Order No. 227 - Formation of Penal Detachments
During the successful counter-offensive of the Red Army near Moscow and its general offensive that then unfolded, the enemy was driven back 150-400 km to the west, the threat to Moscow and the North Caucasus was eliminated, the situation of Leningrad was eased, and the territories of 10 regions of the Soviet Union were completely or partially liberated. The Wehrmacht, having suffered a major defeat, was forced to switch to strategic defense on the entire Soviet-German front. However, many operations of the Red Army remained incomplete due to the overestimation by the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command (VGK) of the capabilities of its troops and the underestimation of enemy forces, the dispersion of reserves, and the inability to create decisive superiority in the most important sectors of the front. The enemy took advantage of this and seized the initiative again in the summer-autumn campaign of 1942.
The miscalculations made by the Supreme Command Headquarters and the command of a number of fronts in assessing the situation led to new defeats of the Soviet troops in the Crimea, near Kharkov, southeast of Leningrad and allowed the enemy to launch a major offensive on the southern sector of the Soviet-German front. The enemy advanced to a depth of 500-650 km, broke through to the Volga and the Main Caucasian Range, and cut communications linking the central regions with the south of the country.
During the summer-autumn campaign of 1942, the losses of the Soviet Armed Forces amounted to: irretrievable - 2064.1 thousand people, sanitary - 2258.5 thousand; tanks - 10.3 thousand units, guns and mortars - about 40 thousand, aircraft - more than 7 thousand units. But, despite heavy defeats, the Red Army withstood a powerful blow and, in the end, stopped the enemy.
I.V. Stalin, taking into account the current situation, on July 28, 1942, as People's Commissar of Defense, signed order No. 227. The order stated: "The enemy throws ever new forces to the front and, regardless of heavy losses for him, climbs forward, breaks into the depths of the Soviet Union, seizes new areas, devastates and devastates our cities and villages, rapes, robs and kills the Soviet population. Fighting is going on in the Voronezh region, on the Don, in the south and at the gates of the North Caucasus. The German invaders are rushing towards Stalingrad, towards the Volga and want to seize the Kuban, the North Caucasus with their oil and grain wealth at any cost. The enemy has already captured Voroshilovgrad, Starobelsk, Rossosh, Kupyansk, Valuiki, Novocherkassk, Rostov-on-Don, half of Voronezh. Parts of the troops of the Southern Front, following the alarmists, left Rostov and Novocherkassk without serious resistance and without orders from Moscow, covering their banners with disgrace.
"The population of our country, which treats the Red Army with love and respect, is beginning to become disillusioned with it, losing faith in the Red Army. And many curse the Red Army because it gives our people under the yoke of German oppressors, while it itself flees to the east.
"Some foolish people at the front comfort themselves by talking that we can continue to retreat to the east, since we have a lot of land, a lot of population, and that we will always have an abundance of grain. By this they want to justify their shameful behavior at the fronts.
"But such talk is completely false and deceitful, beneficial only to our enemies.
"Every commander, Red Army soldier and political worker must understand that our means are not unlimited. The territory of the Soviet state is not a desert, but people - workers, peasants, intellectuals, our fathers, mothers, wives, brothers, children. The territory of the USSR, which the enemy has captured and is striving to capture, is bread and other products for the army and rear, metal and fuel for industry, factories, plants supplying the army with weapons and ammunition, and railways. After the loss of Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic States, Donbass and other regions, we have much less territory, therefore, there are much fewer people, bread, metal, plants, factories. We have lost more than 70 million people, more than 800 million poods of grain a year and more than 10 million tons of metal a year. We no longer have superiority over the Germans either in manpower or in grain supplies. To retreat further means to ruin ourselves and at the same time ruin our Motherland. Each new piece of territory left by us will strengthen the enemy in every possible way and weaken our defense, our Motherland in every possible way.
"Therefore, it is necessary to root out the talk that we have the opportunity to retreat endlessly, that we have a lot of territory, our country is great and rich, there is a lot of population, there will always be an abundance of bread. Such conversations are false and harmful, they weaken us and strengthen the enemy, because if we do not stop retreating, we will be left without bread, without fuel, without metal, without raw materials, without factories and plants, without railways.
"It follows from this that it is time to end the retreat.
"No step back! This should now be our main call.
"We must stubbornly, to the last drop of blood, defend every position, every meter of Soviet territory, cling to every patch of Soviet land and defend it to the last possible opportunity.
"Our Motherland is going through hard times. We must stop and then push back and defeat the enemy, no matter what it costs us. The Germans are not as strong as it seems to the alarmists. They are straining their last strength. To withstand their blow now, in the next few months, is to secure victory for us.
"Can we withstand the blow, and then push the enemy back to the west? Yes, we can, because our factories and factories in the rear are now working perfectly, and our front is getting more and more aircraft, tanks, artillery, and mortars.
"What do we lack?
"There is a lack of order and discipline in companies, battalions, regiments, divisions, in tank units, in air squadrons. This is now our main shortcoming. We must establish the strictest order and iron discipline in our army if we want to save the situation and defend the Motherland.
"Commanders, commissars, political workers, whose units and formations arbitrarily leave their combat positions, cannot be tolerated any longer. No longer can it be tolerated when commanders, commissars, political workers allow a few alarmists to determine the situation on the battlefield, so that they drag other soldiers into retreat and open the front to the enemy.
"Alarmists and cowards must be exterminated on the spot.
"From now on, every commander, Red Army soldier, and political worker must have an iron law: not a single step back without an order from the high command.
"The commanders of a company, battalion, regiment, division, the corresponding commissars and political workers, retreating from a combat position without an order from above, are traitors to the Motherland. It is necessary to deal with such commanders and political workers as with traitors to the motherland.
"This is the call of our Motherland.
"Fulfilling this order means defending our land, saving the Motherland, exterminating and defeating the hated enemy.
"After their winter retreat under the pressure of the Red Army, when discipline was shaken in the German troops, the Germans took some severe measures to restore discipline, which led to good results. They formed more than 100 penal companies from fighters who were guilty of violating discipline through cowardice or instability, put them in dangerous sectors of the front and ordered them to atone for their sins with blood. They formed, further, about a dozen penal battalions from commanders who were guilty of violating discipline through cowardice or instability, deprived them of orders, placed them on even more dangerous sectors of the front and ordered them to atone for their sins. They formed, at last, special detachments of the barrier, placed them behind the unstable divisions and ordered them to shoot alarmists on the spot in case of an attempt to leave their positions without permission and in case of an attempt to surrender. As is known, these measures had their effect, and now the German troops are fighting better than they fought in the winter. And so it turns out that the German troops have good discipline, although they do not have the lofty goal of defending their homeland, but there is only one predatory goal - to conquer a foreign country, while our troops, having the lofty goal of defending their outraged Motherland, do not have such discipline and endure because of this defeat.
"Shouldn't we learn from our enemies in this matter, as our ancestors learned from their enemies in the past and then won a victory over them?
"I think it should.
"The Supreme High Command of the Red Army orders:
"1. The military councils of the fronts, and above all the commanders of the fronts:
"a) unconditionally eliminate the retreating moods in the troops and with an iron fist suppress propaganda that we can and should allegedly retreat further to the east, that such a retreat will not there will be alleged harm;
"b) unconditionally remove from their posts and send them to Headquarters to bring to court martial the commanders of the armies who allowed the unauthorized withdrawal of troops from their positions without an order from the front command;
"c) to form within the front from one to three (depending on the situation) penal battalions (800 people each), where to send medium and senior commanders and relevant political workers of all branches of the military who are guilty of violating discipline due to cowardice or instability, and put them on more difficult sections of the front, to give them the opportunity to atone for their crimes against the Motherland.
"2. The military councils of the armies and, above all, the commanders of the armies:
"a) unconditionally remove from their posts the commanders and commissars of corps and divisions who allowed unauthorized withdrawal of troops from their positions without an order from the army command, and send them to the military council of the front for submission to a military court;
"b) form within the army 3-5 well-armed barrage detachments (up to 200 people each), place them in the immediate rear of unstable divisions and oblige them, in case of panic and disorderly withdrawal of parts of the division, to shoot alarmists and cowards on the spot and thereby help honest fighters divisions to fulfill their duty to the Motherland;
"c) to form within the army from five to ten (depending on the situation) penal companies (from 150 to 200 people each), where to send ordinary soldiers and junior commanders who are guilty of violating discipline due to cowardice or instability, and put them in difficult areas army to give them the opportunity to atone for their crimes against the Motherland with blood.
"3. Commanders and commissars of corps and divisions:
"a) unconditionally remove from their posts the commanders and commissars of regiments and battalions who allowed the unauthorized withdrawal of units without the order of the corps or division commander, take away orders and medals from them and send them to the military councils of the front for submission to a military court;
"b) provide all possible assistance and support to the barrage detachments of the army in strengthening order and discipline in the units. "Read the order in all companies, squadrons, batteries, squadrons, teams, headquarters."
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