RUSSIAN COMMEMORATION PARADE OF THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF VICTORY IN WORLD WAR TWO
CANFORA PUBLISHING BY JAMES KINNEAR & ANDREY AKSENOV ISBN 978 91 984776 3 4 HARDBACK, 112PP UK SELLERS FROM £19.99
It was expected to be big – an extended one and half hours of marching, tekhnika and flypasts in Red Square: then came Covid and cancellation, including the post-parade remembrance march of the Immortal Regiment. After weeks of uncertainty a postponed date of 24 June 2020 was fixed, the 75th anniversary of the first 1945 Moscow Victory Parade.
Pared down, the parade would still include more than 200 vehicles and 24 new types.
In Moscow, rehearsals resumed and participating vehicles slowly assembled from factories refurbishing an enlarged contingent of historic T-34-85s and SU-100s, new tekhnika fresh off production lines, and RS-24 ICBMs journeying 400km by road. But parades are about spectacle and this souvenir and fitting epilogue to the outstanding Canfora Army Parades trilogy is all in the photos – several hundred big, bold colour pictures of the Victory Day Parade and rehearsals.
No facemasks were visible on Red Square but inspection of rehearsal photos will reveal mask wearing crews and amongst the roadside troops and scanty spectators.