Record March for the Immortal Regiment - Millions March To Honor Memory of Ancestors
A unique nationwide campaign, the Immortal Regiment, has united millions of people all over the world, becoming the day's main event. Almost 80 countries have joined it this year. War veterans' descendants of all generations came out with pictures of their heroes who beat fascism.
The Great Patriotic War is a part of almost family in Russia. In Moscow, a record number of people participated in the event. Over one million people walked shoulder-to-shoulder under the banners of the Immortal Regiment. President Vladimir Putin was among them.
Evgeny Rozhkov reports on what unites us.
An endless human river stretched over Tverskaya St, from Leningradsky Ave to Red Square. This river is of our common memory, where the old and the young come together with the heroes of that terrifying war, relatives and loved ones, fathers and mothers, grandmothers and grandfathers, many of whom are no longer with us.
- Five people went to the front line within the first days of the war. They sent a 14-year-old girl to the labor front.
- Did everyone go?
- Everyone left!”
- Who are you here with?
Ilya Sobolev: "My great-grandfather, Ilya Sobolev, I was named in his honor. He was anti-tank infantry, he fought for Moscow".
Irina Alferova, People's Artist of Russia: "This is my dad, her husband, our handsome Ivan Kuzmich. He faked his age because he was 17 and volunteered to go to the war".
Young beautiful people look at us from the miraculously preserved photos. The war turned their lives around. That's how it was for Georgy Vyacheslavovich Stroganov. He was 10 when the Nazis came. He volunteered to bring shells to the soldiers.
Georgy Stroganov, the war veteran: "Have you ever seen a 45-mm anti-tank gun?"
- Not personally, no.
The famous aircraft engineer Sergey Ilyushin dreamed of making civilian jets, according to his granddaughter. But it was his IL-2s that shut down Germans in the sky.
Ekaterina Schukina, Ilyushin's granddaughter: "The IL-2 was the war's primary plane. I think we all earned this victory. Our grandfathers who were in the foxholes and those in the design bureaus, engineering weapons and helping their country".
Vladimir Putin considers it his duty to be here. His father, Vladimir Spiridonovich was badly injured in the battle for Nevsky Pyatachok, and his mother, Maria Ivanovna, almost died during the Siege of Leningrad.
Israel's PM, Benjamin Netanyahu, walked almost shoulder-to-shoulder with the Russian president. He carried the portrait of Wolf Vilenski, Hero of the Soviet Union, a Lithuanian-born Jew who fought the Germans until the victory. On the other side, there was Serbian President, Aleksandar Vučić, carrying his grandpa's portrait.
Not a word about politics is spoken among this endless flow of people today. French communist and former presidential candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, thanks Russians for the victory.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, former French Presidential Candidate: "Thank you, Russians. I thank the Russians for what they did for our joint freedom. I want to convey the French people's friendship to all Russians".
Timur Damirov, Petr Mokryakov's great-grandson: This is my great-grandfather, Mokryakov Petr Ivanovich. He shot down German planes and taught others how to do it."
- Did he die or not?
- He died during the War, I'm very sad for him.
- This is my great-grandfather.
- Next to Zhukov?
- Yes, next to General Zhukov. "He was a translator during the surrender, when the papers were signed with American President, Eisenhower.
Galina Tverdokhlebov, Dmitry Tverdokhlebov's daughter: "This is a holy day for me, with all of its joy and tears. I thank God that he lived to be 86, may he rest in peace. I bow down to all of my dear veterans, I love them all, all of Russia".
- My grandfather, Efim Evseevich Rozhkov didn't just have a hint of grey on his Victory Day. When they dug him up hours after a shell exploded next to him in the trench, he was white as snow. Then, he made it to Poland and even fought with Japanese aggressors in Korea and China, and it's priceless to walk with him here today.
Immortal Regiments march all over Russia, all over the world, but the largest one is, of course, in Moscow. They fought to their deaths for the capital. In the city's center, on Tverskaya St., where hospitals stood during the war, and people listened to news from the front line, incredible stories can be heard today.
Viktor Balashov, front-line soldier and newscaster recalls his intelligence service days: "Mine fragments hit all five of us. But we were rescued by girls, they were nurses".
- We have four generations here. I'm the mom, this is my father, this is my son, and this is his great-granddaughter".
- We came to celebrate this day with you from the Hero City of Odessa, Ukraine because, unfortunately, they don't celebrate these holidays on the scale that they used to".
There are many guests from other countries, too. We see waving flags from the US and the UK.
Sergey Brilev, Vesti Saturday News host: "Francine Fromont is the spy, Anna Frolova. Bernard O'Connor is a famous British historian with the identity of the scout, Anna Uspenskaya. It's an incredible story about British spies helping 34 Soviet spies during the war to move to Western Europe, it's an unimaginable story for our days. Bernard told it. I learned that our country has declassified documents that nobody cares about anymore. We're writing a book and making a movie together".
Vasily Lanovoy, Chairman of the Immortal Regiment: "I remember June 24, 1945. My friends and I were young boys back then, we sneaked in here after the Victory Day parade. We were walking, the weather was the same, and we were full of the same incredible joy. It was an overwhelming feeling".
1418 terrifying days and nights, the war that seemed to not have an end. But each one of these heroes brought the victory closer with their machineguns in the foxholes, scalpels in the field hospitals, and hammers on the machines. That's why, on this day, we have tears in our eyes for those we've lost and because we can keep living.
Aleksandr Mikhailov, People’s Artist of the RSFSR: "I hope Russia lives and prospers. Let there be peace, joy, and love".
Mikhail Nozhkin, People’s Artist of the RSFSR: "The May thunder is like the thunder of weapons, honoring the dead and the living. Happy Victory Day and may there be many more".
Irina Muravyova, People's Artist of Russia: "My dad left Moscow voluntarily to go to the front, studied, and became a German translator by the end. My mom was taken from Belarus to Germany when she was a little girl. Then, victory came, my parents met each other, they got married two months later. They spent 62 years together".
Anna Markovna Zonova, who lived through Stalingrad and Rzhev. She remembers how honored she, a radio operator, was one of the first to tell the soldiers about the victory.
Anna Zonova, war veteran: "Who said it? Anyutka did! I received a message on the radio that the war was over. At first, they were kissing me, then they picked me up and started throwing me up and down like a ball for delivering the good news. Nobody celebrated the Victory Day like I did".
It's been over three hours, and the flow still does not end. Later, the Ministry of Internal Affairs calculated there over a million people in the Immortal Regiment. Among them were real soldiers, even if only on the portraits, this is a real army which will honor its country, carrying its heroes legacies' through generations. We're alive today because of them.
We remember and take pride.
Evgeny Rozhkov, Nikolay Davydov, Anna Tsimailo, Margarita Avoyan, Natalya Gubina, Fillip Dubrovsky. Vesti.