The 10-minute-long 1944 documentary went under the title «The convoy of the German POWs through Moscow» and show both the preparatory part and the actual passage of the «Parade of the Vanquished», which took place on July 17, 1944. 57,600 German soldiers and officers captured during Operation Bagration marched along the Garden Ring and other streets of the Russian capital. Among the prisoners were 19 generals, leading the column in uniforms adorned with medals. Watering vehicles followed the procession, symbolically cleansing the ‘dirt’ from the roads.
The event, showcasing the Soviet Union’s strength in WWII, left a lasting impact on the citizens of Moscow and international observers.
Backup at Rumble.
👉 At 6:41 one can see the entrance to the exhibition “Trophies of the Great Battles” at Gorky Park, a documentary about which we translated earlier.
The material is also available at our Telegram channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”
One can read a detailed account of the event in an article “Parade of the Vanquished” at TopWar:
Hitler’s generals on Gorky Street, escorted by NKVD soldiers.
17 July 1944, Moscow residents were shocked by the appearance of a column of Nazis in the city. “Operation Big Waltz” – this code, apparently, the unofficial name of this indicative action in the NKVD.
Its participants are generals, officers and soldiers of the German fascist army group Center, utterly defeated in the summer of 1944, in the Belarusian strategic offensive operation Bagration. The losses of the enemy turned out to be much higher than in the “Stalingrad catastrophe”. However, the allied press expressed great doubt in such an impressive defeat of the Nazis. The information war has already gained momentum …
It was then that in the leadership of the USSR the idea was ripe to demonstrate to the world the successes of the Red Army and to carry a huge mass of German prisoners led by their beaten generals through the streets of Moscow.
“Show them to the whole world.”
In the epic “Liberation: the direction of the main attack” there is a short but apparently historical episode: Stalin, after hearing the report of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Army General Alexei Antonov (“MIC”, No. 17, 2017) about the defeat of the German fascist troops in Belarus, in its characteristic manner, says quietly: “You take prisoners, and neither enemies nor allies believe you. Do not hide your prisoners, show them, let everyone see. ”
Why was the operation called the Great Waltz? Maybe because the main element of this ballroom dance is spinning in a circle? After all, the movement of the column of prisoners of the Nazis was also planned in a large circle – along the Garden Ring …
👉 Continue reading at TopWar…