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Moscow Victory Parade of 1945 was a victory parade held after the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War. It took place in the Soviet capital of Moscow, mostly centering around a military parade through Red Square. The parade took place on June 24, 1945, over a month after the May 9th, the day of Germany's surrender to Soviet commanders.

Marshals Georgy Zhukov, who had formally accepted the German surrender to the Soviet Union, and Konstantin Rokossovsky, rode through the parade ground on white and black stallions, respectively. The fact is commemorated by the equestrian statue of Zhukov in front of the State Historical Museum, on Manege Square. The Soviet leader Joseph Stalin stood atop of Lenin's Mausoleum and watched the parade.

Displays of the Red Army aircraft and vehicles were some of the focal points of the ceremony. One of the most famous moments at the end of the war took place when various Red Army soldiers carried the banners of Nazi Germany and threw them down next to the Mausoleum. One of the standards that were tossed down belonged to the deceased leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler.

The parade also included forces of the puppet communist government installed in Poland, mainly the Soviet officers who commanded the Polish Military in the USSR (1st Polish Army). However they didn't represent the legitimate state of Poland at the time.

• General view
• Kuban Cossack unit marching at the parade Kuban Cossack unit marching at the parade
• Deposition of Nazi standards Deposition of Nazi standards
• Marshals Zhukov and Rokossovsky Marshals Zhukov and Rokossovsky
• The military commanders of the Polish Military in the USSR armies leading their troops at the parade.

External links

• German Flags at the 1945 Soviet Victory Parade
• Official site of the 2005 Russian 60th celebration of the 1945 Victory Parade

• Post-World War II
• Soviet-German War
• Parades
• History of Moscow