German – Soviet military parade in Brest - Litovsk German – Soviet military parade in Brest - Litovsk ( , ) refers to an official ceremony held by the troops of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union on September 22 , 1939 during the invasion of Poland in the city of Brest - Litovsk ( , then in the Second Polish Republic , now Brest in Belarus ) . It marked the withdrawal of German troops to the previously agreed demarcation line and the handover of the city and its fortress to the Soviet Red Army . Background . The secret protocol of the Molotov – Ribbentrop Pact , signed on August 23 , 1939 defined the boundary between the German and Soviet " spheres of influence " . However , during their invasion of Poland , some German forces , especially Heinz Guderian ' s XIX . motorized Corps , advanced beyond this line in pursuit of their strategic goals . The XIX . Corps , approached Brest on September 13 , 1939 and defeated the Polish resistance in the ensuing battle by September 17 , establishing their base of operations in the city . During the following days , Guderian was informed , much to his chagrin , that the demarcation line between German and Soviet - controlled regions was drawn along the Bug River and that his forces were to withdraw behind this line by September 22 . On September 17 , after Vasily Chuikov ' s 4th Army received the order to cross the Polish border , its 29th Tank Brigade , led by Kombrig Semyon Krivoshein , entered the town of Baranovichi ( pl . Baranowicze ) . After taking the town and capturing a few thousand Polish soldiers who were stationed there , his units kept on moving westward , reaching the village of Pruzhany ( pl . Prużana ) on 19 September . On September 20 , advance units of the 29 . Tank Brigade , encountered Guderian ' s forces at the village of Vidomlya ( pl . Widomla ) , three days after the Soviet invasion of Poland and twenty days after the German invasion of Poland . The Soviet Brigade had seen little combat , because most of the fighting had already been over by this time . According to Krivoshein , a recon unit returned with a group of 12 German officers who identified themselves as part of Guderian ' s XIX Corps and explained that they , too , were moving in the direction of Brest . They were invited to Krivoshein ' s tent , who then proposed a toast to both commanders and invited the attending German officers to Moscow after they achieved a quick victory over " capitalist England " . Through them Krivoshein also sent warm greetings to the German general and made sure to approach the city from the opposite direction than that taken by the Wehrmacht . Upon approaching the town in the morning of September 22 , Krivoshein realized that German troops were already busy looting the town and that Guderian had already established his headquarters there . Soon afterwards , Guderian ' s representatives arrived , and greeted the " glorious Red Army " and its general . Following a short exchange of formalities , Krivoshein offered to visit Guderian and personally pay his respects to him . The offer was accepted and Krivoshein was taken to the German headquarters to share breakfast with the German General . During the meeting , Guderian proposed a joint parade of Soviet and German troops through the town , including a lineup of soldiers from both armies on the central square . Because the Soviet troops were tired after a long march , Krivoshein declined , but promised to supply a military band and a few battalions , and agreed to Guderian ' s request that he and Guderian would stand and review the parade together . The parade . According to the initial agreement , the procedure included German and Soviet troops marching before their commanding officers followed by changing the flag , accompanied by national anthems of Germany and the USSR . However , the Soviet commanding officer , Kombrig Semyon Krivoshein , writes in his memoirs that he did not allow Soviet troops to pass alongside the German forces , because he was afraid that Soviet troops , weary after a long march to Brest , would look inferior in comparison with the Germans , who stayed in the city for several days . Instead , he suggested that the Soviet columns would enter the city separately and salute the leaving Germans whenever they meet . The parade began at 16 : 00 , and the " Victory Arches " were erected which the Soviet troops decorated with swastikas and red star s , and through which German troops marched . The Soviets fielded the 4th Battalion of 29th Light Tank Brigade , which was the first unit of the Red Army to roll into the city . The Soviet and German generals paid homage to each other ' s armies and their respective victories over Polish forces . Aftermath . After the parade , which Niall Ferguson described as " amicable " , the Germans withdrew to the western bank of the Bug , and the Soviets took control over the city , as well as the rest of Eastern Poland ( now Western Belarus and Western Ukraine ) . Press coverage . According to a 2008 article in the Russian newspaper " Novaya Gazeta " , the purpose of the parade was to display the power of the newly formed " Soviet – Nazi alliance " to the whole world . The source also notes that the commander of the Polish forces who defended Brest against the Germans , General Konstanty Plisowski , was arrested by the NKVD , sent to the Soviet prison camp in Starobielsk and later executed in the Katyn massacre . German – Soviet parades in other Polish cities . Several historic works published in the 1980s and 1990s discuss joint military parades of the Red Army and German Wehrmacht in other cities of occupied Poland . For example , Russian historian Mikhail Semiryaga writes in his 1992 work " Secrets of Stalin ' s diplomacy " : " Joint parades with militaries of both countries as participants took place In Grodno , Brest , Pinsk and several other cities ( Germans called them " victory parades " ) . The parade in Grodno was supervised by Kombrig Vasily Chuikov . " Alexander Nekrich writes : " The conclusion of military operations against Poland was marked by joint parades of German and Soviet militaries in Brest and Lwow in the first days of October [ 1939 ] . " In later works , Russian historians Mikhail Meltiukhov and Oleg Vishlyov dismiss the parades in other cities and call them " a myth " . Vishlev also disputes that the events in Brest were a military parade and call them " ceremonial departure of German forces under the supervision of Soviet representatives " .