Fireworks

The beginning of the tradition was laid by artillery salute on August 5, 1943 in honor of the capture of two cities by the Soviet troops - Belgorod and Orel :

On August 5, troops of the 69th and formations of the 7th Guards Army of the Steppe Front stormed Belgorod. On the same day, after intense fighting, the Eagle was released. The capital of our Motherland, Moscow, for the first time during the Great Patriotic War celebrated outstanding victories with artillery fireworks. It was the first artillery salute in honor of the military prowess of the Soviet troops. Since then, fireworks in Moscow to mark the victories of the Red Army have become a glorious tradition.

- I. S. Konev . Notes by the front commander. - M.: Science, 1972.

Salutes in the city of Moscow throughout the war were carried out by the 52nd anti-aircraft artillery division under the command of Colonel M.T. Bondarenko .

As a rule, the beginning of the salute is at 22:00 ^[1] . During a salute, up to 4 thousand fireworks, different in caliber, pattern and color, rise to the sky. They are launched by about 80 fireworks, which produce, as a rule, 30 volleys, but there are exceptions, for the better. For the sound design of the salute, 18 artillery pieces are used.

For the production of fireworks, more than 50 varieties of fireworks are used. The colors include state colors: red, blue and white.

In Moscow, fireworks take place at 14 saluting points located in all administrative districts of the capital: in Victory Park, on the Vorobyovy Gory, in the area of ​​Kursky Station, Otradnoye, Izmailovo, Kuzminki Park, Nagatino, Obruchevo, Tushino, on Bolshaya Akademicheskaya Street, in South Butovo , Solntsevo, Mitino and Zelenograd.

The main points are on the Sparrow Hills and Poklonnaya Gora. Only on the Sparrow Hills they place 18 salutes and all 18 artillery pieces that will produce volleys every 20 seconds.

Until 2007, fireworks on May 9 were carried out from 31 points in various areas of the capital, but in connection with the development of the city, the Moscow government decided to reduce their number to 14 ^[2] .

Fireworks are launched from 2A85 self-propelled combined launchers designed for celebratory fireworks. Artillery fireworks are made by single charges in volleys of guns ^{[3] [4] [5]} .

• Salute teams work in helmets, as the charges fly up, but their solid residues (unburned part) fall down, approximately to the starting point.
• The 76.2-mm ship salute gun SP-1M is designed for the production of festive and greeting sound salutes and can be installed on all classes of naval surface ships. Short description ^[6] :

The salute gun is a semi-automatic gun with a pedestal machine and consists of two main parts - the swinging part and the curbstone.

The swinging part is mounted with pins in the machine cabinet and in the vertical guidance plane is fixed at three angles: 20 °, 30 °, 45 °. It combines the nodes of the barrel-bolt group, recoil device and other mechanisms. Opening the shutter for the first charge - manually, for subsequent - automatic. Closing the shutter - from the dispatch shot or manually. Shutter trigger release - manually.

The stand serves to mount the gun to the deck and at the same time is the basis for the swinging part and the hopper for spent cartridges.

The gun is equipped with two stacks of 17 shots each, which can be attached to the deck or hung on a pedestal from the right and left sides.