On October 1, 1953, commander-in-chief Zhu De reviewed 10,038 officers and soldiers from his parade car. Zhu stepped onto the review stand and read “the order of the PLA general headquarters to all the armed forces in China.”
Then, Zhang Zongxun, Deputy Chief of General Staff of the PLA, led the armed forces into Tiananmen Square, and the march-past began. Cadets from the PLA Military Academy marched at the front, followed by cadets from other military colleges such as advanced infantry schools, infantry schools, communication colleges, artillery schools, engineer schools, tank schools, naval schools and aviation schools.
Following them, the divisions of public security forces, infantry, cavalry, artillery and tank soldiers successively crossed Tiananmen Square. A formation of jet bombers and fighters flew over the Tiananmen area. The military band was the last to pass by the review stand.
In this parade, “Katyusha” made a high-profile appearance. “Katyusha” is the name of a beautiful, kind and brave girl in Russian folk stories as well as the nickname of the BM-13 rocket launcher. The BM-13 rocket launcher was the world’s first self-propelled multi-barrel rocket launcher. It was successfully developed by the Soviet Union in 1933, was equipped with multiple trajectory stabilizers, and could launch sixteen 132mm rocket bombs in a volley with a maximum fire range of 8.5 kilometers. The bombs were equipped with tail fins, and had a maximum speed of 355 meters per second. Since the founding of New China, the PLA had been greatly influenced by the Soviet Red Army either in terms of organization or equipment. Much of the equipment came directly from the Soviet Red Army or was an imitation of that used by the Soviet Red Army. The “Katyusha” rocket launcher was introduced to China and became a major piece of equipment used by the PLA rocket launcher troops in the 1950s. In 1953, the rocket launcher troops attended the National Day military parade for the first time. The debut of “Katyusha” became a focus of attention.
(China.org.cn, CCTV August 13, 2009)
