There is footage which you can watch endlessly. Filmed on June 24, 1945 on red square documentary captures the moment of absolute and complete happiness of the whole country.
To the end of his life all the participants of the Victory Parade in June 1945 on red square will remember this day. Leonid Brezhnev has become the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, the host country, but he was very happy when the birthday front-line photographer Yakov Khalip gave him a picture, which depicted a brave and cheerful General on red square. General Brezhnev participated in the parade as a Commissioner of the consolidated regiment of the 4th Ukrainian front.
white horse
12 June 1945, Marshal Georgy Zhukov was awarded in the Kremlin, the third “Gold Star” of Hero of the Soviet Union. After a few days invited him to his dacha, Stalin. Asked whether Marshall forgotten how to ride a horse.
Zhukov said:
— No, not forgotten, and now continue to train in riding.
— You have to take the Victory Parade, — said Stalin.
Zhukov said diplomatically that parade on the right and responsibility should be taken to the Supreme commander. But Stalin said:
I’m too old to take parades. You take, the younger you are.
Goodbye, Stalin said:
— we recommend to take the parade on a white horse, which will show you Budyonny.
it is believed that Stalin refused, because to overtake the troops lined up in red square, had on a horse. They say that Stalin even tried to ride a horse. But it did not. After all, it was sixty-six years, and in the cavalry he served in contrast, Marshal Zhukov, whose military career began with the Dragoon squadron.
In fact, he could take hits, standing in an open car. So did the people’s Commissar for military and naval Affairs, Leon Trotsky in the twenties. Stalin did not want to perform this role, because this would put it on par with other commanders. And the leader could only be over everyone on the podium of the Mausoleum.
a Soldier’s duty
the parade Marshal Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky. It is believed that low can not stand high: I can’t stand to lift my head, talking to them. Stalin was not jealous of tall people, knowing that in any minute may be shortened in any of them, having demolished his head from his shoulders. On the contrary, the handsome and generals, he was impressed. Especially when they brought good luck.
And Marshal Rokossovsky was not a man ambitious, he not only spoke, but did not even think about its special role. And not tolerate commanders who gave the order to fight to the death! For this order, according to Rokossovsky stood professional helplessness. He did not think it possible to demand from soldiers��t, so they fought to the death and die to compensate for the incompetence of their commanders. He searched and found a military solution, which allowed brilliantly to perform the task without further loss. He really pitied his soldiers.
When late in life he wrote memoirs, he was offered different names. He rejected it, said gross. And called the book simply “a Soldier’s duty.”
the Victory Parade was attended by the combined regiments of all the fronts — from the Karelian to the 4-th Ukrainian and consolidated regiment of the Navy, and even then there were a combined regiment of Commissariat of defense, military academies, cadets of military schools, and troops of the Moscow garrison. Unlucky pilots: due to inclement weather they were unable to fly over red square.
Thurgood Marshall justice
the First on Red square entered summary regiment of the Karelian front. Commander — Marshal Kirill Afanasievich Meretskov. Stalin is different from Meretskov and instructed him to lead the Finnish campaign. Then was appointed chief of the General staff. And on 24 June 1941 the army General Meretskov was arrested. He was severely beaten. But he was lucky. Stalin changed his mind and ordered his release. The war he spent on the Volkhov front. In 1944, the Karelian adopted.
the Leningrad front. Commander — Marshal Leonid Govorov. Unique person, he forgave even the service in Kolchak’s army in the Civil war. Excelled in the Finnish campaign. A professional artilleryman, Govorov was under the command of the combined arms army and well cope with it. He defended Moscow in the forty-first. He broke the Leningrad blockade and Finland was forced to withdraw from the war.
the 1st Baltic front. The commander — General of the army, the future Marshal Ivan Bagramyan. Well-educated and trained military leader, experienced all the difficulties of war. When the Germans broke through to Kharkov in 1942, Baghramyan wanted to give to the Tribunal. But Zhukov stood up for Baghramyan. Commanding front, Bagramyan liberated the Baltic States, where there was a strong Courland group of German troops. He took Konigsberg (now Kaliningrad).
the 3rd Belorussian front. Commander — Marshal Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky, who during the great Patriotic war he headed the General staff, then he will become Minister of war.
Before the end of the war he visited one of his teams. Review. Wasilewski drew attention to the soldier in the tunic of which no awards:
— What are you? War is bad?
— No, comrade Marshal. To attack go — hurt. Sent to the hospital. Taleesa again in the infantry, and then get injured again. No time reward, comrade Marshal.
— How many wounds?
Five.
the Marshal gave the soldier the honor and to hear the whole Stroy, said solemnly:
For the courage shown in battles against the Nazi invaders, decorate you with the order of the red banner!
the Soldiers were appalled at this manifestation of justice.
the fate of the commanders
the 2nd Belorussian front. He commanded a front Rokossovsky, therefore, the consolidated regiment was led on red square and his Deputy Colonel-General Kuzma Petrovich Trubnikov. In the First world war he was awarded four St. George crosses, took part in the famous Brusilov breakthrough.
the 1st Belorussian front. Commanded the front of beetles. Therefore, the regiment led by his Deputy — the future Marshal Vassily Danilovich Sokolovsky, until then first Deputy chief of the General staff. Born staff. Command positions have been harder for him.
the 1st Ukrainian front. Commander Marshal Ivan Stepanovich Konev, he will become the first Deputy Minister of defense. He was hard for the first period of the war. And then he won a resounding victory. His troops crossed the Dnieper. He took Berlin and Prague.
the 4-th Ukrainian front. The commander — General of the army Andrey Ivanovich Eremenko, the future Marshal. A gifted military leader, courageous, determined. But very confident. In the forty-first he was summoned to Stalin. Eremenko promised to defeat the “villain Guderian”. Heinz Guderian — Creator of the German armored forces. Confident General loved Stalin:
— Here is the man we need in these difficult circumstances.
the Defeat of Guderian in the forty-first Andrei Ivanovich failed. But the location of the leader, he has not lost. And then came victory. He was forced to surrender the 6th army of Friedrich Paulus at Stalingrad. He was liberated Belarus. He took Riga. And finished off the Germans on the territory of the present Czech Republic.
the 2nd Ukrainian front. Commander Marshal Rodion Malinovsky, the future Minister of defence. In the story he came as the commander who carried out the Jassy-Kishinev operation, one of the largest during world war II. It ended with the defeat of a large German group. He waged a bloody battle on the territory of Hungary, who took Vienna. The war ended participation in the war with Japan.
And finally, the southern front — 3rd Ukrainian. Commander — Marshal Fedor Ivanovich Tolbukhin. He knocked the Germans from the Donbas and the Crimea, liberated Belgrade, Sofia, Bucharest. The most modest of all the commanders. And died early from diabetes.
the Combined regiment of Commissariat of the Navy was led by Vice-Admiral V. G. Fadeev. During the war he defended Sevastopol. A Commissar was Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov, the highly respected Navy man. Recent years spent in disgrace. As the parade took Marshal Georgy Zhukov.
And finally, the Red square out of the Moscow garrison. Commander in��skami of the Moscow military district, Colonel-General Pavel Artemev artemyevitch. In the autumn of forty-one he was prepared to fight for every house, if the Germans managed to break into the capital. And he commanded the commemorative parade on red square November 7, 1941, when the Germans were near Moscow.
Soldier tenderness
the Sky was shrouded in clouds, it started raining. The faces of the soldiers and officers with visors caps dripping a trickle of water. In two hours all were soaked. But the footage preserved chronicle is completely transparent.
participants of the parade, as the whole country was happy. The drumbeat two hundred soldiers dropped to the foot of the Mausoleum two hundred banners of the defeated German army. It was a moment of celebration for all who fought and nevoevavshih.
On red square were the best fighters and commanders of the red Army, some whole breast in the awards and it is no postwar awards for years of service or anniversary. This is evidence of courage and heroism. And how much were such people! And it was and more. All the parade is not called.
the War was won by Soviet soldiers. And it’s not a pretty phrase. Fighters and commanders of the regular army, militia, cadets of military schools ably and courageously defended their homeland. And the Germans were unable to defeat them.
How nice, talented, not had time to open up young people died then in battle! They fought not for Stalin, not for socialism, not for the collective. Fought for his home, for his family, for their land, for their homeland. “The war brought with it a apology of vengeance and cruelty, wrote who left Russia after the revolution, the religious philosopher Georgi Fedotov. But the war awakened tenderness for the Motherland”.
reception in the Kremlin
the next day the Kremlin has arranged solemn reception. In the evening the chief editor of “Izvestiya”, Leonid Fedorovich Ilichevo called the chief:
Stalin said. This is the main proofreader?
— Comrade Stalin, is the chief editor of “Izvestia”.
— So, proofreader, call all the Newspapers and tell at the reception on the occasion of Victory Day was not a thousand two hundred and one thousand three hundred people.
Lenin realized that Stalin is celebrating for a long time. Contacted colleagues — the chief editor of “Truth” and the responsible head of TASS that everywhere bore the correct number of participants.
Brezhnev told how after a Kremlin Banquet, they with one famous pilot went to the hotel “Moscow”. After midnight, they were asked to leave. The pilot pulled out a gun and shot at the ceiling. The next day this was reported to Stalin. He favorably said:
the Hero!
During the war a leader was condescending to the military. And the officers should have known that the leader allows him / her what other mortals can not.
Soon, Stalin will make May 9 a working day. May 9 will be the weekend and holiday — with military parade! — two decades later, already under Brezhnev in 1965.
