The May 9 Victory Day over Nazi Germany.

[december]

May 9 - Victory Day in Russia, a national holiday which remembers the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II and honors 27 million Soviet people who died in the war.

In Russia almost all the families have at least one person who took part in the war. The number of survivors is getting less every year. Victory Day honors those people who took part in a patriotic war.

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Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Located on the west wall of the Kremlin.

[december]

Hitler in Berlin. Nazi Germany. 1940s.


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Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov (second left) in Berlin. (May 1945 )

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[december]

The Battle of Stalingrad was a battle between Germany and its allies and the Soviet Union for the Soviet city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) that took place between August 21, 1942 and February 2, 1943, as part of World War II. It was the turning point of World War II in Europe and was arguably the bloodiest battle in human history, with combined casualties estimated above 1.5 million.

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German POWs: The staff of Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus

The battle was marked by brutality and disregard for military and civilian casualties on both sides. The battle is taken to include the German siege of Stalingrad, the battle inside the city, and the Soviet counter-offensive which eventually trapped and destroyed the German Sixth Army and other Axis forces around the city.

As a result of the battle, the Axis powers suffered roughly 850,000 casualties (one-quarter of their strength on the Eastern Front), and lost a huge amount of supplies and equipment. The Axis forces were never able to fully recover from this loss and were eventually forced into a long retreat out of Eastern Europe, after the great battles of 1943-1944. For the Soviets, who also suffered great losses during the battle, the victory at Stalingrad marked the start of the liberation of the Soviet Union, leading to eventual victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.

Battle of Stalingrad - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The act on Germany's surrender was signed in the two-storied building of the former canteen of the German military engineer school in Berlin's outskirts. (May 1945).



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Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov. 1945.

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Victory parade in Moscow. Joseph Stalin and Georgy Zhukov.

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Marshal Zhukov talking to American General Patton, left, at the Victory Parade in Berlin. (June 1945).

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Georgy Zhukov, Marshal of the Soviet Union. 1971.

[december]

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 a rainy June 24, 1945, over a month after 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 troops parade 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.

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Marshals Zhukov and Rokossovsky

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Sailors

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Kuban Cossack unit marching at the parade

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Deposition of Nazi standards

[december]

62nd VE Day anniversary parade in Moscow

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On May 9, a military parade involving about 7,000 officers and soldiers from 24 military colleges and other military units was held on Moscow’s Red Square to mark the 62nd anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War.

President Vladimir Putin has congratulated the people of Russia on the 62nd anniversary of victory against Nazi Germany in a speech at a military parade in Moscow.

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Putin cautioned against any attempts to obliterate the memory of those who died in the Great Patriotic War and to desecrate monuments to war heroes.

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Warplanes from the Russkiye Vityazi (Russian Knights) and Strizhi (Swifts) aerobatic groups flew over Red Square during the military parade on Red Square to mark the 62nd anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War.

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Nine Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters flew 300 to 500 meters above Red Square.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin with World War Two veterans after The 62nd VE Day anniversary military parade.


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Victory.
Soviet Army troops raise the red banner over the Reichstag, Berlin, 1945

[december]

Do British people celebrate Victory in the Second World War?