Partisans Parade

1944 Red Army parade in Minsk

Partisans march past the reviewing stand during the parade

The Partisans Parade (Russian: партизанский парад, Belarusian: Парад партызан) was a solemn Red Army and partisan victory parade held on 16 July 1944 on the field of the former Hippodrome in Minsk on the dedicated to the liberation of Minsk from the German occupation in the 3 July Minsk Offensive.[1][2] The offensive was part of the Soviet Belorussian Strategic Offensive Operation (codenamed Operation Bagration).[citation needed]

The parade included the participation of 30 partisan brigades totaling around 30,000 partisans in all.[3] It was attended by many different party, government and military officials, including First Secretary of the Communist Party of Byelorussia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers Panteleimon Ponomarenko as wll as Chief of the Partisan Central Headquarters and parade commander Pyotr Kalinin.[4][5] In the column, the partisans also marched a goat named "Kid", which was decorated with a ribbon with German orders.[6] The parade was the first of its kind in the USSR and was the first victory parade in the country celebrating the country's war victories.[7]

Today, reenactments of the parade are currently held every year on the anniversary by youth unions, university students and reenactment groups.[8][9][10] In April 2010 a memorial stone was installed.[11] A sculptural monument in honor of the parade was installed on Minsk's Krasnoarmeyskaya Street near the Svisloch River in 2015.[12][13]

## See also

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* 1941 October Revolution Parade

## References

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1. ^ "У Мінску ўсталююць помнік народным мсціўцам". m.nn.by. Retrieved 2019-07-04.
2. ^ Epstein, B. (2008). The Minsk Ghetto 1941-1943: Jewish Resistance and Soviet Internationalism. University of California Press. p. 228\. ISBN 9780520931336. Retrieved 2019-07-04.
3. ^ "The Partisan Movements in Belarus During World War II (Part One)". Jamestown. Retrieved 2019-07-04.
4. ^ "Partisan parades celebrating the liberation of Belarus | Archives of Belarus". archives.gov.by. Retrieved 2019-07-04.
5. ^ "Военная Литература --[ Мемуары ]-- Ваупшасов С.А. На тревожных перекрестках: Записки чекиста". militera.lib.ru. Retrieved 2019-07-04.
6. ^ Осипов, Максим (2010-03-05). "Песни партизан..." Вечерний Минск. Archived from the original on 2012-02-08. Retrieved 2010-03-06.
7. ^ Slepyan, K. (2006). Stalin's guerrillas: Soviet partisans in World War II. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 9780700614806. Retrieved 2019-07-04.
8. ^ "1944 partisans' parade reenactment in Minsk | In Pictures | Belarus News | Belarusian news | Belarus today | news in Belarus | Minsk news". BELTA. Archived from the original on 2019-07-04. Retrieved 2019-07-04.
9. ^ "Goat Will Head Partisans' Parade In Minsk This Weekend". belarusfeed.com. Retrieved 2019-07-04.
10. ^ "Партизанский парад 1944 года в Минске". YouTube. 24 June 2017.
11. ^ "www.tio.by/info/novosti/11018/A". tio.by. Retrieved 2019-07-04.
12. ^ "Памятник "Парад белорусских партизан"". minsk-old-new.com. Retrieved 2019-07-04.
13. ^ "У Мінску рэканструявалі партызанскі парад 1944 года. Відэа". euroradio.fm. 24 June 2017. Retrieved 2019-07-04.