March in honor of historic parade of 1941 starts on Red Square

A solemn parade dedicated to the anniversary of the historic parade of November 7th 1941 has started on Red Square in Moscow with the chime of bells and "The Sacred War" song.

The servicemen carry flags of units that defended the Russian capital 75 years ago. Later the soldiers wearing uniforms of the 1940s will march. The spectators will see the ceremony re-enacting the war events and the military equipment of the Great Patriotic War era. The military hardware will parade across Red Square and stay there until 5 pm, TASS reports. 

The ceremony will be attended by WWII veterans, including those who took part in the legendary parade in 1941, the 1945 Victory Parade, representatives of veterans’ and youth organizations and municipal authorities. The march marking the parade’s anniversary is held in Moscow for the 14th time. 

The legendary parade in 1941 lasted for around an hour and was attended by 28,500 soldiers and militia fighters. Many of them went to the frontline to defend Moscow from the advancing Nazis straight from Red Square.

Earlier, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This ceremony was also attended by veterans, members of the Moscow City Duma and the Moscow City Government, representatives of public organizations and movements, various religious confessions.