The 1965 Moscow Victory Day Parade ( rus, Парад Победы, r= Parad Pobedy) was held on 9 May 1965 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the capitulation of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in 1945. The parade marks the Soviet Union's victory in the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), an ...

. Prior to 1965 Victory Day was not a major holiday and parades were not held, with the exception of the 1945 Victory Day Parade. The Victory Parade of 1965 was the second made after 1945 Victory Day Parade. After this parade next would be held recently in 1985. It also coincided with the first Victory Day Parades to be held in Soviet cities all over the country, with parades being held for the first time in cities such as

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, ...

and Kishinev.

Events

The parade was observed by Soviet leaders from Lenin's Mausoleum. Major political figures attending were General Secretary of the Communist Party

Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev; uk, links= no, Леонід Ілліч Брежнєв, . (19 December 1906– 10 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union between 1964 and 1 ...

, Chairman of the Council of Ministers

Alexei Kosygin Alexei Nikolayevich Kosygin ( rus, Алексе́й Никола́евич Косы́гин, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ kɐˈsɨɡʲɪn; – 18 December 1980) was a Soviet statesman during the Cold War. He served as the Premi ...

, and Minister of Defence Marshal

Rodion Malinovsky Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky (russian: Родио́н Я́ковлевич Малино́вский, ukr, Родіо́н Я́кович Малино́вський ; – 31 March 1967) was a Soviet military commander. He was Marshal of the Sov ...

among other leaders in the

Soviet government The Government of the Soviet Union ( rus, Прави́тельство СССР, p=prɐˈvʲitʲɪlʲstvə ɛs ɛs ɛs ˈɛr, r=Pravítelstvo SSSR, lang=no), formally the All-Union Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, commonly ab ...

. 12 delegations from socialist nations such as the

People's Republic of Bulgaria The People's Republic of Bulgaria (PRB; bg, Народна Република България (НРБ), ''Narodna Republika Balgariya, NRB'') was the official name of Bulgaria, when it was a socialist republic from 1946 to 1990, ruled by the ...

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

, and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

attended the parade, with the dignitaries including

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Willi Stoph Wilhelm Stoph (9 July 1914 – 13 April 1999) was a German politician. He served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1964 to 1973, and again from 1976 until 1989. H ...

, Algerian politburo member

Houari Boumédiène Houari Boumédiène ( ar, ; ALA-LC: ''Hawwārī Būmadyan''; born Mohammed Ben Brahim Boukherouba; 23 August 1932 – 27 December 1978) was an Algerian politician and army colonel who served as Chairman of the Revolutionary Council of Al ...

and

Communist Party of Spain The Communist Party of Spain ( es, Partido Comunista de España; PCE) is a Marxist-Leninist party that, since 1986, has been part of the United Left coalition, which is part of Unidas Podemos. It currently has two of its politicians serving a ...

Chairman Dolores Ibarruri. The parade was commanded by Moscow Military District Commander General of the Army

Afanasy Beloborodov Afanasy Pavlantyevich Beloborodov (russian: Афанасий Павлантьевич Белобородов; – 1 September 1990) was general in the Red Army during the Second World War who was twice awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. ...

. It was on that very parade that Mikhail Yegorov and

Meliton Kantaria Meliton Varlamis dze Kantaria or Kantariya ( ka, მელიტონ ქანთარია, russian: Мелитон Варламович Кантария; 5 October 1920 – 27 December 1993) was a Georgian sergeant of the Soviet Army credite ...

, the then two surviving raisers of the

Victory Banner The Soviet Banner of Victory (russian: Знамя Победы, translit=Znamya Pobedy) was the banner raised by the Red Army soldiers on the Reichstag building in Berlin on 1 May 1945, the day after Adolf Hitler committed suicide. It was r ...

, escorted it as the color party of the banner marched past the dignitaries on Red Square with retired Col. Konstantin Samsonov carrying the banner. On this parade what is now the 1st Honor Guard Company of the

154th Preobrazhensky Independent Commandant's Regiment 154th Preobrazhensky Independent Commandant's Regiment serves as the official honor guard regiment of the Russian Armed Forces and serves as the main honor guard unit of the armed forces, stationed in Moscow. Aside from being the honor guar ...

made its parade debut. Several of the then living officers from the war bearing the rank of

Marshal of the Soviet Union Marshal of the Soviet Union (russian: Маршал Советского Союза, Marshal sovetskogo soyuza, ) was the highest military rank of the Soviet Union. The rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union was created in 1935 and abolished in 19 ...

, including

Georgy Zhukov Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov ( rus, Георгий Константинович Жуков, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj kənstɐnʲˈtʲinəvʲɪtɕ ˈʐukəf, a=Ru-Георгий_Константинович_Жуков.ogg; 1 December 1896 – ...

, the parade inspector of the original 1945 Victory Parade, attended the event.

Full order of the 1965 parade

Following the limousine carrying General of the Army Beloborodov, the parade march past in the following manner:

Military bands

* Massed Military Bands of the

Moscow Military District The Order of Lenin Moscow Military District was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The district was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1968. In 2010 it was merged with the Leningrad Military D ...

Ground column

* Victory Banner Color Guard * Honor Guard Company * Corps of Drums of the Moscow Military Music College * V. I. Lenin Military Political Academy * Military Artillery Academy "Felix Dzerzhinsky" * Military Armored Forces Academy * Military Engineering Academy * Military Academy of Chemical Defense and Control * Yuri Gagarin Air Force Academy *

Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy () – is a higher military educational institution for training and retraining of engineers for the Russian Air Force. The academy trains specialists – engineers, research engineers in the following sp ...

* Moscow Military High Command Training School "Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR" * Moscow Border Guards Institute of the Border Defence Forces of the KGB "Moscow City Council" *

OMSDON The Separate Operational Purpose Division or ODON, formerly called OMSDON (a.k.a. '' Dzerzhinsky Division''), is a rapid deployment internal security division of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR and then the ...

Ind. Motorized Division of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR "Felix Dzerzhinsky" *

Suvorov Military School The Suvorov Military Schools (russian: Суворовское военное училище) are a type of boarding school in the former Soviet Union and in modern Russia and Belarus for boys of 10–17. Education in these schools focuses on mi ...

Nakhimov Naval School The Nakhimov Naval School (russian: Нахимовское военно-морское училище) or Nakhimov School (russian: Нахимовское училище) is a form of military education for teenagers introduced in the Soviet Unio ...

Almost a third of the parade participants were veterans of the war.

External links

References

{{Moscow Victory Parade, state=expanded Moscow Victory Day Parades 1965 in the Soviet Union 1965 in military history May 1965 events in Europe