Russia witness Victory Day Parade and salutes war heroes

Moscow, May 9: Russia witness huge and grand Victory Day parade in Moscow on Thursday. Over 13,000 troops and more than 130 items of advanced weapon systems are involved in the Victory Day Parade in Moscow’s Red Square. The parade devoted to the 74th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s Victory over Nazi Germany in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War began in Moscow’s Red Square. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin, war veterans and guests stayed on the central tribune in Red Square. Russian Defense Minister Army General Sergei Shoigu reviewed the parade, which is commanded by Land Forces Commander-in-Chief Army General Oleg Salyukov. The event is used to demonstrate troop discipline and the most advanced military hardware in the country’s arsenal.

The parade began with the march of the banner group of the Preobrazhesnky Regiment’s Honor Guard’s battalion carrying the Russian flag and the legendary Victory Banner across Red Square. The Victory Banner was hoisted over the Reichstag by soldiers of the 150th Idritskaya division in May 1945. In 1965, which marked the Victory’s 20th anniversary, this date again became a national holiday and a day-off. The second parade devoted to the Victory in the Great Patriotic War took place on May 9, 1965. During the parade, the Victory Banner was carried across Moscow’s Red Square for the first time.

The consolidated regiment of drummers, units of the Moscow garrison, the orchestra of 1,400 musicians also took part in the Victory Parade. A total of about 40,000 personnel and around 1,850 pieces of military hardware were involved in the parade. The parade’s airborne part was cancelled over bad weather. A total of 200 flags and banners of the defeated German troops were thrown to the foot of the Lenin Mausoleum.

Moscow and some other Russian cities will host Victory Day parades. Russians believe such parades are aimed at reviving and commemorating the heroism that the nation showed during the Great Patriotic War, and honouring the memory of those killed in the war.