Press releases

13 Nov 2025

‘Brave and fearless’: Why Belarusian Nikolai Kutovsky was given an honor to participate in first Victory Parade

MINSK, 15 November (BelTA) - In the summer of 1941, German troops advanced rapidly, with the Nazis entering Zhlobin as early as the beginning of July. Twenty-year-old Nikolai Kutovsky had not even been drafted into the army yet. So he decided to go on his own! Together with several comrades, he set out on foot towards Gomel on 9 July to catch up with the Soviet troops.

It was only near Oryol that they joined a Red Army unit. Almost immediately, they were encircled and managed to break out suffering heavy losses. But Nikolai survived and continued to fight against the enemy.

Very soon, several smart soldiers were selected from the unit and sent to the city of Miass in Chelyabinsk Oblast to study at an artillery school. The training was accelerated, and just a year later, after graduating with honors, he was sent with the rank of junior lieutenant to the Karelian Front, assigned to the 46^th Guards Mortar Regiment of the 7^th Army. There, he served first as a fire platoon commander, then as a battery commander, and later as the commander of the ammunition battery.

As part of the 46^th Mortar Regiment, Nikolai Kutovsky participated in defensive battles on the Kola Peninsula. From June to August 1944, he was also involved in the Svir-Petrozavodsk operation, liberating Karelia. For the liberation of an important settlement, the Red Army soldier was awarded the Order of the Red Star.

One of his award citations, signed personally by the commander of the 46th Guards Mortar Regiment, reads: “He was brave and fearless... Comrade Kutovsky, through his personal example of courage and composure, inspired the personnel to carry out their assigned tasks. This ensured the timely and accurate delivery of fire.”

In February 1945, Nikolai Kutovsky was dispatched to Moscow to receive new equipment and accept personnel reinforcements for the Katyusha battery he commanded. It was here that he celebrated Victory Day on 9 May! Soon, his regiment was selected to participate in the Victory Parade. After receiving new trucks and rocket launchers, the soldiers began their preparations.

Recalling this event, he recounted that the news of their participation in the Victory Parade was met with immense joy by the soldiers. Although they were disappointed that they would have to drive across Red Square not with their famous Katyushas, but with tube mortars mounted on trucks. The rehearsals took place in various locations, including the Garden Ring, which they would drive to at night. During the day, they parked their vehicles near the Worker and Kolkhoz Woman sculpture at VDNKh.

The Victory Parade, in which the veteran participated as part of the 5^th Battalion of the Karelian Front's composite regiment, took place on Red Square on 24 June 1945. On 26 June, the Red Army soldier departed with his 46^th Guards Mortar Regiment for the east, to join the Transbaikal Front for the war with Japan. He ended his military service in December 1946 in the city of Port Arthur, holding the rank of Captain.

The project “Victory Parade: Stories and Faces” is published in the 7 Days newspaper and on the website of the Belarusian news agency BelTA twice a month. During the year we will be narrating the stories of the Belarusians who took part in the legendary Victory Parade. These men fought at Rzhev and Odessa, won the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk, liberated Belarus, and took Berlin. On 24 June 1945 they marched triumphantly through Red Square in Moscow. They are the faces of our great Victory!