On July 16, 1944, the famous partisan parade took place in liberated Minsk
This parade rightfully stands out from all the solemn military processions and reviews in the history of mankind. After all, it was not soldiers of the regular army who participated in it, but soldiers who fought in the occupied territory in the partisan detachments of Belarus.
The Belarusian land was liberated from the German invaders in the summer of 1944 during the rapid offensive of our army during Operation Bagration. The Belarusian partisans rendered great assistance to the advancing troops.
By the time of the liberation of Belarus and its capital Minsk, 1255 partisan detachments, numbering about 370 thousand fighters, were fighting on the territory of the republic. During the occupation, the partisans of Belarus derailed 11,128 enemy echelons and 34 armored trains, defeated 29 railway stations and 948 enemy garrisons, blew up 819 railway and 4,710 other bridges, and destroyed 939 German military depots.
Minsk was liberated by the Soviet army on July 3, 1944, and almost immediately numerous partisan detachments began to gather in the war-torn capital of Belarus. After the expulsion of the invaders from their native land, the former fighters of the "partisan front" had to either join the regular army or begin work to restore peaceful life in the liberated territory. But before permanently disbanding the partisan detachments, the leaders of Belarus and the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement decided to hold a real partisan parade in Minsk.
By the evening of July 15, 1944, 20 partisan brigades of the Minsk region, 9 brigades from the Baranovichi (now Brest) region and one from the Vileika (now Molodechno) region gathered in the capital of Belarus - more than 30 thousand people in total. On the eve of the parade, many of its participants were awarded medals "Partisan of the Patriotic War" - for most of those who fought behind the front line, this was the first state award in their lives.
The partisans gathered in the capital of Belarus for a reason, on the way they cleared the surrounding forests from the defeated German troops. This is how Ivan Pavlovich Bokhan, a native of the village of Skobino, Minsk region, then a 17-year-old partisan fighter, whose parents were shot by the invaders, recalled this:
“Two days before the arrival of the Red Army, we liberated Kopyl, defeated the garrison and captured the city … Our brigade was transferred from the Kopyl region to Minsk. There was a large German group surrounded, someone was taken prisoner, and some fled. The task of our brigade is to catch these groups on the way to Minsk. This is how we walked. In the morning we rise, let's go, you look - the smoke in the forest. You approach - 4-5 Germans are sitting by the fire. They immediately: "Halt!" If only the weapon grabs - we kill immediately … We came to Minsk. On July 16, 1944, a partisan parade took place, in which I participated. It was an indescribable sight - how many partisans were there!"
By 9 a.m. on July 16, 1944, 30 thousand partisans lined up on a field in the bend of the Svisloch River for the parade and 50 thousand residents of Minsk who survived the occupation gathered. The parade was attended by a large delegation of soldiers and commanders of the Red Army, led by the commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front, General of the Army Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky - it was his troops who liberated the capital of Belarus from the Germans.
Here is how one of its participants, a soldier of the partisan detachment "Kommunar" Vasily Morokhovich, recalled about the partisan parade: “Overgrown and emaciated partisans marched between the destroyed and burned houses of Minsk. In their hands they had the most amazing collection of weapons of the then fighting armies, riddled with weapons that were made in the forests by blacksmiths. They were greeted with delight, they walked proudly with awards on their chests! They were the winners!"
Partisan equipment also took part in the parade, mainly German trophies. But there were also samples with an amazing fate - for example, a ZIS-21 truck with a gas generator engine capable of running on wood. At first, he was captured by the advancing Germans, and then hijacked by Belarusian partisans - the German truck driver Hans Kulyas went over to the side of the partisans and after the war remained in our country.
In the ranks of the partisans, another very unusual participant in the unprecedented parade also walked - a goat named Kid. In 1943, after the defeat of the German garrison at the Kurenets station, the “Borba” partisan detachment from the “People's Avengers” brigade, among other trophies, took a goat with it. The animal was supposed to go to the partisans for dinner, but the fighters liked it and soon the goat, nicknamed the Kid, became the favorite and mascot of the "Struggle" partisan detachment.
Vasily Petrovich Davzhonak, a 19-year-old soldier of the Fighting detachment in 1944, recalled the unusual companion of the partisans: “The kid endured with us all the hardships of field life, we practically ate with him, slept … even fought! Once there was a major skirmish with the Germans near the village of Okolovo, not far from Pleschenitsy. I remember this fight very well, I was at that time the second number of the machine-gun crew - I was supplying cartridges. Throughout the battle, the Kid did not leave us. And he acted very competently: as soon as the Germans opened heavy fire, calmly retreated under cover, behind a pine tree, waited, and then again went out and carefully watched the course of the battle."
However, the goat was not only a talisman - during hiking in the woods, he carried a packed bag of medicines. Together with the partisan detachment on July 16, 1944, the Kid was among the participants in an unusual parade.
“We decided that the Kid deserved to be with us in this solemn moment. - recalled Vasily Davjonak. - The partisans from our detachment cleaned it thoroughly, dressed it up in a ribbon decorated with German orders. We got the Hitler awards as a trophy when we captured the German staff vehicle - we decided that they belonged on the Kid's neck. The parade began, and our dressed-up goat immediately took its usual place - in front of the column. I remember that I noticed how Chernyakhovsky looked at our "pet" in surprise and, gesturing animatedly, was talking about something to his assistants. In general, in my opinion, the authorities liked our initiative …"
It was assumed that the Kid would pass unnoticed inside the column, but during the solemn march, the battle goat, escaping from the hands of the accompanying people, settled down next to the command of the detachment, causing furious delight among the audience. Decorated with trophy Nazi crosses, the Kid got into the lens of the cameraman filming the parade, and forever remained in history.
Almost immediately, a legend arose that the goat in the German orders was specially invented by Soviet propaganda. In reality, it was the initiative of ordinary victorious guerrillas, thus expressing their contempt for the defeated invaders.
The partisan parade on July 16, 1944 in Minsk rightfully went down in history as the brightest symbol of the victory of the fraternal peoples of Russia and Belarus over an external enemy.
