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 Stalingrad 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 privates.
The total number 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.
Read more about this topic: Shtrafbat
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