments, Heroes of the Soviet Union carried the banners of famous units and formations. The march of the combined regiments was completed by a column of soldiers carrying 200 lowered banners and standards of the defeated German troops. These banners were thrown to the foot of the Lenin Mausoleum to the beat of drums. The deposition of German standards and banners was deliberately carried out with gloves to emphasize the disgust for the defeated enemy. Veterans said that the gloves were then burned.

In modern Russia, military parades on Red Square are held every year on May 9 – Victory Day. Since 1995, on the anniversary of the parade, which took place on June 24, 1945, it has been reconstructed with a solemn march and the passage of equipment from the Great Patriotic War.

According to the newspaper “Vesti DOSAAF”

Photo by Anna Nekrasova