Shtrafbat
Sign in to saveShtrafbats (, ) were Soviet penal battalions that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II.
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- military unit
- Subclass of
- barrier troop
- Country
- Soviet Union
- Conflict
- World War II
Show 2 more facts
- main regulatory text
- Order No. 227
- short name
- ошб
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Encyclopedic overview
9 sectionsContents
- Organization
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- Infantry battalions
- Air force
- Combat service
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Shtrafbats (, ) were Soviet penal battalions that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II.
The shtrafbats were greatly increased in number by Joseph Stalin in July 1942 via 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.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Shtrafbat” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.