Some archive footage here, to the accompaniment of the Red Army Choir.
In one of the earliest Victory Day parades, around 50,000 German prisoners of war were marched through the streets of Moscow. They weren’t allowed to break out of line and many soiled themselves.
On the whole, Russian citizens were not disrespectful - some even threw [...]

A Russian girl directing a Red Army convoy towards Berlin in 1944

‘Operation Barbarossa’ was Hitler’s plan to defeat Russia in 4 months flat. Yet it wasn’t until 4 years later, on May 9th., 1945, that the German Army surrendered in Berlin. During this time, at least 25 million former Soviet citizens lost their lives in [...]