Instead, they sent their representatives: General Brian Robertson represented the British and General George S. However, neither men attended the September parade (even though they were invited). Eisenhower as leader of the American forces in Europe. Montgomery was Zhukov’s British equivalent as was Dwight D. Prior to the start of the Allied Victory Parade, Marshall Zhukov was driven in front of the participating troops in an American built open-top Packard Twelve motor car. One of the medals he wore with pride in the centre of his tunic, was the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) awarded to him on behalf of the King of Great Britain (George VI), by Field-Marshall Bernard Montgomery on July 12th 1945 for his services towards the British Crown. It was rumoured that Zhukov wore a metal plate inside his tunic to help counter-balance the weight of the medals and keep him upright throughout the ceremony. He was the only Allied commander present at the parade, weighed down with (at least 30) medals, the other attendees wearing only their military ribbons. From there he went on to oversee the defence of Leningrad, then to face and halt the German drive to Moscow and, according to his memoirs, played a significant part in planning for the Battle of Kursk and the subsequent advance forward into Germany. His military prowess first became evident in August 1939 when his tactics out-smarted the Japanese army at the Battle of Khalkhin Gol on the Mongolian/Japanese border. In regard to that and his other military successes, there was probably no better man to represent the Soviets on the saluting podium on Charlottenburg Chaussee at the Allied Victory Parade that September. However, it was the Soviets who reached the Nazi capital first and it was Zhukov who led his troops into Berlin, bringing the war to a close. The war would test the unlikely partnership between East and West, cooperating to rid Europe of German fascism, in many ways.

After “provisionally surrendering” to the British on May 4th and the Americans on May 8th. Germany finally surrendered to Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov, along with Eisenhower’s representative British Air Marshal Tedder, on May 9th 1945 in the former canteen of the German Military Engineering College at Karlshorst in Berlin. Indeed, in the final 17-day Battle of Berlin, the Soviets sustained more than 340,000 casualties (over 80,000 died). With around 25 million casualties on the Soviet side.

The majority of fighting in this war, irrespective of how we choose to name it (World War Two/Second World War), undoubtedly took place in Eastern Europe. According to the Soviet side, the Great Patriotic War was won by the Red Army taking on, with little assistance, the might of the German forces and civilian resistance. The story of that defeat would, however, be presented differently by the different Allies. It was intended to be a monumental celebration of the forces that had collectively defeated Nazi Germany.

In fact, the Allied Victory Parade in Berlin on September 7th, 1945 would come to be known as ‘The Forgotten Parade’ – overshadowed in size by the earlier British Victory Parade held in Berlin in July, 1945. It didn’t quite turn out as Joseph Stalin had expected.

Japanese victory march