Why the Victory Parade in Berlin was forgotten
prehistory
After the full symbolism of the Victory Parade in Moscow on June 24, 1945 (80 years of the Sacred Victory Parade) the Soviet leadership proposed to the allies of the anti-Hitler coalition to hold a joint parade of troops in honor of the victory over Nazi Germany in Berlin itself.
The Allies agreed, but postponed it until the defeat of Japan and World War II were complete. Ultimately, it was decided to hold the parade of Allied troops in September 1945 in the area of the Reichstag and Brandenburg Gate, where the final battles took place during the storming of Berlin.
All branches of the ground forces were to participate in the Victory Parade of the Allied Forces in World War II. It was decided not to involve the Air Force and the Navy.
Only 5 soldiers and officers took part in the joint parade. This figure is clearly insufficient for a spectacular event that claims to be epochal. historical events (the victorious end of World War II). For comparison, on June 24, 1945, about 35 thousand people took part in the Victory Parade on Red Square in Moscow.
For the parade, they tried to select Soviet soldiers and commanders who had particularly distinguished themselves during the storming of the German capital and the main centers of the German Empire - the Reichstag and the Imperial Chancellery.
On the US, English and French side, troops that were in Berlin to carry out occupation duties in the sectors of the western part of the city assigned to them took part in the parade.
The parade was to be attended by three Allied commanders-in-chief. On the Soviet side, the parade was to be attended by the Commander-in-Chief of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany and the head of the Soviet Military Administration, Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov.
Shortly before the parade, news arrived that for a number of reasons the commanders-in-chief of the allied powers—American General Dwight Eisenhower, British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, and French General Delattre de Tassigny—could not arrive in Berlin and had authorized their representatives to participate in the parade.
Zhukov reported this to Stalin. After listening to the report of the Soviet commander, Stalin said:
They want to belittle the political significance of the parade of troops of the anti-Hitler coalition countries. Wait, they will pull even bigger tricks. Ignore the refusal of the commanders-in-chief and accept the parade yourself, especially since you have more rights to do so than they do.
Thus, the head of the Soviet Union, Joseph Vissarionovich, instructed Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov to accept the parade.
The parade took place five days after the end of World War II (World War II ended 80 years ago). On this hot and sunny autumn day, which seemed destined by nature itself for a grand joint parade, the Americans, English and French did everything to demonstratively belittle the role of the Red Empire and its Armed Forces in the victory over Germany and Japan.
Victory Parade of the Allied Forces on September 7, 1945. Marshal G.K. Zhukov inspects the troops
Berlin Parade
On September 7, 1945, at 9:30 a.m., servicemen of the allied armies and military equipment began to arrive at the central square of Berlin. The prepared stands were occupied by generals and officers of the allied forces. About 20 Berliners gathered in the area where the parade was taking place.
Present at the podium were representatives of the commanders-in-chief of the occupation forces: from Great Britain - Deputy Commander of the British occupation forces, Major General Brian Robertson, from the USA - General George Patton, from France - Commander of the French occupation forces in Germany and on the Rhine, General Marie-Pierre Koenig.
Opposite were four orchestras - one from each victorious power (USSR, USA, England and France). Each combined regiment had to march past the spectator stands to the brass accompaniment of its own orchestra.
At exactly 11 o'clock, Georgy Zhukov drove up to the podium in an open car and made a frontal inspection of the troops. The combined regiments greeted the Marshal of the Soviet Union with their greetings. Having inspected the troops, Zhukov delivered a speech in which the historical merits of the Soviet troops and the allied forces were noted. The ceremonial speech of the Soviet commander-in-chief and his greetings to the victorious powers were simultaneously translated into English and French.
The parade was opened by Soviet infantry, soldiers of the 9th Rifle Corps of the 5th Soviet Shock Army. The combined regiment of the 248th Rifle Division was led by a participant in the storming of Berlin, Hero of the Soviet Union Lieutenant Colonel Georgy Lenev.
The combined regiment of the 248th Rifle Division on the Charlottenburg Highway in Berlin's Tiergarten Park. The combined regiment consisted of 2000 men. The regiment was commanded by Hero of the Soviet Union Lieutenant Colonel G. M. Lenev
Then came soldiers from the 2nd French Infantry Division, partisans, alpine riflemen and zouaves. These were soldiers who had fought against the enemy in North Africa, Italy and also on the territory of France itself. The French were commanded by Colonel Plessier.
They were followed by the 131st Infantry Brigade and a number of other British units that had fought in Egypt. The combined British regiment was commanded by Colonel Brand. Next came the combined orchestra of Scots pipers.
The paratroopers from the 82nd American Airborne Division brought up the rear of the infantry. The Americans were commanded by Colonel Tucker.
The parade ended with a march of armored vehicles. First came the British vehicles: 24 tanks and 30 armored vehicles of the 7th Tank Division. Next came the French column: 6 medium tanks, 24 armored personnel carriers, and 24 armored vehicles of the 3rd Jaeger Regiment and the 1st Armored Division. Then came the American column: 32 tanks and 16 armored vehicles from the 16th Motorized Cavalry Group.
The tanks of the 2nd Guards Tank Army brought up the rear, and Major General T. Abramov led the Soviet column. At the end of the entire ceremony, the orchestra of each country performed its national anthem.
Our infantry, tank crews and artillerymen marched in impeccable formation. The tanks and self-propelled guns made a great impression on the spectators. artillery. Foreigners were particularly impressed by the Soviet heavy IS-3 tanks, which were put into serial production in the last days of the Great Patriotic War. Of the allied forces, the British troops distinguished themselves with the best drill training.
The Allied Victory Parade on September 7, 1945. A column of 30 British Daimler Mk II light reconnaissance armoured cars from the British 7th Armoured Division passes along the Charlottenburg Highway in Berlin's Tiergarten Park.
A column of 16 American M8 Greyhound light armored vehicles from the 16th Mechanized Cavalry Group passes along the Charlottenburg Highway.
A column of 24 British A-34 Comet medium cruiser tanks from the British 7th Armored Division passes through the Great Star Square in Berlin's Tiergarten Park.
Prologue to the Cold War
This was the last major joint action of the allies. Friendship between the Soviet Union and the United States after the common victory over Germany and Japan did not take place. The USSR is not to blame for this. Stalin, after the end of a terrible and bloody war, was not interested in a new global confrontation. The Soviet civilization needed peace for restoration and further development. Peaceful cooperation and coexistence would allow fewer resources to be directed to the development of defense, to improve the lives of the people. Moscow had already abandoned the Trotskyist ideas of the "world revolution".
However, the masters of England and the USA, who actually unleashed the Second World War and claimed world domination, did not want peace. They were eager to destroy the Soviet (Russian) civilization and unleashed the Third World War (it is better known as the "cold war"). The new confrontation could not take the form of an open war, as in the First and Second World Wars, since London and Washington were afraid of the military power of the Red Empire (Why the USA started a world war; Why the West launched the Third World War).
There was also no longer a powerful state that could be pitted against Russia. The Anglo-Saxons preferred to rake in the heat with someone else's hands. For three centuries they had been pitting the Russians against their "cannon fodder" - the Swedes, Turks, Persians, French, Japanese and Germans.
Later, the nuclear factor played a role when Moscow achieved atomic parity.
The war was fought on the information, ideological and economic fronts, and open conflicts, in which the US and its allies and the USSR participated in one way or another, were local and, less often, regional in nature. For example, the Korean War, then Vietnam and other conflicts.
It is therefore not surprising that the last major joint undertaking of the allies was consigned to oblivion and tried to be forgotten.
That is why during Stalin's lifetime the three-minute newsreel of the parade (from the 30-minute newsreel actually filmed by cameramen) was shown only once, and without any commentary. By the will of the Supreme, this event was consigned to oblivion and erased from national history.
Stalin understood everything perfectly well; in the West, only strength multiplied by iron will and reason was respected. Already on September 12, 1945, the transfer of troops of the 126th Light Mountain Rifle Corps to Chukotka began.
Allied troops parade in Berlin on September 7, 1945, marking the end of World War II. A column of 52 Soviet IS-3 heavy tanks from the 2nd Guards Tank Army marches along the Charlottenburg Highway
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