2012 Moscow Victory Day Parade

The 2012 Moscow Victory Day Parade was held on 9 May 2012 on Moscow's Red Square to commemorate the 67th anniversary of the capitulation of Nazi Germany in 1945.^[1] The parade marked the Soviet Union's victory in the Great Patriotic War on the very day on the signing of the German act of capitulation, on the very midnight of May 9, 1945 (Russian time). Newly inaugurated President of Russia Vladimir Putin made his ninth victory holiday address in this parade.^[2]

Preparations

Since October 2011, the parade has been well prepared. Rehearsals began to be held by the various participating units.

Beginning from March 2012, in the parade practice site in Alabino, Moscow Oblast, parade rehearsal were held from the 19th of that month until April 23, and from April 21 and 22 the parade's Mobile Column began its Moscow test runs.

Full rehearsals in Moscow itself started on the final Thursday and weekend of April and lasted until May 6. These also included separate practice runs for the military bands and the mobile column.

The event

Among the attendees were Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Chairman of the State Duma Sergei Naryshkin, and Mayor Sergey Sobyanin.^[3] Over 14,000 troops participated in the ceremony.^[4]^[5] For the first time in a year, due to the massive unpopularity of the new Battledress duty uniforms worn last year by almost all the parading units, all the participants, save for those in the mobile column, began wearing dress uniforms again.^[6] The entire marchpast segment for 2012 was composed of the following Russian uniformed services:

The mobile column was composed of more than a hundred military vehicles from various military units and a squadron of Army Air Center Mi-8s carrying the Flag of Russia and the flags of the Armed Forces flying past Red Square closed the parade segment.

This year's combined military band, conducted by Lieutenant General Valery Khalilov in what is his 10th Victory Day appearance as Senior Director of Music of the Military Band Service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, will have more than 1,100 bandsmen and for the first time in 3 years will see the return of the Field Marshal Alexander Suvorov Moscow Military Music School's Corps of Drums leading the parade in its dark blue and red dress uniform, as it has always done since the Moscow Victory Parade of 1945. The parade finale saw the bands perform the March Borodino and a special arrangement of Farewell of Slavianka', the latter being in honor of the centennial^[7] anniversary of its composition and the former being in honor of the bicentennial of the Patriotic War of 1812.^[8]

Music

^[8]

Flag procession, Inspection, and Address

Sacred War (Священная Война) by Alexander Alexandrov
March of the Preobrazhensky Regiment (Марш Преображенского Полка)
Slow March to Carry the War Flag (Встречный Марш для выноса Боевого Знамени) by Dmitriy Valentinovich Kadeyev
Slow March of the Officers Schools (Встречный Марш офицерских училищ) by Semyon Tchernetsky
Slow March of the Guards of the Navy (Гвардейский Встречный Марш Военно-Морского Флота) by Nikolai Pavlocich Ivanov-Radkevich
Slow March of the Tankmen (Встречный Марш Танкистов) by Semyon Tchernetsky
Slow March (Встречный Марш) by Evgeny Aksyonov
Glory (Славься) by Mikhail Glinka
Parade Fanfare All Listen! (Парадная Фанфара “Слушайте все!”) by Andrei Golovin
State Anthem of the Russian Federation (Государственный Гимн Российской Федерации) by Alexander Alexandrov
Signal Retreat (Сигнал “Отбой”)

Infantry Column

Triumph of the Winners (Триумф Победителей)
Air March (Авиамарш) by Yuliy Abramovich Khait
Crew is One Family (Экипаж - одна семья) by Viktor Vasilyevich Pleshak
March of the Cosmonauts/Friends, I believe (Марш Космонавтов /Я верю, друзья) by Oskar Borisovich Feltsman
Artillery March (Марш Артиллеристов) by Tikhon Khrennikov
We Need One Victory (Нам Нужна Одна Победа) by Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava
Ballad of a Soldier (Баллада о Солдате) by Vasily Pavlovich Solovyov-Sedoy
We are the Army of the People (Мы Армия Народа) by Georgy Viktorovich Mavsesya
To Serve Russia (Служить России) by Eduard Cemyonovich Khanok
The Entry of the Red Army in Budapest (Вхождение Красной Армии в Будапешт) by Semyon Tchernetsky
March Youth (Марш "Молодёжный") by Valery Khalilov
March Hero (Марш “Герой”) by Unknown
On Guard for the Peace (На страже Мира) by Boris Alexandrovich Diev
On the Road (В Путь) by Vasily Pavlovich Solovyov-Sedoy
Victory Day (День Победы) by David Fyodorovich Tukhmanov

Mobile and Air columns

March General Miloradovich (Марш “Генерал Милорадович”) by Valery Khalilov
Invincible and Legendary (Несокрушимая и легендарная) by Alexandr Alexandrov
March “Three Tankmen” (Марш “Три Танкиста”) by Pokrass Brothers
March of the Soviet Tankists (Марш сове́тских танки́стов) by Pokrass Brothers
Katyusha (Катюша) by Matvey Blanter
March Victory (Марш “Победа”) by Albert Mikhailovich Arutyunov
Artillery March (Марш Артиллеристов) by Tikhon Khrennikov
Long Live our State (Да здравствует наша держава) by Boris Alexandrov

Conclusion

March Borodino (Марш “Бородино”) by I. Rayevsky
Farewell of Slavianka (Прощание Славянки) by Vasiliy Agapkin

Full list of participants

^[8]

Colonel General Valery Gerasimov was the year's parade commander (his final parade appearance) while the Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation, Anatoly Serdyukov, in what would be his final parade review, was the parade reviewing officer.

Military Bands

Massed Military Bands of the Armed Forces under the direction of the Senior Director of Music of the Military Bands Service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General Valery Khalilov
- Central Military Band of the Ministry of Defense of Russia
- Central Navy Band of Russia
- Band of the Moscow Garrison
- Other military bands of military educational institutions and independent ministries
Corps of Drums of the Moscow Military Music School