The President went to the central stand to sit beside war veterans. Almost 2,000 guests are invited to the performance, including those who actually fought in the battle.
Thirty-six T-34 tanks, three BT-5 light tanks, German tanks and armored personnel carriers, and other military hardware that was operational in 1941 will be used in staging the battle.
In the field, the spectators will see the forward edge of battle area, as those who fought there saw it back in 1941, with rifle divisions, armor brigades, artillery regiments, and cavalry brigades getting ready for action. Fork-shaped antitank obstacles are in place, Gen. Panfilov's cavalry and infantry stand on the flanks, all ready to present the "Main Baseline" performance that tells the saga of one of the most heroic and tragic chapters of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 against Nazi Germany.
The soldiers sing military songs and bask near the fire, chow wagons are all in vapor, and a field hospital is preparing to face the implications of combat.
All the characters - soldiers of the Taman Division - are clad in 1941 uniforms. All in all, more than 2,500 men and over 100 vehicles, artillery, and aircraft are involved. Some personnel carriers, along with genuine Soviet and German tanks and light armored vehicles, are disguised as WWII makes.
The Battle of Moscow in the fall 1941 - winter 1942 was the first glorious chapter in World War II for the Soviet Union. On both sides, the Battle of Moscow involved over 3 million people, 22,000 guns and mortars, about 2,000 tanks, and 2,000 airplanes. On all directions - in Volokolamsk, Mozhaisk, Maloyaroslavets, and Tula - the Russians offered stiff resistance to dilute the German offensive, undermine enemy morale, and create all prerequisites for the Red Army's decisive offensive. The Battle of Moscow buried all Wehrmacht's blitzkrieg aspirations.
