Partisans Parade
{{Short description|1944 Red Army parade in Minsk}}
File:Парад с участием партизан Минской области по случаю освобождения Минска.jpg
The Partisans Parade ({{langx|ru|партизанский парад}}, {{langx|be|Парад партызан}}) was a solemn Red Army and partisan victory parade held on 16 July 1944 on the field of the former Hippodrome in Minsk on the dedicated to the liberation of Minsk from the German occupation in the 3 July Minsk Offensive.{{cite web|url=https://m.nn.by/articles/69219/|website=m.nn.by|title=У Мінску ўсталююць помнік народным мсціўцам|accessdate=2019-07-04}}{{cite book|title=The Minsk Ghetto 1941-1943: Jewish Resistance and Soviet Internationalism|author=Epstein, B.|date=2008|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520931336|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ivcA93p1afIC&pg=PA228|page=228|accessdate=2019-07-04}} The offensive was part of the Soviet Belorussian Strategic Offensive Operation (codenamed Operation Bagration).{{cn|date=May 2020}}
The parade included the participation of 30 partisan brigades totaling around 30,000 partisans in all.{{cite web|url=https://jamestown.org/program/the-partisan-movements-in-belarus-during-world-war-ii-part-one/|title=The Partisan Movements in Belarus During World War II (Part One)|website=Jamestown|accessdate=2019-07-04}} It was attended by many different party, government and military officials, including First Secretary of the Communist Party of Byelorussia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers Panteleimon Ponomarenko as wll as Chief of the Partisan Central Headquarters and parade commander Pyotr Kalinin.{{cite web|url=http://archives.gov.by/eng/index.php?id=156030|title=Partisan parades celebrating the liberation of Belarus | Archives of Belarus|website=archives.gov.by|accessdate=2019-07-04}}{{cite web|url=http://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/vaupshasov/44.html|title=Военная Литература --[ Мемуары ]-- Ваупшасов С.А. На тревожных перекрестках: Записки чекиста |website=militera.lib.ru|accessdate=2019-07-04}} In the column, the partisans also marched a goat named "Kid", which was decorated with a ribbon with German orders.{{cite web|url=http://www.newsvm.com/news/26/57341/|title=Песни партизан...|last=Осипов|first=Максим|date=2010-03-05|publisher=Вечерний Минск|accessdate=2010-03-06|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120208160227/http://www.newsvm.com/news/26/57341/|archivedate=2012-02-08|url-status=dead}} The parade was the first of its kind in the USSR and was the first victory parade in the country celebrating the country's war victories.{{cite book|title=Stalin's guerrillas: Soviet partisans in World War II|author=Slepyan, K.|date=2006|publisher=University Press of Kansas|isbn=9780700614806|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PvsLAQAAMAAJ|accessdate=2019-07-04}}
Today, reenactments of the parade are currently held every year on the anniversary by youth unions, university students and reenactment groups.{{cite web|url=https://m.eng.belta.by/fotoreportage/view/1944-partisans-parade-reenactment-in-minsk-102721-2017|title=1944 partisans' parade reenactment in Minsk | In Pictures | Belarus News | Belarusian news | Belarus today | news in Belarus | Minsk news|website=BELTA|accessdate=2019-07-04|archive-date=2019-07-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704173647/https://m.eng.belta.by/fotoreportage/view/1944-partisans-parade-reenactment-in-minsk-102721-2017|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://belarusfeed.com/goat-head-partisans-parade-minsk/amp/|website=belarusfeed.com|title=Goat Will Head Partisans' Parade In Minsk This Weekend|accessdate=2019-07-04}}{{Cite web|url=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PBBxTVw8bFM|title = Партизанский парад 1944 года в Минске| website=YouTube | date=24 June 2017 }} In April 2010 a memorial stone was installed.{{cite web|url=https://www.tio.by/info/novosti/11018/A|website=tio.by|title=www.tio.by/info/novosti/11018/A|accessdate=2019-07-04}} A sculptural monument in honor of the parade was installed on Minsk's Krasnoarmeyskaya Street near the Svisloch River in 2015.{{cite web|url=https://minsk-old-new.com/places/pamyatniki-i-skulptury/pamyatnik-parad-belorusskih-partizan|website=minsk-old-new.com|title=Памятник "Парад белорусских партизан"|accessdate=2019-07-04}}{{cite web|url=https://euroradio.fm/u-minsku-rekanstruyavali-partyzanski-parad-1944-goda-videa|title=У Мінску рэканструявалі партызанскі парад 1944 года. Відэа|website=euroradio.fm|date=24 June 2017 |accessdate=2019-07-04}}