Formation of Penal Battalions and Companies
August 10 I.V. Stalin and General A.M. Vasilevsky signed Directive No. 156595, which demanded that personnel convicted of sabotage or wrecking be sent to penal tank companies, as well as send "hopeless, malicious self-seekers from tankers" to penal infantry companies. Penal companies were created, in particular, in the 3rd, 4th and 5th tank armies.
On August 15, the head of the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army A.S. Shcherbakov signs directive No. 09 "On political work to fulfill the order of the NPO No. 227 of July 28, 1942." August 26 People's Commissar of Justice N.M. Rychkov issued an order "On the tasks of the military tribunals to implement the order of the NPO of the USSR No. 227 of July 28, 1942." The procedure for accounting for servicemen sent to penal battalions and companies was defined in Directive No. 989242 of the General Staff of the Red Army of August 28.
September 9, 1942 People's Commissar of Defense I.V. Stalin signed order No. 0685, which demanded that "fighter pilots who evade combat with an air enemy be brought to justice and transferred to penal units in the infantry." The pilots were sent not only to penal infantry units. In accordance with the regulations developed in the same month at the headquarters of the 8th Air Army, it was planned to create penal squadrons of three types: a fighter squadron on Yak-1 and LaGG-3 aircraft, an attack squadron on Il-2, and a light bomber squadron on U-2.
September 10, 1942 Deputy People's Commissar of Defense Major General of Artillery V.V. Aborenkov issued an order according to which it was instructed to immediately send to the penal rifle battalions "guilty of negligent attitude towards the military equipment entrusted to them" from the 58th Guards Mortar Regiment.
On September 26, Deputy People's Commissar of Defense Army General G.K. Zhukov approved the provisions "On the penal battalions of the active army" and "On the penal companies of the active army." Soon, on September 28, signed by the Deputy People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, Army Commissar 1st Rank E.A. Shchadenko issued order No. 298, in which they announced to the leadership:
“1. Regulations on the penal battalions of the active army.
2. Regulations on the penal companies of the active army.
3. Staff No. 04/393 of a separate penal battalion of the active army.
4. Staff No. 04/392 of a separate penal company of the army in the field ... ".
Despite the fact that the staffs of penal battalions and companies were clearly defined by the relevant provisions, their organizational and staff structure was different.
By order No. 323 of October 16, 1942, signed by the Deputy People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, Army Commissar 1st Rank E.A. Shchadenko, the provisions of Order No. 227 were also extended to the military districts. The direction to the penal units in accordance with order No. 0882 of the Deputy People's Commissar of Defense E.A. Shchadenko dated November 12, both those liable for military service and military personnel feigning illness and the so-called “mutilators” were subject. Decree No. org / 2/78950 of the Main Organizational and Staff Directorate of the Main Executive Office of the Red Army of November 25 established a single numbering of penal battalions.
December 4, 1942 Deputy People's Commissar of Defense A.S. Shcherbakov signs order No. 0931, according to which, for “a soullessly bureaucratic attitude towards the material and domestic needs of political workers who are in the reserve of the GlavPURKKA at the Military-Political School named after. M.V. Frunze" were removed from their posts and sent to the active army in a penal battalion, the assistant head of the school for logistics, Major Kopotienko, and the head of the baggage and clothing supply of the school, senior lieutenant of the commissary service Govtvyanyts.
According to order No. 47 of January 30, 1943, signed by the Deputy People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, Colonel-General E.A. Shchadenko, in a penal battalion for a period of 3 months, junior lieutenant of the 1082nd Infantry Regiment Karamalkin was sent to the rank and file "for criticizing, trying to slander his superiors and corrupting discipline in his unit."
According to Directive No. 97 of the Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, Army Commissar 1st Rank E.A. Shadenko dated March 10, 1943, it was required “after a quick check, to immediately send to penal units” former military personnel who “at one time, without resistance, surrendered to the enemy as prisoners or deserted from the Red Army and remained to live in the territory temporarily occupied by the Germans, or, being surrounded in their place of residence, they remained at home, not trying to go out with the units of the Red Army.
By order No. 0374 of the People's Commissar of Defense of May 31, 1943, it was prescribed by the decision of the Military Council of the Kalinin Front to send to penal battalions and companies "persons of the commanding staff guilty of interruptions in the food of the fighters or the lack of food for the fighters." The employees of the Special Departments did not escape the fate of the penalized. May 31 People's Commissar of Defense I.V. Based on the results of checking the work of the Special Department of the 7th Separate Army, Stalin issued Order No. 0089, by which investigators Sedogin, Izotov, Soloviev were dismissed from counterintelligence agencies and sent to a penal battalion "for criminal errors in investigative work."
By order No. 413 People's Commissar of Defense I.V. Stalin of August 21, 1943, the command staff of military districts and inactive fronts was given the right to send military personnel to penal formations without trial "for unauthorized absence, desertion, failure to comply with orders, squandering and theft of military property, violation of the statutory rules of guard duty and other military crimes in cases where the usual disciplinary measures for these offenses are insufficient, as well as all detained deserters of sergeants and privates who fled from units of the army in the field and from other garrisons.
Not only male military personnel, but also women were sent to penal formations. However, experience had shown that it is not advisable to send female servicemen who have committed minor crimes to penal wards. Therefore, on September 19, 1943, the directive of the General Staff No. 1484 / 2 / org was sent to the chiefs of staff of the fronts, military districts and individual armies, which demanded not to send female servicemen convicted of crimes to penal units.
In accordance with the joint directive of the NKVD / NKGB of the USSR No. 494/94 of November 11, 1943, Soviet citizens who collaborated with the invaders were also sent to penal units.
In order to streamline the practice of transferring convicts to the active army, on January 26, 1944, Order No. 004/0073/006/23 was issued, signed by Deputy Commissar of Defense Marshal A.M. Vasilevsky, People's Commissar of Internal Affairs L.P. Beria, People's Commissar of Justice N.M. Rychkov and the Prosecutor of the USSR K.P. Gorshenin.
By order No. 0112 of the First Deputy People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR Marshal G.K. Zhukov dated April 29, 1944, the commander of the 342nd Guards Rifle Regiment of the 121st Guards Rifle Division, Lieutenant Colonel F.A., was sent to the penal battalion for a period of two months. Yachmenev "for failure to comply with the order of the Military Council of the Army, for leaving the enemy advantageous positions and not taking measures to restore the situation, for showing cowardice, false reports and refusal to carry out the assigned combat mission."
Persons who allowed carelessness and lack of control were also sent to the penal units, as a result of which military personnel died in the rear, for example, according to the order of the People's Commissar of Defense I.V. Stalin, signed in May 1944.
Practice has shown that significant violations were committed in the execution of this order, to eliminate which order No. 0244 was sent, signed on August 6, 1944 by the Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, Marshal A.M. Vasilevsky. Approximately the same kind of order No. 0935, concerning officers of the fleets and flotillas, was signed on December 28, 1944 by the People's Commissar of the Navy, Admiral of the Fleet N.G. Kuznetsov.
Military units were also transferred to the category of penalties. On November 23, 1944, People's Commissar of Defense Stalin signed order No. 0380 on the transfer of the 214th Cavalry Regiment of the 63rd Cavalry Korsun Red Banner Division (commander of the guard regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Danilevich) to the category of penalties for the loss of the Battle Banner.
The formation of penal battalions and companies was not always successful, as required by the leadership of the People's Commissariat of Defense and the General Staff. In this regard, Deputy Commissar of Defense Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. On March 24, 1943, Zhukov sent directive No. GUF/1902 to the front commanders, which demanded:
"1. Reduce the number of penal companies in the armies. Assemble the penalized into consolidated companies and, thus, keep them in a set, preventing them from being aimlessly in the rear and using them in the most difficult areas of hostilities.
2. In the event of a significant shortage in the penal battalions, introduce them into battle in batches, without waiting for the arrival of new penalized officers from the officers in order to cover the shortage of the entire battalion.
The regulations on penal battalions and companies noted that the permanent staff (commanders, military commissars, political instructors, etc.) were appointed to the position by order of the troops of the front and the army from among the strong-willed and most distinguished commanders and political workers in battle. This requirement, as a rule, was carried out in the active army. But there were exceptions to this rule. For example, in the 16th separate penal battalion, platoon commanders were often appointed from among the penitentiaries who atoned for their guilt. According to the regulations on penal battalions and companies, the length of service in ranks for all permanent members, in comparison with the command, political and commanding staff of the combat units of the army, was halved, and each month of service in penal formations was counted when assigning a pension for six months.
The variable composition of the penal battalions and companies consisted of military personnel and civilians sent to these formations for various offenses and crimes. According to our calculations, made on the basis of orders and directives of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, People's Commissar of the Navy, Deputy People's Commissars of Defense, People's Commissars of Internal Affairs of State Security, about 30 categories of such persons were identified.
So, in the orders and directives of the People's Commissar of Defense and his deputies, the types of offenses for which military personnel and other persons could be sent to penal units, as well as the circle of persons who had the right to send the guilty and convicted to penal units, were clearly defined. In the fronts and armies, orders were also issued regarding the formation of penal units and subunits. So, by order No. 00182 of the commander of the Leningrad Front, Lieutenant General of Artillery L.A. Govorov dated July 31, 1942, the officers and political personnel of the 85th Infantry Division, who were "the main culprits for the failure to fulfill the combat mission" were sent to the front-line penal battalion, and "the junior command and rank and file, who showed cowardice on the battlefield" - to army penal company. 6 May 1943 Directive No. 005 was issued by the front commander, Colonel-General I.I. Maslennikova, who demanded that servicemen who showed cowardice on the battlefield be sent to a penal battalion or brought to trial by a military tribunal.
The published literature and memoirs of front-line soldiers contain information that commanders and chiefs did not always adhere to the rules established in orders and directives. This, as the study showed, concerned about 10 categories of fines:
1. Unfairly convicted, who were slandered and slandered in order to settle scores with them.
2. The so-called "encirclement" who managed to escape from the "cauldrons" and go to their troops, as well as those who fought as part of partisan detachments.
3. Servicemen who have lost military and secret documents.
4. Commanders and chiefs guilty of "criminally careless organization of the military security and intelligence service."
5. Persons who, because of their beliefs, refused to take up arms.
6. Persons who aided "enemy propaganda".
7. Soldiers convicted of rape.
8. Civilian prisoners (thieves, bandits, repeat offenders, etc.).
9. Fraudsters.
10. Employees of defense enterprises who have committed negligence.
The published literature provides various information about equipping penal battalions and companies with weapons and military equipment. Some authors write that the penitentiaries were armed only with small arms and grenades, being "light" infantry units. Other publications provide information about the presence of captured automatic weapons and mortars in penal units. To perform specific tasks, artillery, mortar and even tank units were temporarily subordinated to the commander of the penal unit.
The fines were provided with clothing and food supplies in accordance with the standards established in the army. But, in a number of cases, according to the memoirs of front-line soldiers, there were violations in this case as well. In some publications, for example, I.P. Gorin and V.I. Golubev, it is said that in the penal divisions there were no normal relationships between the permanent and variable composition. However, the majority of front-line soldiers testify to the opposite: statutory relationships and strong discipline were maintained in the penal battalions and companies. This was facilitated by well-organized political and educational work, which was carried out on the same basis as in other parts of the active army.
Penal formations, recruited mainly from among the military personnel of various military specialties, if there was time, underwent additional training so that they were able to solve the tasks assigned to them.
According to the work “Russia and the USSR in the Wars of the 20th Century: A Statistical Study”, by the end of 1942 there were 24,993 penal soldiers in the Red Army. In 1943 their number increased to 177,694, in 1944 it decreased to 143,457, and in 1945 to 81,766. In total, during the Great Patriotic War, 427,910 people were sent to penal companies and battalions. Judging by the information included in the List No. 33 of rifle units and subunits (individual battalions, companies, detachments) of the active army, compiled by the General Staff in the early 60s of the XX century, during the Great Patriotic War, 65 separate penal battalions and 1028 separate penal companies; total 1093 penalty parts. However, A. Moroz, who studied the funds of penal units stored in the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, believes that
The work “Russia and the USSR in the Wars of the 20th Century: A Statistical Study” states: “Penal units of the Red Army existed legally from September 1942 to May 1945.” In fact, they existed from July 25, 1942 to October 1945. For example, the 128th separate penal company of the 5th Army participated in the Harbino-Girinsky offensive operation, which was carried out from August 9 to September 2, 1945. The company was disbanded on the basis of Directive No. 0238 of the headquarters of the 5th Army of October 28, 1945.
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