In this arduous and bloody war, the Soviet people made a decisive contribution to the liberation of other European nations from their fascist yoke. In the Soviet-German battlefield, the Soviet Red Army smashed 607 divisions, took hundreds of thousands of prisoners and destroyed 75 percent of their weapons and munitions. Many important battles and campaigns have gone down in history like the campaign on the outskirts of Moscow, the 900-day-and-night Leningrad battle to break the fascist blockade, the Stalingrad battle, the victory on the Volga River and the Berlin and Far East campaigns.

After clearing the enemy out of the occupied areas in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic countries including Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Moldova, the Soviet Red Army liberated Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia and attacked and occupied the fascist den in Berlin. On May 8, 1945, the victory flag with a hammer and sickle on a red background was hoisted over the roof of the German Parliament. The military parade in 1945 marked the complete collapse of the fascist regime.

The victory over fascism in May 1945 and then the Far East campaign, which forced Japan to unconditionally surrender to the Allied forces, opened up a great opportunity for Vietnam. The Communist Party of Vietnam headed by the outstanding revolutionary Nguyen Ai Quoc, led the people to successfully carry out the August 1945 Revolution and take the country to a new era of independence, freedom and socialism.

War memorials have been built in Berlin, Prague, Warsaw and other European cities to remember the sacrifices rendered by the liberation soldiers. Memorials and keepsakes from the world war and the great achievements of the Soviet army and people have remained fresh the hearts and minds of millions of people around the world. These memories belong to all the nations in the former Soviet Union which now are countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States and Baltic countries.

The victory over fascism on May 9, 1945 ushered in a new era where nations vowed never again to have another world war. However, the imperialist ideology and its product which is fascism has not been completely destroyed. In the current complicated international setting, it has metamorphosed and is sometimes difficult to distinguish. One of its manifestations is the aggressive nature which always wants burden the world with wars and ethnic and religious conflicts in order to impose power and interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign countries. This is the unchangeable nature of imperialism. That’s why, lessons from the anti-fascist war more than 60 years ago remain significant to the people of the world in their struggle for peace, national independence, democracy and social progress.

May 9 is a special holiday which marks the unification and unity of all nations in the former Soviet Union, and peace-loving and progressive people in the world. The victory flag symbolises the successes in which the Soviet people wrested back and protected their freedom. The victory flag will fly high forever, and the war memorials of the Red Army soldiers and liberators will live forever in the history of mankind./.