Stalin's Victory Parade at the end of World War II

The Second World War is receding from the minds of the younger generation. It is becoming more and more distant, but some events of that period can even now rouse the spirits of old soldiers. One of the famous events was Stalin’s victory parade at the end of the war. The parade took place on 24 June 1945 more than a month after the surrender of Nazi Germany to Russian commanders. The order for the parade was issued by Josef Stalin himself. Earlier as per noted historian Anthony Beevor Stalin himself wished to lead the parade, but then gave up the idea as the horse on which he was to ride unseated him. After that he commented that let Zhukov lead the parade as he is from the cavalry.

Stalin thus in his operational order appointed Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov as the parade inspector and MarshalKonstantin Rokossovsky as the parade commander. The organization of the parade was the prerogative of Colonel General Pavel Artemyev. The parade took place on a rainy day and later the fly past was cancelled. Stalin himself took the salute standing atop Lenin’s mausoleum. Units of all Russian federation groups as well as a small Polish contingent took part in the parade.