After losing as many as 100,000 troops killed and wounded in Ukraine and forcibly drafting 300,000 unwilling men to replace them, the Russian army reportedly is deploying “barrier troops” to prevent the draftees from deserting or retreating without orders, the U.K. Defense Ministry reported on Friday.
Barrier troops punish fleeing soldiers by arresting them or even shooting them, as Soviet barrier forces sometimes did during World War II.
Such harsh measures probably didn’t make much difference 80 years ago. And they probably won’t help today. Barrier troops might deter a few frightened front-line troops from abandoning their positions. But they do it badly and at a high cost. There’s no reason to believe the Ukraine war will be the exception.
In 1942, the German army was marching toward Moscow and the Soviet army was falling back. In July that year, Soviet premier Josef Stalin issued a decree essentially outlawing retreat—a decree barrier troops would have to enforce. “The conclusion is that it is time to stop the retreat,” Stalin wrote. “Not a single step back! This should be our slogan from now.”
Soon, every army corps of 10,000 or so soldiers had as many as five 200-man barrier units. Between August and October 1942, 193 of these units—together overseeing 38,600 men—detained an estimated 140,755 fleeing soldiers across the Soviet war effort, Dartmouth political scientist Jason Lyall concluded.
How many retreating soldiers the barrier detachments shot is unclear. Perhaps very few. The barrier troops’ work usually involved “catch and-release,” according to Lyall. Most detainees were eventually “steered” back to their units.
Soviet fortunes turned around soon after Stalin’s order, but it’s probably inaccurate to attribute the reversal to the harsh new policy of punishing withdrawing troops. Rather, the German army failed to sustain its supply lines, stretched out across 800 miles, while Russian logistics improved. The onset of winter certainly didn’t boost the undersupplied Germans’ dire disposition.
Still, 80 years later this fall, as the war in Ukraine turned against Russia, Russian media began echoing Stalin’s words from 1942. One propagandist on Russian state television proposed authorizing a “prosecutor” with five military policemen to arrest and interrogate “milky,” “childish” soldiers who retreat from enemy attacks.
If the U.K. Defense Ministry is correct and the Kremlin is deploying barrier troops, then the propagandists’ rhetoric has become policy. But don’t expect them to shoot many, or any, deserters. And don’t expect them to turn around Russia’s faltering war effort.
Barrier troops might prevent a retreat here or there by punishing a few frightened soldiers and creating a deterrent effect. But there are downsides. For starters, barrier units “represent a sizable diversion of resources” from front-line units, Lyall wrote. That diversion paradoxically could make front-line units more fragile—and more likely to break.
Consider that, in 1942, it took nearly 39,000 blocking troops to detain some 140,000 retreating front-line troops. Now imagine the blocking units had fought the Germans instead. Could 40,000 fresh reinforcements have prevented the 140,000 tired troops from fleeing?
Even with the threat of arrest—or worse—from a barrier or “blocking” unit, demoralized and defeated front-line troops usually find a way to escape the front. Self-wounding is a big one. “Anecdotally, we often observe the rise of self-inflicted mutilation and maiming by soldiers desperate to escape both the battlefield and the wrath of blocking units,” Lyall wrote.
Barrier forces are an inefficient use of manpower and supplies. The Russian army can’t spare either right now. Besides, a beaten Russian battalion full of unhappy, starving draftees facing a better-trained, better-supplied Ukrainian force probably is going to find a way to quit fighting. One way or another.
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Barrier troops punish fleeing soldiers by arresting them or even shooting them, as Soviet barrier forces sometimes did during World War II. Such harsh measures probably didn't make much difference 80 years ago.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Thursday said Russia is executing soldiers who have failed to follow orders and threatening entire units with death if they retreat from Ukrainian artillery fire.
By the end of 1992, most remnants of the Soviet Army in former Soviet Republics had disbanded or dispersed. Forces garrisoned in Eastern Europe (including the Baltic states) gradually returned home between 1992 and 1994.
The Germans also began to be hampered by the scorched earth policy adopted by the retreating Soviets. The Soviet troops burned crops, destroyed bridges, and evacuated factories in the face of the German advance.
270 classified all commanders and political officers who surrendered as culpable deserters to be summarily executed and their families arrested. Sometimes Red Army soldiers were told that the families of defectors would be shot; although thousands were arrested, it is unknown if any such executions were carried out.
For example, the Soviet army had the advantage of knowing the environment better than the German army did. There were many ruins created because of the attacks of German tanks on Stalingrad that the Germans did not know how to navigate. Also, because the ruins were so tall, they trapped tanks inside of them.
It depends on why they are retreating. If they have laid down their arms and are retreating from the battlefield it may well be a war crime. On the other hand, if they are retreating with their arms and armor in order to regroup and fight again, then no, it's not a war crime. Witness the “Highway of…
“We have information that the Russian military has been actually executing soldiers who refuse to follow orders,” U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said at a press briefing in Washington on Thursday.
Gorbachev's decision to allow elections with a multi-party system and create a presidency for the Soviet Union began a slow process of democratization that eventually destabilized Communist control and contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union's collapse not only threw economic systems and trade relations throughout Eastern Europe into a tailspin, it also produced the upheaval in many Eastern European countries and led to increased crime rates and corruption within the Russian government.
Did Soviet WW2 soldiers really get shot by their officers for retreating? Yes under Order No.227 each army front was ordered to form blocking detachments that would send retreating soldiers back, send them to a penal battalion or shoot them.
To prevent the Germans from gaining anything, the Russians adopted the "Scorched Earth" policy, abandoning the communities and damaging all of their crops, factories, factories, and even houses.
Did the Soviets shoot their own soldiers at Stalingrad? - Quora. Some, yes. Soviet military police “blocking” units apprehended 15,649 men during the battle, of whom 244 were executed (after standing trial). 320 were convicted and sent to penal units, and the remaining 14,800 were simply marched back to their units.
During World War II, in all theaters of the war, the United States military executed 102 of its own soldiers for rape or unprovoked murder of civilians, but only Slovik was executed for the military offense of desertion. Colonel Robert C.
The maximum U.S. penalty for desertion in wartime remains death, but this punishment was last applied to Eddie Slovik in 1945. No U.S. serviceman has received more than 24 months imprisonment for desertion or missing movement after September 11, 2001.
(i) The Soviet system had become very bureaucratic and authoritarian, making life Very difficult for the citizens. (ii) There was lack of democracy. There was no freedom of speech. As a result of it, people often expressed their dissent in jokes and cartoons.
- The military· The development of a Russian nuclear weapon cemented the USSR as a superpower. Countries in the USSR's sphere of influence had large deposits of uranium essential for the development of the atomic bomb. The Stalinist command economy was ideally suited to the task of producing weapons.
Source: Correlates of War, National Material Capabilities, version 5.0, http://www.correlatesofwar.org/data-sets/national-material-capabilities. Soviet ground forces were of comparable or superior quality to their American counterparts, though Soviet naval and air forces were qualitatively inferior.
In a video published Monday by Ukraine's security service, two Russian prisoners of war described how military units from their country shoot their own retreating troops. The two men were reportedly captured while fighting in the war in Ukraine.
About three hundred commanders, including Lieutenant General Nikolay Klich, Lieutenant General Robert Klyavinsh, and Major General Sergey Chernykh, were executed on 16 October 1941, during the Battle of Moscow.
In the winter of 1942/43, Hitler sacrificed twenty-two divisions through his command to hold out at Stalingrad. More than 100,000 German soldiers fell, froze, or starved to death even before the surrender of the Sixth Army. Over 90,000 men ended up in Soviet prisoner-of-war camps—only around 6,000 of them survived.
As a result, Soldier Boy was betrayed by his team for his constant abuse towards them; during an operation in Nicaragua, he was sold out to the Soviets in Nicaragua and was brought to Russia, where he was tortured and experimented on for decades to come.
Introduction: My name is Gregorio Kreiger, I am a tender, brainy, enthusiastic, combative, agreeable, gentle, gentle person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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