How the parade in honor of the USSR’s victory over Japan was held

For unknown reasons, the Soviet leadership decided not to hold the parade on the territory of the USSR. Instead, it took place in the city of Harbin in northeastern China on September 16, 1945.

“A sea of ​​flowers, thousands of slogans in Russian, Chinese and Korean, glorifying the greatness and valor of the Red Army soldiers and its commander, Generalissimo of the Soviet Union I. V. Stalin. Harbin had never seen or known such a huge crowd of people, such a celebration,” was how a TASS correspondent described that day.

Initially, the parade in Harbin was supposed to be hosted by Marshal Alexander Vasilevsky, the Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet troops in the Far East, but he was urgently summoned to Moscow. Therefore, this honor was entrusted to General Afanasy Beloborodov, a participant in the military operations in Manchuria.

The parade was commanded by Artillery General Konstantin Kazakov, who also had a hand in the defeat of the Japanese Kwantung Army.

Soldiers from two rifle divisions marched ceremoniously through the city streets, followed by motorized units, artillery and armored vehicles. “A storm of emotions among those gathered was caused by the appearance of the legendary ‘Katyusha’ guards mortars on the square, rustling along the pavement in two parallel streams,” the press reported.

“A T-34 tank under the command of the famous tank unit commander Onishchik rushes at full speed. It was his armored vehicles that were the first to pave the way through the impassable Manchurian taiga, catching up with Japanese columns and crushing them.”

Overall, the parade lasted two hours. After it, an impromptu demonstration of city residents took place through the streets of Harbin.

Credit: Israel Ozersky/Evgeny Khaldey/Sputnik; Evgeny Khaldey/МАММ/МDF/russiainphoto.ru

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