The Victory Banner is the flag of the 150th Infantry Division (3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front), which was hoisted over the Berlin Reichstag on May 1, 1945 by Meliton Kantaria, Alexei Berest and Mikhail Yegorov.
Instructions
Step 1
Today the Victory Banner is the official symbol of the victory of the Soviet people and the Soviet army over fascism in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. The very flag that proudly flew over the main German building of that era is kept in the Central Museum of the Armed Forces in Moscow.
Step 2
Many are sure that the Victory Banner is completely identical to the flag of the USSR. In fact this is not true. The banner was made in a military field. A red cloth was attached to the shaft. Its size was 188 by 82 centimeters. A sickle, a hammer and a five-pointed silver star were added to the obverse. Also on the Banner there is an inscription in 4 lines: “150 pages of the Order of Kutuzov, Art. II. idritsk. div. 79 C. K. 3 W. A. 1 B. F. . Historical documents indicate that this inscription was not originally there. It was applied in June 1945, when the already removed canvas was stored in one of the headquarters.
Step 3
The assault flag of the 150th Infantry Division was the fourth flag hoisted on the roof of the German parliament. The first three were installed earlier, but they were destroyed by the night German artillery bombardment, which also completely destroyed the glass dome of the Reichstag.
Step 4
What the Victory Banner looks like can be seen by many people in the famous photograph taken by a photojournalist of the Pravda newspaper. At about noon on May 1, he took off on a Po-2 plane and took a historical photograph, which was repeatedly published in newspapers and magazines around the world.
Step 5
On May 9, 1945 (according to other sources, May 5, 8 and 12), the Victory Banner was removed from the roof of the Reichstag and another large red banner was erected. The original banner was kept for some time at the headquarters of the 756th rifle regiment, then in the political department of the 150th rifle division. The Victory Banner was planned to be carried during the parade on Red Square in Moscow. To this end, on June 20, 1945, the canvas was sent to the capital. For the parade, the standard-bearer Neustroev and his assistants Beresta, Egorov and Kantaria were specially trained. However, the head of the group had several injuries and walked with difficulty. Other participants in the calculation could not demonstrate a sufficient level of drill training. It was too late to replace them with someone, so Marshal G. K. Zhukov gave the order not to carry the Banner.
Step 6
In the summer of 1945, the Victory Banner was transferred for eternal storage to the Central Museum of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union. In the 60s, they began to fear for the safety of the relic, and therefore they replaced it with an exact copy, and the original was sent to the fund. Keeper of the Banner A. A. Dementyev decided to pull out 9 nails from the shaft, which eventually rusted and began to spoil the fabric.
Step 7
On May 8, 2011, a special hall "Banner of Victory" was opened at the Central Museum of the Armed Forces of Russia. It exhibits a genuine cloth. The flag is located inside a glass cube fixed to metal structures. The structures themselves look like rails for BM-13 projectiles (aka the famous Katyusha). The glass showcases are used as the foundation, forming a pattern in the form of a destroyed swastika. Inside the cubes at the base there are 20,000 metal crosses, which during the war were intended to reward German soldiers for the capture of Moscow. A copy of the Barbarossa plan, German weapons and documents were placed in glass cases.
Step 8
At present, the genuine Victory Banner is not being taken out of the museum hall. During parades on Red Square, a copy is used. This rule is spelled out in the Federal Law of the Russian Federation No. 68-FZ of May 7, 2007.
