“All preparations for the 9th May Victory Parade are complete,” Vladimir Chirkin, Commander of the Russian Grand Forces, reported yesterday. He supervised the general rehearsal of the Moscow military parade. He inspected the ranks and files“ maneuvers switching from one formation to another, getting ready to march Russia’s main square. Every single private of the total eleven thousand must be a perfect fit. The posture, the marching step – every detail matters, they had gone through it all over and over again.

Every move is an exact replica of that of the 9th May event. It was the last chance to put a final touch on the concord and cooperation of vehicles and manpower. Sergei Shoigu, Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, personally attended the rehearsal. It is symbolic that Mr. Shoigu was appointed General of the Army on this same day ten years ago.

The first accords of Aleksandrov’s Sacred War (a legendary Soviet patriotic song) accompanied the leading standard-bearers” group opening the march across the Red Square. They bore the tricolor flag of the Russian Federation and the Victory Banner, the one that had been hoisted over Reichstag by Yegorov and Kantaria in 1945. After a three-year interval, detachments of the Suvorov and Nakhimov Military School will rejoin the parade. The Aksaisky Military School will participate in the parade for the first time.

For several hours the capital’s central streets and avenues stood still, waiting for the combat vehicles that finally loomed at the beginning of the Tverskaya street. Drivers of the mechanized column had received detailed instructions walking the whole way to the Kremlin wall on foot to learn every turn by heart. The gaping passers-by saw BTR-82A, the most advanced Russian armoured personnel carriers that had just been delivered to the army, followed by T-90 tanks, 2S19 “Msta-S” self-propelling howitzers. The Russian anti-missile defense will be represented by Pantsir-S1 (NATO reporting name SA-22 Greyhound) combined short to medium range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery weapon systems; the legendary S-400 Triumph innovative anti-aircraft systems. The Russian strategic arsenal will be represented by the 9K720 Iskander (NATO reporting name SS-26 Stone) mobile theater ballistic missile systems and the RT-2UTTKh Topol-M (NATO reporting name: SS-27 “Sickle B”) intercontinental ballistic missile systems.

Everything is calculated to the second and to the millimeter. At 10.50 am, the Air Force will pay its tribute to the Victory in the airspace above the Red Square: sixty-eight aircrafts in seventeen groups, each unique in its complex formation, featuring helicopters, fighters, bombers, transport aircrafts. Traditionally, at the end of the parade the sky will be dyed in the colours of the Russian Flag. The guys have twenty-four hours for final analysis and calculations to ensure a perfect Great Victory Parade in the Red Square, as they have so far ensured.

For more information on war heroes visit Our Victory social project official website.