The day of the military parade on Red Square in Moscow in 1941
Military parade on Red Square. November 7, 1941. Photo by A. Ustinov. Main Archive of Moscow
November 7 marks the 81st anniversary of the military parade on Red Square in Moscow in 1941. This parade was held in the most difficult situation, when the enemy had already managed to occupy vast territories in the west of the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, it was decided to adequately mark the 24th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution and raise the morale of the military, the confidence of the civilian population in the victory of the Soviet state.
By the time when preparations for the parade were underway in the country's capital, the Nazi troops were already 75 kilometers from Moscow. However, it has already become clear that the blitzkrieg plan hatched by Berlin failed: the Nazis stopped near Moscow, faced with the powerful defense of the Soviet troops.
On November 1, 1941, General of the Army Georgy Zhukov, commander of the Western Front, was summoned to the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. The leader of the country and the party, Joseph Stalin, turned to the military leader with a question: does the current situation allow holding a military parade in Moscow in honor of the 24th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. Zhukov answered in the affirmative. But, the general emphasized, it is necessary to strengthen the defense of Moscow from the air. For this purpose, aircraft were deployed to airfields near Moscow aviation parts of the nearest fronts. In total, 550 fighters were involved in the air cover of the capital.
The need for the parade was also explained by the fact that earlier the Fuhrer of Germany, Adolf Hitler, declared to the whole world: on November 7, he would take the parade of German troops on Red Square. Units with full dress uniforms were sent to the front near Moscow in the autumn of 1941, cameramen and photographers arrived there, who had previously filmed the triumphal parades of the Nazi army in Athens, Brussels, Paris and other European capitals.
On November 6, Stalin gathered representatives of the top leadership of the party and the state in his office. He spoke briefly, but succinctly. The main message of the leader's speech was that it was necessary to conduct a review of military units ready to be sent to the front. The venue of the parade until the last moment was strictly classified. Even the commanders of the units selected to participate in the parade did not know about it until the night of November 6-7.
At 23 p.m. on November 6, the commander of the Moscow Military District and the Moscow Defense Zone, Lieutenant General Pavel Artemyev, informed the unit commanders about the task. All night long, the units selected for participation in the parade were preparing the materiel and personnel.
Also on the night of November 7, the stars of the Kremlin uncovered and lit, removed the disguise from the mausoleum of V. I. Lenin. On the morning of November 7, the military units that were to take part in the parade moved along Leningradsky Prospekt and Gorky Street to the place where the parade was to be held.
Author V. A. Malyshev. November 7, 1941. Main Archive of Moscow
At 7:50 a.m., Stalin ascended the podium of Lenin's mausoleum...
“All the radio stations of the Soviet Union are speaking. The Central Radio Station of Moscow starts broadcasting from Red Square the parade of the Red Army units, dedicated to the 24th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution ... "
- the Soviet people heard the solemn voice of the famous announcer Yuri Levitan.
Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Budyonny rode out to Red Square from the Spassky Gates on horseback. The commander of the parade, General Artemiev, reported to him about the readiness of the troops. Joseph Stalin addressed the soldiers and spectators of the parade with a speech. After his speech, the "Internationale" sounded. The solemn parade was attended by cadets of the mortar and artillery school and the school named after the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, the military-political school, military personnel of rifle divisions, cavalry, artillery, and air defense. The total number of parade participants was 28 people, 487 artillery pieces and 140 vehicles, more than 232 tanks.
More than eighty years have passed, but the memory of the parade on Red Square on November 7, 1941 lives in our hearts. Holding the parade was a very correct decision of Stalin: the parade showed the Soviet people that the country and its people did not give up, that the enemy would be defeated.
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