A grand parade has been held to mark the anniversary of the historic parade of Red Army soldiers through Red Square on November 7, 1941 as Nazi troops closed in on Moscow.
A grand parade has been held to mark the anniversary of the historic parade of Red Army soldiers through Red Square on November 7, 1941 as Nazi troops closed in on Moscow.
It is the 11th time the march has taken place, commemorating the historic military parade that passed in review for Stalin before heading straight off to the desperate fighting at the front.
Over 6,000 people took part in the parade in Red Square: representatives of the Moscow children’s organization Sodruzhestvo, members of military patriotic clubs, search and rescue units, students at cadet academies, the Ministry of Defense Moscow Military Music School, and the Alexander Nevsky Cadet School of the Investigative Committee of Russia.
It was the first time that Siberian students of the Omsk Cadet Corps, whose forefathers fought in the Battle of Moscow in 1941, took part in the grand parade.
Soldiers from the 27th Guards Motorized Rifle Division, Interior Ministry soldiers, a cavalry group of the Presidential Regiment and military machine-gun carriages recreated the historical part of the parade that took place on November 7, 1941.
Also taking part in the parade was a squadron of the Honor Guard of the Detached Commandant Regiment. The banner company of the Honor Guard squadron brought the original banners of the units and forces that took part in the Battle of Moscow into Red Square.
A display of military hardware from 1941 rounded off the grand parade.
Joining the veterans were 88 active members of the Volunteers of the Central Administrative Area and 88 pupils of the military patriotic club Druzhina.
Volunteers and members of voluntary citizen patrols represented Moscow’s Central Administrative Area in the parade as a thank you for their public activities and the help they provide to the older generation.
More than 1,000 veterans of the Great Patriotic War were in the stands in Red Square. They included soldiers who took part in the historic parade of November 7, 1941.
Preparations for the parade took almost a month.
The Red Army soldiers who took part in the parade on November 7, 1941 vowed to return to Red Square every year on this date as long as even one of them remains alive. For the past decade, veterans’ grandchildren and great grandchildren have accompanied them to Red Square on November 7.
