Shtrafbat
Encyclopedia
Shtrafbats were Soviet
penal battalions that fought on the Eastern Front
in World War II
.
The shtrafbats were created by Joseph Stalin
on July 1942, via Stavka Order No. 227 (Директива Ставки ВГК №227). Order No. 227 was a desperate effort to re-instill discipline after the panicked routs of the first year of combat with Germany. The order—popularized as the "Not one step back!" (Ни шагу назад!, Ni Shagu Nazad!) Order—introduced severe punishments, including summary execution
, for unauthorized retreats.
In his order, Stalin also mentioned Hitler's successful use of penal battalions (See: Strafbattalion
) as a means to ensure obedience among regular Wehrmacht
units. This observational remark led directly to the creation of a parallel system for the Soviets.
Front on August 22, 1942, shortly before German troops reached the Volga river. It consisted of 929 disgraced officers convicted under Order No. 227 who were demoted to the lowest enlisted rank and assigned to the penal battalion. After three days of assaults against the Germans, only 300 were alive.
Soviet penal units were formally standardized in the order entitled 'Status of Penal Units of the Army' (Положение о штрафных батальонах действующей армии) of November 26, 1942 by Georgiy Zhukov, then a Deputy Commander-in-Chief. Penal battalions or shtrafbats were set at 360 men per battalion, and were commanded by midrange and senior Red Army officers and political officers (politruks). Penal companies (штрафная рота, 100 to 150 per unit) were commanded by sergeants (NCOs
) and private
s.
The total amount of people convicted to penal units from September 1942 to May 1945 was 427,910, very few of which were known to have survived the war. However, these totals should be viewed in comparison to the nearly 34.5 million men and women who served in the Soviet armed forces during the entire period of the war.
In reality, the promise of rehabilitation was (in most cases) pure propaganda
; penal battalions were administered and commanded by the field units of the NKVD
secret police
, who treated shtrafniki as a worthless subspecies of soldier, useful only for absorbing heavy casualties that would otherwise be inflicted on a more worthy Soviet unit. They were used in attempts to break through particularly stubborn enemy defenses; to perform hazardous patrols in large groups (reconnaissance-in-force) to determine enemy strength; as sacrificial rearguards during retreats; and as decoys (e.g., wearing dark, instead of snow camouflage clothing to draw enemy fire away from regular Red Army units). They were often sent into battle unarmed, or with sticks to mimic rifles. Most prisoners were transferred to the mine-clearing battalions for trampler duty if they survived infantry combat long enough to risk returning to a regular unit.
s by being heavily fortified with vodka
rations by their leaders before attacks. Trampler battalions were assembled from the penal infantry units for major attacks and were usually wiped out to the last man, with their mangled bodies reportedly "marking the safe passage corridor of the late-war Red Army through any minefield".
The death rate among gunners serving in penal squadrons was exceptionally high. While prisoners assigned as gunners could theoretically clear their sentences after surviving ten missions, like the infantry they were frequently transferred to penal mine-clearing units before reaching this total.
('zagraditel'nye otriady') or "anti-retreat" detachments of the Soviet special organization known as SMERSH
(Smert shpionam), Russian for "Death to spies". SMERSH units were used to shoot retreating men serving in penal units should the latter commence a retreat after failing either to advance to secure an objective, or to stop a German attack via counter-attack. As a result, with nowhere else to go, the penal battalions usually advanced in a frenzy, running forwards until they were killed by enemy minefields, artillery, or heavy machine-gun fire. If the men survived and occupied their objective, they were rounded up and used again in the next assault.
The battalions were headed by staffs or ordinary soldiers and officers. While out of the line, discipline was enforced by an armed guard company, backstopped by NKVD
or SMERSH detachments. Staff and guards were highly paid and got special pension benefits for their unpleasant and sometimes dangerous work. During the war, Soviet penal units were widely employed. Some units achieved considerable fame; General Konstantin Rokossovsky
's well-regarded 16th Army was composed completely of penal infantry units. Rokossovsky himself had been "rescued" from the Gulag by Stalin in 1940 after being imprisoned and tortured for 4 years for supporting Mikhail Tukhachevsky
; after the onset of Blitzkrieg
proved Tukhachevsky's theories of armored warfare correct, Rokossovsky was quietly released from prison and restored to his rank by Stalin.
The simultaneous formation of penal units and ancillary rearguard blocking troops in Order No. 227 has occasionally led to a modern misconception that penal units were rearguarded by regular units of the Red Army. Although the practice of using regular army troops as a rearguard or blocking force was briefly implemented, it was soon discovered that the rearguard did not always carry out their orders with regards to penal unit personnel who retreated or fled from the Germans. Consequently, until the end of the war, the task of preventing unauthorized withdrawal of penal unit personnel from the battlefield was handled by the anti-retreat SMERSH detachments of the Soviet NKVD.
Soviet Russia
Soviet Russia usually refers to the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, one of the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union. It may also denote:* Soviet Russia , magazine of the Friends of Soviet Russia in the United States...
penal battalions that fought on the Eastern Front
Eastern Front
Eastern Front may refer to one of the following:* Eastern Front * Eastern Front * Eastern Front * Eastern Front * Eastern Front * 1635: The Eastern Front...
in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
The shtrafbats were created by Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
on July 1942, via Stavka Order No. 227 (Директива Ставки ВГК №227). Order No. 227 was a desperate effort to re-instill discipline after the panicked routs of the first year of combat with Germany. The order—popularized as the "Not one step back!" (Ни шагу назад!, Ni Shagu Nazad!) Order—introduced severe punishments, including summary execution
Summary execution
A summary execution is a variety of execution in which a person is killed on the spot without trial or after a show trial. Summary executions have been practiced by the police, military, and paramilitary organizations and are associated with guerrilla warfare, counter-insurgency, terrorism, and...
, for unauthorized retreats.
In his order, Stalin also mentioned Hitler's successful use of penal battalions (See: Strafbattalion
Strafbattalion
Strafbattalion were Wehrmacht penal units created from military prisoners during the final years of the Second World War. Soldiers sentenced to these units were poorly-armed and required to undertake dangerous high-casualty missions...
) as a means to ensure obedience among regular Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
units. This observational remark led directly to the creation of a parallel system for the Soviets.
Organization
Pursuant to Order No. 227, the first penal battalions were originally planned at 800 men; penal companies were also authorized, consisting of between 150 and 200 men per company. In addition to the battalions already serving with Armies, other battalions, subordinated to Fronts, were introduced. The first penal battalion deployed under the new policy was sent to the StalingradVolgograd
Volgograd , formerly called Tsaritsyn and Stalingrad is an important industrial city and the administrative center of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. It is long, north to south, situated on the western bank of the Volga River...
Front on August 22, 1942, shortly before German troops reached the Volga river. It consisted of 929 disgraced officers convicted under Order No. 227 who were demoted to the lowest enlisted rank and assigned to the penal battalion. After three days of assaults against the Germans, only 300 were alive.
Soviet penal units were formally standardized in the order entitled 'Status of Penal Units of the Army' (Положение о штрафных батальонах действующей армии) of November 26, 1942 by Georgiy Zhukov, then a Deputy Commander-in-Chief. Penal battalions or shtrafbats were set at 360 men per battalion, and were commanded by midrange and senior Red Army officers and political officers (politruks). Penal companies (штрафная рота, 100 to 150 per unit) were commanded by sergeants (NCOs
Non-commissioned officer
A non-commissioned officer , called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission...
) and private
Private (rank)
A Private is a soldier of the lowest military rank .In modern military parlance, 'Private' is shortened to 'Pte' in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries and to 'Pvt.' in the United States.Notably both Sir Fitzroy MacLean and Enoch Powell are examples of, rare, rapid career...
s.
The total amount of people convicted to penal units from September 1942 to May 1945 was 427,910, very few of which were known to have survived the war. However, these totals should be viewed in comparison to the nearly 34.5 million men and women who served in the Soviet armed forces during the entire period of the war.
Categories
Men ordinarily subject to penal military unit service included:- Those convicted of desertion or cowardice under Order No. 227. While cowardice under fire was punished with instant execution, soldiers or officers in rear areas suspected of having a "reluctance to fight" could (and frequently were) summarily stripped of rank and reassigned to a shtrafbat under Order 227.
- Former Soviet POWs liberated by the Red Army. During the war, some escaped Soviet POWs were sent to penal units under Order 227 retroactively. Stalin made perfectly clear that under 'Not One Step Back', surrender or falling into live captivity (even if wounded) was tantamount to cowardice in the face of the enemy (and, by Stalinist extension, treasonTreasonIn law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
). This official attitude did not require ill intent for guilt, as any Soviets who had been under the control of the Germans for even a brief period were now considered "untrustworthy", "ideologically suspect" and "likely to have been influenced" by their contact with the world outside the Soviet Union. Up to 75% died in captivity, and the few who survived were often stripped of their rank and awards and sent directly from the squalid German POW camps to the Russian Gulag prison camps in Siberia, such as KolymaKolymaThe Kolyma region is located in the far north-eastern area of Russia in what is commonly known as Siberia but is actually part of the Russian Far East. It is bounded by the East Siberian Sea and the Arctic Ocean in the north and the Sea of Okhotsk to the south...
. - Soviet GulagGulagThe Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
labor camp inmates. Physically capable prisoners could volunteer for shtrafbat service and many were "drafted" directly from the camps. This included the usual Stalinist mix of civilians, bureaucrats and military (as well as both common and political criminals).
Infantry battalions
Penal battalion service in infantry roles was the most common use of shtrafniki, and viewed by many Soviet prisoners as tantamount to a death sentence. The term of service in infantry penal battalions and companies was from one to three months (the maximum term was usually applied to those qualifying for the death penalty, the standard punishment for Order No. 227). Standard rates of conversion of imprisonment terms into penal battalion terms existed. Convicts sentenced to infantry units were eligible for commutation of sentence and assignment to a Red Army line unit if they either suffered a combat injury (the crime was considered to be "cleansed in blood") or had accomplished extremely heroic deeds in combat. They could also theoretically receive military decorations for outstanding service and if released were considered fully rehabilitated, though those suspected of political disloyalties remained marked men.In reality, the promise of rehabilitation was (in most cases) pure propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
; penal battalions were administered and commanded by the field units of the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
secret police
Secret police
Secret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy and beyond the law to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian political regime....
, who treated shtrafniki as a worthless subspecies of soldier, useful only for absorbing heavy casualties that would otherwise be inflicted on a more worthy Soviet unit. They were used in attempts to break through particularly stubborn enemy defenses; to perform hazardous patrols in large groups (reconnaissance-in-force) to determine enemy strength; as sacrificial rearguards during retreats; and as decoys (e.g., wearing dark, instead of snow camouflage clothing to draw enemy fire away from regular Red Army units). They were often sent into battle unarmed, or with sticks to mimic rifles. Most prisoners were transferred to the mine-clearing battalions for trampler duty if they survived infantry combat long enough to risk returning to a regular unit.
"Trampler" mine-clearing battalions
Smaller battalions were established out of the infantry units to clear minefields as 'tramplers' - unarmed men who ran through the minefields ("trampled") ahead of regular assault forces to detonate land mines. The worst of all the penal battalion assignments, the tramplers were prepared for their grisly suicide missionSuicide mission
The term suicide mission commonly refers to a task which is so dangerous for the people involved that they are not expected to survive. The term is sometimes extended to, but is not limited to, suicide attacks such as kamikaze and suicide bombings, where the people involved actively commit suicide...
s by being heavily fortified with vodka
Vodka
Vodka , is a distilled beverage. It is composed primarily of water and ethanol with traces of impurities and flavorings. Vodka is made by the distillation of fermented substances such as grains, potatoes, or sometimes fruits....
rations by their leaders before attacks. Trampler battalions were assembled from the penal infantry units for major attacks and were usually wiped out to the last man, with their mangled bodies reportedly "marking the safe passage corridor of the late-war Red Army through any minefield".
Air force
In addition to the infantry and mine clearing penal battalions, which represented the majority, there also were also air force penal squadrons. Pilots or gunners serving in air force penal squadrons were at a marked disadvantage in obtaining remission of sentence via a combat injury since the nature of air combat usually meant that any injury was fatal. Pilots received no credit for missions flown, and were normally kept in service until they were killed in action. Former Soviet Air Force pilot Artiom Afinogenov recalled the use of air force penal squadrons near Stalingrad:The death rate among gunners serving in penal squadrons was exceptionally high. While prisoners assigned as gunners could theoretically clear their sentences after surviving ten missions, like the infantry they were frequently transferred to penal mine-clearing units before reaching this total.
Combat service
Pursuant to Order No. 227, any attempt to retreat without orders, or even a failure to advance was punished by barrier troopsBarrier troops
Barrier troops, blocking units, or anti-retreat forces are formations of soldiers normally placed behind regular troops on a battle line to prevent panic or unauthorized withdrawal or retreat...
('zagraditel'nye otriady') or "anti-retreat" detachments of the Soviet special organization known as SMERSH
SMERSH
SMERSH was the counter-intelligence agency in the Red Army formed in late 1942 or even earlier, but officially founded on April 14, 1943. The name SMERSH was coined by Joseph Stalin...
(Smert shpionam), Russian for "Death to spies". SMERSH units were used to shoot retreating men serving in penal units should the latter commence a retreat after failing either to advance to secure an objective, or to stop a German attack via counter-attack. As a result, with nowhere else to go, the penal battalions usually advanced in a frenzy, running forwards until they were killed by enemy minefields, artillery, or heavy machine-gun fire. If the men survived and occupied their objective, they were rounded up and used again in the next assault.
The battalions were headed by staffs or ordinary soldiers and officers. While out of the line, discipline was enforced by an armed guard company, backstopped by NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
or SMERSH detachments. Staff and guards were highly paid and got special pension benefits for their unpleasant and sometimes dangerous work. During the war, Soviet penal units were widely employed. Some units achieved considerable fame; General Konstantin Rokossovsky
Konstantin Rokossovsky
Konstantin Rokossovskiy was a Polish-origin Soviet career officer who was a Marshal of the Soviet Union, as well as Marshal of Poland and Polish Defence Minister, who was famously known for his service in the Eastern Front, where he received high esteem for his outstanding military skill...
's well-regarded 16th Army was composed completely of penal infantry units. Rokossovsky himself had been "rescued" from the Gulag by Stalin in 1940 after being imprisoned and tortured for 4 years for supporting Mikhail Tukhachevsky
Mikhail Tukhachevsky
Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky was a Marshal of the Soviet Union, commander in chief of the Red Army , and one of the most prominent victims of Joseph Stalin's Great Purge.-Early life:...
; after the onset of Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg
For other uses of the word, see: Blitzkrieg Blitzkrieg is an anglicized word describing all-motorised force concentration of tanks, infantry, artillery, combat engineers and air power, concentrating overwhelming force at high speed to break through enemy lines, and, once the lines are broken,...
proved Tukhachevsky's theories of armored warfare correct, Rokossovsky was quietly released from prison and restored to his rank by Stalin.
The simultaneous formation of penal units and ancillary rearguard blocking troops in Order No. 227 has occasionally led to a modern misconception that penal units were rearguarded by regular units of the Red Army. Although the practice of using regular army troops as a rearguard or blocking force was briefly implemented, it was soon discovered that the rearguard did not always carry out their orders with regards to penal unit personnel who retreated or fled from the Germans. Consequently, until the end of the war, the task of preventing unauthorized withdrawal of penal unit personnel from the battlefield was handled by the anti-retreat SMERSH detachments of the Soviet NKVD.