Today is the 61st anniversary of Russian and allied victory over Germany in the Second World War.  For those of you who celebrate this holiday, and in case you've missed the Victory Parade of 2005, we provide a fast loading flash presentation.

Victory Day (Russian: День Победы, Den' Pobedy) marks the capitulation of Nazi forces to the Soviet Union and other principal Allied nations in Berlin on May 8, 1945. It is celebrated in most of the successor states to the Soviet Union, especially in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, on May 9, the date when the Germans specifically surrender to the Soviet Union concluding the Great Patriotic War.

The day is most prominently celebrated in Moscow with a traditional military parade on Red Square. Although most western European countries mark V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day) on 8 May, that only marks the day after the German surrender to the UK, France and the United States. The Red Army's command however insisted that the Germans specifically surrender to the Soviet Union, which contributed most to the defeat of Nazi Germany, and held another surrender ceremony late on 9 May. Field-Marshal Wilhelm Keitel submitted the capitulation of the Wehrmacht to the Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov in the Red Army headquarters in Berlin-Karlshorst.

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