1941 October Revolution Parade


The 1941 October Revolution Parade of November 7, 1941 was a parade in honor of the October Revolution 24 years earlier. It is most famous for taking place during the Battle of Moscow. The General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin delivered a speech to the soldiers on the parade on Red Square who would go to battle immediately after the parade. Many of the soldiers on the parade would be killed in battle. Every year in modern Russia November 7th is a holiday in honor of the 1941 parade as a substitute for celebration of the October Revolution, as a Day of Military Honour.
Parades held on that year that are more memorable are the parades in Moscow's Red Square and in Kuybyshev Square, Samara. Both are marked today by commemorative parades to honor their historic importance.

Order of the Moscow parade marchpast

The parade was inspected by the commander of the Reserve Front, Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Budyonny, with musical accompaniment by a combined band made up of the Central Military Band of the People's Commissariat of Defence, the Band of the Dzerzhinsky Division, and the Staff Band of the Moscow Military District, both under the baton of Colonel Vasily Agapkin, then the Director of Music, Staff Band of the MMD.

Ground column

Following Colonel General Pavel Artemyev riding on horseback, the parade marched past in the following order:
Before the parade commenced the then General Secretary of the All-Union Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Premier of the USSR Joseph Stalin delivered this historic address to the nation:

Parade in Kuybyshev

The other national parade held was at Kuybyshev, at the grounds of Kuybyshev Square, attended by officials of the All-Union Communist Party, the Council of People's Commissars and the Supreme Soviet, high-ranking officers of the Soviet Armed Forces and the diplomatic corps, on the grounds of the city being a wartime national capital in the case of Moscow having fallen into Axis hands. The parade commander was then Lieutenant General Maksim Purkayev, commanding general of the 60th Army, while it was inspected by the former People's Commissar of Defense Marshal Kliment Voroshilov, who later gave the national holiday message following the inspection. It was his final inspection of an October Revolution parade and the only one he inspected outside the capital. An estimated 15,000 military servicemen took part, alongside more than 140 military vehicles and equipment and 217 aircraft, followed by a civilian demonstration of citizens from the city as well as refugees from the western cities. A 360-man massed bands contingent of the Volga Military District provided the ceremonial music.

Full order of the Kuybyshev Parade

In Voronezh, the parade of the troops of the Southwestern Front took place on October Square, and was presided by Marshal Semyon Timoshenko. The rostrum was filled with the leaders of regional party organizations, among other guests such as Polish writer Wanda Wasilewska, the Ukrainian literary figure Oleksandr Korniychuk and future Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. At 11:30 am, to the sounds of a 300-member military band led by the famous Voronezh composer Konstantin Massalitinov, the parade of the Voronezh Garrison began. Tanks marched in white camouflage to the sound of the Cavalry Lynx by Semyon Tchernetsky. The parade lasted no more than an hour and a half. After the war, the parade took a backseat in historical importance.

Full order of the Voronezh parade

Today the legacy of the twin parades held during the first year of the Great Patriotic War in the cities of Moscow and Samara are a reminder of the resistance of the Russian people and her armed forces, as part of the wider Soviet Union, against the aggresion brought upon by Nazi Germany in the Eastern Front of the Second World War. Millions of Russians who live in the wider areas of these two cities have or had family members and relatives who marched in these parades and/or fought during the conflict and consider these parades part of the wider history of Russia and of their families. Thus, the anniversaries of the parades of 1941 are for many Russians held in high esteem as a show of force against the fascist enemy and of Russia's determination to defeat any form of international aggression as well as for the country to show to her people and the young the values of patriotism, remembrance of the fallen, love of country and service in the armed forces. Every 7 November, the two cities hold commemorative parades not just to remember the hundreds of thousands of their residents who fought and died in the Second World War but to forever maintain the memories that this two parades had on their cities' long history.

Military memorial parade in Moscow's Red Square

The more memorable and famous 1941 parade on Moscow's Red Square has since the late 1990s been marked by commemorative parades by personnel of the Moscow Garrison, cadets of armed forces academies, servicemen of military units, the Young Army Cadets National Movement, cadets of military cadet schools and young men and women under youth uniformed and volunteer organizations within the capital city and its environs, with over 5,800 taking part. The march of veterans of the 1941 parade was first held in Russia in 2000. In 2003, the City of Moscow organized a procession of youth organization. Two years later, the anniversary of the parade was marked with a demonstration of wartime equipment and vehicles. A nationally televised event, it is attended by the living veterans of the war, families of deceased servicemen and veterans, the diplomatic corps, cadets of the armed forces and veterans of recent conflicts, with the Mayor of Moscow as the guest of honor. The parade commander, since 2014, has been a Colonel in active service of the armed forces. The ceremonial music for the parade is provided by the massed military bands of the Moscow Capital Garrison, under the baton of the Senior Director of Music of the Military Band Service. Since 2015, the parade begins with the march on in slow time of the Flag of Russia and the Victory Banner, imitating that of the Victory Day Parade earlier in the year.
Following the order to commence the march past in quick time, the order of the parade is as follows:
The Samara parade of 1941 has been remembered more recently beginning in 2011 as the city government hosts a large civil-military parade at Kuybyshev Square in the city proper to honor the thousands who marched before state, political and military leaders on that square in the winter of 1941. Also a televised event, the Mayor of Samara is the parade's guest of honor, reviewing more than 10,000 marchers from the armed forces, civil services, veterans and students of cadet schools in Samara and neighbouring regions of the country, making it far bigger than the Moscow parade. Beginning 2014 the parade has also included a civil march of students, professionals, athletes and distinguished citizens in memory of the civilian marchers of the memorable 1941 parade. Since the city was the wartime capital of the Soviet Union in case of the Axis capture of Moscow, the Samara parade is a chance for the people of the city to recall one of the more famous chapters of its long history. Since its commencement in 2011, it has adopted the march on in slow time of the Moscow parade, and beginning from the parade of 2017 the city garrison's massed bands play The Internationale as the colour guard including the naval ensign of the Amur Military Flotilla and the flags of the two divisions which took part in the parade marches into the square to take its place of honor in the formation.