The 1985 Moscow Victory Day Parade ( rus, Парад Победы, r= Parad Pobedy) was held on 9 May 1985 on the

Red Square Red Square ( rus, Красная площадь, Krasnaya ploshchad', ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːətʲ) is one of the oldest and largest squares in Moscow, the capital of Russia. Owing to its historical significance and the adjacent historical build ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the

Victory in Europe Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easter ...

. The parade marked the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

'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), and Sout ...

. It was the first V-Day parade held since 1965, and the third of four Victory Day parades held during the Soviet Union's existence. 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 1985 was the third made after 1945 Victory Day Parade. After this parade next would be held 1990. The parade was observed by Soviet leaders from the

Lenin Mausoleum Lenin's Mausoleum (from 1953 to 1961 Lenin's & Stalin's Mausoleum) ( rus, links=no, Мавзолей Ленина, r=Mavzoley Lenina, p=məvzɐˈlʲej ˈlʲenʲɪnə), also known as Lenin's Tomb, situated on Red Square in the centre of Moscow, i ...

. Major political figures attending were

General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

, and Minister of Defense Marshal Sergei Sokolov among others. The parade was commanded by 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 Di ...

Commander General of the Army

Pyotr Lushev Pyotr Georgievich Lushev ( ru , Пётр Гео́ргиевич Лу́шев; 18 October 1923 – 23 March 1997) was an Army General of the Soviet Army during the Cold War who was the last Supreme Commander of the Unified Armed Forces of the War ...

, and was his last major national parade in this capacity. During this parade veterans marched in Red Square for the first time, the next time being in 1990.

Full order of the marchpast

Following the limousine carrying General of the Army Lushev, the parade marched past Red Square in the following order:

Military bands

* Massed Military Bands of the Moscow Military District

Ground column

* Corps of Drums of the

Moscow Military Music College The Valery Khalilov Moscow Suvorov Military Music College is one of the leading military music institutions in Russia. It is a separate branch of the Suvorov Military Schools in Russia, and the oldest of them all (opened 1937). History On Augu ...

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 raise ...

Color Guard * Front Standards *

Colour guard In military organizations, a colour guard (or color guard) is a detachment of soldiers assigned to the protection of regimental colours and the national flag. This duty is so prestigious that the military colour is generally carried by a young ...

battalion of regimental, brigade and division colors of the Soviet Army * Veterans regiment **

Heroes of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union (russian: Герой Советского Союза, translit=Geroy Sovietskogo Soyuza) was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for ...

** Recipients of the

Order of Glory Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

** Veteran participants of the

Moscow Victory Parade of 1945 The Moscow Victory Parade of 1945 ( rus, Парад Победы, r= Parad Pobedy) also known as the Parade of Victors ( rus, Парад победителей, r= Parad pobediteley) was a victory parade held by the Soviet Armed Forces (with the ...

** Veterans of the

Polish People's Army The Polish People's Army ( pl, Ludowe Wojsko Polskie , LWP) constituted the second formation of the Polish Armed Forces in the East in 1943–1945, and in 1945–1989 the armed forces of the Polish communist state ( from 1952, the Polish Pe ...

(Polish 1st Infantry Division) ** Veterans of the

Czechoslovak People's Army The Czechoslovak People's Army ( cs, Československá lidová armáda, sk, Československá ľudová armáda, ČSLA) was the armed forces of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) and the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic from 1954 until ...

(Czechoslovak 1st Corps) ** Partisans ** Civil awardees of the

Order of Labour Glory The Order of Labour Glory (Russian: ''Орден Трудовой Славы'') was a Soviet civilian award created on 18 January 1974 by the decision of the Praesidium of Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Closely modelled on the Order of Glory, it was ...

* Historical regiment *

M. V. Frunze Military Academy The M. V. Frunze Military Academy (russian: Военная академия имени М. В. Фрунзе), or in full the Military Order of Lenin and the October Revolution, Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Academy in the name of M. V. Frunze (rus ...

* V. I. Lenin Military Political Academy * Military Artillery Academy "Felix Dzerzhinsky" * Military Armored Forces Academy Marshal Rodion Malinovsky * Military Engineering Academy * Military Academy of Chemical Defense and Control * Yuri

Gagarin Air Force Academy Gagarin Air Force Academy () is a Russian military aviation academy located in Monino, Moscow Oblast. The academy prepares high-ranking military personnel for the Russian Air Force. Among the academy alumni are around 700 Heroes of the Soviet ...

* Prof. Nikolai Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy * M. V. Frunze Naval College * 98th Airborne Division * Moscow Border Guards Institute of the Border Defence Forces of the KGB "Moscow City Council" * 366th Guards Marine Brigade of the

Baltic Fleet , image = Great emblem of the Baltic fleet.svg , image_size = 150 , caption = Baltic Fleet Great ensign , dates = 18 May 1703 – present , country = , allegiance = (1703–1721) (1721–1917) (1917–1922) (1922–1991)(1991–present) ...

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 *

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 ...

* Moscow Military High Command Training School "Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR"

Mobile Column

* Historical segment **

GAZ-67 The GAZ-67 and the GAZ-67B (from January 1944) were general-purpose four-wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simult ...

B **

T-34 The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank introduced in 1940. When introduced its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was less powerful than its contemporaries while its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against anti-tank weapons. The C ...

SU-100 The SU-100 ('' Samokhodnaya Ustanovka'' 100) was a Soviet tank destroyer armed with the D-10S 100 mm anti-tank gun in a casemate superstructure. It was used extensively during the last year of World War II and saw service for many years af ...

** SU-76 ** 53-K **

ML-20 The 152 mm howitzer-gun M1937 (ML-20) (russian: 152-мм гаубица-пушка обр. 1937 г. (МЛ-20)), is a Soviet heavy gun-howitzer. The gun was developed by the design bureau of the plant no 172, headed by F. F. Petrov, as a dee ...

** M-30 ** B-4 ** A-19 **

Katyusha rocket launcher The Katyusha ( rus, Катю́ша, p=kɐˈtʲuʂə, a=Ru-Катюша.ogg) is a type of rocket artillery first built and fielded by the Soviet Union in World War II. Multiple rocket launchers such as these deliver explosives to a target area ...

s (BM-13Ns) ** 61-K ** 52-K * 2nd Guards Tamanskaya Motorized Rifle Division **

BRDM-2 The BRDM-2 (''Boyevaya Razvedyvatelnaya Dozornaya Mashina'', Боевая Разведывательная Дозорная Машина, literally "Combat Reconnaissance/Patrol Vehicle") is an amphibious armoured scout car used by states that we ...

** BTR-70 **

BMP-2 The BMP-2 (''Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty'', , literally "combat machine/vehicle (of the) infantry") is an amphibious infantry fighting vehicle introduced in the 1980s in the Soviet Union, following on from the BMP-1 of the 1960s. Development hist ...

* 98th Airborne Division **

BMD-1 The BMD-1 is a Soviet airborne amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicle, which was introduced in 1969 and first seen by the West in 1970. BMD stands for ''Boyevaya Mashina Desanta'' (Боевая Машина Десанта, which literally ...

* 4th Guards Kantermirovsky Tank Division **

T-72 The T-72 is a family of Soviet/Russian main battle tanks that entered production in 1969. The T-72 was a development of the T-64, which was troubled by high costs and its reliance on immature developmental technology. About 25,000 T-72 tanks ha ...

T-80 The T-80 is a main battle tank (MBT) that was designed and manufactured in the former Soviet Union and manufactured in Russia. The T-80 is based on the T-64, while incorporating features from the later T-72. The chief designer of the T-80 was So ...

* Rocket Forces and Field Artillery **

BM-21 Grad The BM-21 "Grad" (russian: БМ-21 "Град", lit= hail) is a self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher designed in the Soviet Union. The system and the M-21OF rocket were first developed in the early 1960s, and saw their first com ...

** 2S1 Gvozdika ** 2S3 Akatsiya ** 2K12 Kub **

9K52 Luna-M The 9K52 ''Luna-M'' (russian: Луна; en, moon, NATO reporting name FROG-7) is a Soviet short-range artillery rocket system which fires unguided and spin-stabilized 9M21 rockets. It was originally developed in the 1960s to provide divisiona ...

SS-1 Scud A Scud missile is one of a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It was exported widely to both Second and Third World countries. The term comes from the NATO reporting name attached to the mis ...

Music

Providing the ceremonial music for the parade was the massed bands of the Moscow Military District, under the overall direction of Major General Nikolay Mikhailov. ;Inspection and address # '' Jubilee Slow March "25 Years of the Red Army"'' (Юбилейный встречный марш "25 лет РККА) by Semeon Tchenertsky # ''Slow March of the Tankmen'' (Встречный Марш Танкистов) by Semeon Tchenertsky # ''Slow March of the Guards of the Navy'' (Гвардейский Встречный Марш Военно-Морского Флота) by Nikolai Pavlocich Ivanov-Radkevich # ''Slow March of the Officers Schools'' (Встречный Марш офицерских училищ) by Semyon Tchernetsky) # Slow March ''Victory'' (Встречный Марш «Победа») by Yuriy Griboyedov # ''Slow March of the Officers Schools'' (Встречный Марш офицерских училищ) by Semyon Tchernetsky) # ''Slow March'' (Встречный Марш) by Dmitry Pertsev # ''Slow March of the Red Army'' (Встречный Марш Красной Армии) by Semyon Tchernetsky # ''Slow March'' (Встречный Марш) by Severian Ganichev # Slow March ''Victory'' (Встречный Марш «Победа») by Yuriy Griboyedov # ''Slow March of the Guards of the Navy'' (Гвардейский Встречный Марш Военно-Морского Флота) by Nikolai Pavlocich Ivanov-Radkevich # ''Slow March'' (Встречный Марш) by Viktor Sergeyebich Runov # ''Glory'' (Славься) by Mikhail Glinka # Signal ''Everyone, listen!'' (Сигнал «Слушайте все!») by unknown composer #

State Anthem of the Soviet Union The "State Anthem of the Soviet Union" was the national anthem of the Soviet Union and the regional anthem of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1944 to 1991, replacing "The Internationale". Its original lyrics were written b ...

(Государственный Гимн Советского Союза) by Alexander Alexandrov # Fanfare (Фанфара) ;Infantry Column # '' Long Live our State'' (Да здравствует наша держава) by

Boris Alexandrov Boris Viktorovich Alexandrov (russian: Борис Викторович Александров; November 13, 1955 — July 31, 2002) was a Soviet and Kazakh professional ice hockey player. Boris Alexandrov competed for Torpedo Ust- ...

# "

The Sacred War "The Sacred War" ( rus, Свяще́нная война́, links=1, r=Svyashchénnaya voyná, p=svʲɪˈɕːenːəjə vɐjˈna), also known as "Arise, Great Country!" ( rus, Встава́й, страна́ огро́мная!, r=Vstaváy straná ...

" (Священная война) by Alexandr Alexandrov # ''

Farewell of Slavianka "Farewell of Slavianka" (russian: Прощание славянки, Proščanije slavjanki) is a Russian patriotic march, written by the composer Vasily Agapkin in honour of Slavic women accompanying their husbands in the First Balkan War. Th ...

'' (Прощание Славянки) by Vasiliy Agapkin # ''

Victory Day Victory Day is a commonly used name for public holidays in various countries, where it commemorates a nation's triumph over a hostile force in a war or the liberation of a country from hostile occupation. In many cases, multiple countries may ob ...

'' (День Победы) by David Fyodorovich Tukhmanov # ''In Defense of the Homeland'' (В защиту Родины) by Viktor Sergeyevich Runov # ''On Guard for the Peace'' (На страже Мира) by Boris Alexandrovich Diev # ''Combat March'' (Строевой Марш) by Dmitry Illarionovich Pertsev # '' Air March'' (Авиамарш) by Yuliy Abramovich Khait # ''Leningrad'' (Ленинград) by Viktor Sergeyeich Runov # ''We are the Army of the People'' (Мы Армия Народа) by Georgy Viktorovich Mavsesyan # ''Sports March'' (Спортивный Марш) by Valentin Volkov # ''

'' (День Победы) by David Fyodorovich Tukhmanov # '' Long Live our State'' (Да здравствует наша держава) by

; Mobile Column # ''Victorious March'' (Победный Марш) by Nikolai Pavlocich Ivanov-Radkevich # ''Salute to Moscow'' (Салют Москвы) by Semyon Tchernetsky # ''Defenders of Moscow'' (Защитников Москвы) by Boris Alexandrovich Mokroysov # ''

'' (Прощание Славянки) by Vasiliy Agapkin # Unknown march # ''March of the Guards Mortar Personnel'' (Марш Гвардейцев-миномётчиков) by

Semyon Tchernetsky Major General Semyon Alexanderovich Tchernetsky (Russian language, Russian:Семё́н Алекса́ндрович Черне́цкий) was a Ukrainian-born, Russian and Soviet military conductor. He is credited as the founder of modern Russia ...

# ''March of the Tankmen'' (Марш Танкистов) by Semyon Tchernetsky ; Conclusion # ''

Invincible and legendary The Song of the Soviet Army ( rus, Песня о Советской Армии, r= Pesnya o Sovetskoj Armii) or Invincible and Legendary () or known recently as Song of the Russian Army ( rus, Песня о Российской Армии, r= Pesn ...

'' (Несокрушимая и легендарная) by Alexander Alexandrov # ''Victory Day'' (День Победы) by David Fyodorovich Tukhmanov # ''Invincible and legendary'' (Несокрушимая и легендарная) by Alexander Alexandrov

References

External links

Soviet Central Television footage of the parade
{{Moscow Victory Parade, state=expanded Moscow Victory Day Parades 1985 in Moscow 1985 in military history May 1985 events in Europe