Article Posted on : - Nov 08, 2011

A file photo.

MOSCOW (AP): Thousands of Russian soldiers and military cadets marched across Red Square today to mark the 70th anniversary of a historic World War II parade.

The show honoured the participants of the November 7, 1941 parade, who afterward headed to the frontline to defend Moscow from invading Nazi forces. The parade involved about 6,000 people, many of them dressed in World War II-era uniforms, and featured T-34 tanks and other historic weapons.

Veterans watched the event, which included a combat imitation exercise and artillery crews getting ready for combat.

During Soviet times, military parades were held annually on November 7, a holiday commemorating the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Russia abolished the November 7 holiday in 2005, but many older Russians still celebrate it and the Communist Party continues to hold its traditional parade.

In the evening, a few thousand Communist Party members carrying red flags marched down a central Moscow avenue for a rally near a statue of Karl Marx. Party leader Gennady Zyuganov turned the event into a campaign rally, urging his supporters to vote for the Communists in national parliamentary elections on December 2.

The headquarters of the PLA's Nanjing Artillery Academy is located at former site of the Kuomintang's army artillery school, which was one of the most important military schools in China before 1949.