Order No. 227 Totally Explained

Everything about Order No 227 totally explained

Order No. 227 of July 28 1942 was issued by Joseph Stalin acting as People's Commissar of Defence. It is also known as the "Not a step back!" order . No commander had the right to retreat without an order. Anyone who did so was subject to a military tribunal of the corresponding seniority level.
   Order No. 227 established that each Front must create 1 to 3 penal battalions (штрафбат, штрафной батальон, shtrafbat, shtrafnoy battalion) mostly made up of criminals. Each Front had to create penal companies for privates and NCOs. These penal units were assigned the most dangerous tasks.
   It also established that each Army must create 3 to 5 well-armed barrier troops (заградотряд, заградительный отряд) to stop the retreating troops.
   Both measures were cited in the preamble of the order as having been successfully used by the Germans during their winter retreat.
   The requirement for Armies to maintain companies of barrier troops was withdrawn after just three months, on October 29 1942. Intended to galvanise the morale of the hard-pressed Soviet Army and emphasise patriotism, it had a generally detrimental effect on morale and wasn't consistently implemented by commanders - who viewed diverting troops to create barrier units as a waste of manpower.

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