The 1975 October Revolution Parade was a parade on

Red Square Red Square ( rus, Красная площадь, Krasnaya ploshchad', ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːətʲ) is one of the oldest and largest squares in Moscow, the capital of Russia. Owing to its historical significance and the adjacent historical build ...

dedicated to the 58th anniversary of the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...

on November 7, 1975.

Marshal of the Soviet Union Marshal of the Soviet Union (russian: Маршал Советского Союза, Marshal sovetskogo soyuza, ) was the highest military rank of the Soviet Union. The rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union was created in 1935 and abolished in 19 ...

Andrei Grechko Andrei Antonovich Grechko (, ; – 26 April 1976) was a Marshal of the Soviet Union (from 1955). He was Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union from 1967 to 1976. Early life Grechko was the thirteenth child born to a family of Ukrainian peasant ...

gave his last speech on the grandstand of

Lenin's Mausoleum Lenin's Mausoleum (from 1953 to 1961 Lenin's & Stalin's Mausoleum) ( rus, links=no, Мавзолей Ленина, r=Mavzoley Lenina, p=məvzɐˈlʲej ˈlʲenʲɪnə), also known as Lenin's Tomb, situated on Red Square in the centre of Moscow, i ...

, before he died the following April. Commanding the parade was the head of the

Moscow Military District The Order of Lenin Moscow Military District was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The district was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1968. In 2010 it was merged with the Leningrad Military D ...

Colonel General Vladimir Govorov. Providing the music for his final parade, was conducted by Major General Nikolai Nazarov of the combined massed bands of the Moscow Garrison. A scaled down display of military technologies that excluded tanks was also present, which cut the parade down to 30 minutes as a result. General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev; uk, links= no, Леонід Ілліч Брежнєв, . (19 December 1906– 10 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union between 1964 and ...

and Soviet Prime Minister

Alexei Kosygin Alexei Nikolayevich Kosygin ( rus, Алексе́й Никола́евич Косы́гин, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ kɐˈsɨɡʲɪn; – 18 December 1980) was a Soviet statesman during the Cold War. He served as the Premi ...

were present at the parade. A

color guard In military organizations, a colour guard (or color guard) is a detachment of soldiers assigned to the protection of regimental colours and the national flag. This duty is so prestigious that the military colour is generally carried by a young ...

unit marched past there for the 1st time since 1967, but with the

Victory Banner The Soviet Banner of Victory (russian: Знамя Победы, translit=Znamya Pobedy) was the banner raised by the Red Army soldiers on the Reichstag building in Berlin on 1 May 1945, the day after Adolf Hitler committed suicide. It was rais ...

at the lead. This was done to mark the 30th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, which wasn't marked with the usual

Victory Day Parade ukr, Парад Перемоги be, Парад Перамогі , nickname = Victory Parades , observedby = Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, some former Soviet countries , duration = 1 day , frequency = annual , scheduling = same d ...

on 9 May. The parade that year acted as the ''de facto''

for that jubilee year.

Debut appearance of the fanfare trumpeters and fifers of the Moscow Military Music College

1975 being the 30th year since the

Moscow Victory Parade of 1945 The Moscow Victory Parade of 1945 ( rus, Парад Победы, r= Parad Pobedy) also known as the Parade of Victors ( rus, Парад победителей, r= Parad pobediteley) was a victory parade held by the Soviet Armed Forces (with the ...

, to honor this historic event the

Moscow Military Music College The Valery Khalilov Moscow Suvorov Military Music College is one of the leading military music institutions in Russia. It is a separate branch of the Suvorov Military Schools in Russia, and the oldest of them all (opened 1937). History On Augu ...

debuted what would be a 27-year tradition of leading the Red Square parades with the snare drum beats of the Corps of Drums and its fanfare trumpeters and fifers, combined with its

Turkish crescent A Turkish crescent, (a smaller version is called a çevgen or ''çağana'' (Tr.), Turkish jingle, Jingling Johnny, ' (Ger.), ' or ''pavillon chinois'' (Fr.)), is a percussion instrument traditionally used by military bands internationally. In some ...

and a pair of

glockenspiels The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The glo ...

granted that year (which would be used until 1990 and replaced by the college banner since 1995, but the glockenspiels were retained with ornamental modifications) in honor of the cadets who marched past on that day. For the only time in its history the Corps march past first to the tune of fifes and drums, and then by the fanfare trumpeters sounding the "Glory to the Motherland" March with the massed bands. From 1977 to 1990 the Corps led the parade playing the tune "Comrades, We Bravely March!" (With the exception case for the 1990 Victory Day Parade, when the tune " Katyusha" and "

Den Pobedy "Den' Pobedy" (russian: День Победы, en, Victory Day) ranks among the most popular in the large corpus of Russian songs devoted to the Second World War. The song refers to the Victory Day (9 May) celebration and differs from most of ...

" was played by fifers and fanfare trumpeters respectively; and in 1995 the tune "We are Army of the People" was played instead) by the chromatic fanfare trumpeters preceded by the fifers of the school.

Parade Units

* Massed Bands of the Moscow Military District * Corps of Drums of the Moscow Military Music School * Color Guard Unit led by the

Frunze Military Academy The M. V. Frunze Military Academy (russian: Военная академия имени М. В. Фрунзе), or in full the Military Order of Lenin and the October Revolution, Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Academy in the name of M. V. Frunze (rus ...

* V.I. Lenin Military Political Academy * Felix Dzerzhinsky Artillery Academy * Military Armored Forces Academy Marshal Rodion Malinovsky * Military Engineering Academy * Military Academy of Chemical Defense and Control * Yuri

Gagarin Air Force Academy Gagarin Air Force Academy () is a Russian military aviation academy located in Monino, Moscow Oblast. The academy prepares high-ranking military personnel for the Russian Air Force. Among the academy alumni are around 700 Heroes of the Soviet ...

* Prof. Nikolai

Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy () – is a higher military educational institution for training and retraining of engineers for the Russian Air Force. The academy trains specialists – engineers, research engineers in the following sp ...

* Kaliningrad Higher Naval School * Moscow Border Guards Institute of the Border Defence Forces of the KGB "Moscow City Council" *

98th Guards Airborne Division The 98th Guards Airborne Division is an airborne division of the Russian Airborne Troops, currently based in Ivanovo. Russian 98th Airborne Division patch.svg, 98th Guards Airborne Division shoulder sleeve insignia (1993) History During the Se ...

OMSDON The Separate Operational Purpose Division or ODON, formerly called OMSDON (a.k.a. '' Dzerzhinsky Division''), is a rapid deployment internal security division of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR and then the ...

* 336th Marine Regiment of the Baltic Fleet * Suvorov Military School *

Nakhimov Naval School The Nakhimov Naval School (russian: Нахимовское военно-морское училище) or Nakhimov School (russian: Нахимовское училище) is a form of military education for teenagers introduced in the Soviet Unio ...

* Moscow Military High Command Training School "Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR"

Links

Footage of the parade.

References

{{Annual Great October Socialist Revolution Parade November 1975 events in Europe 1975 in Moscow 1975 in Russia October Revolution parades

Debut appearance of the fanfare trumpeters and fifers of the Moscow Military Music College

Parade Units

See also

Links

References