Vladimir Vysotsky's song "Penal Battalions" was written in 1964. The poet was the first to talk about penalties at the top of his voice. There was no official prohibition on disclosing the topic of penalties in works at that time, they simply tried not to remember them, especially since the materials on penal units remained classified. Naturally, during the war, cultural figures did not mention penalties.
Much later, journalists and writers began to write about penalty boxes, feature films appeared, in which the truth was thoroughly mixed with fiction. The topic turned out to be "heard", naturally, there were those who wanted to exploit it.
Basically, any writer or screenwriter has the right to fiction. It is bad when this right is clearly abused, almost completely ignoring the historical truth. This is especially true for cinematography. It is no secret that today's youth do not really like to read, preferring to receive information from the Internet and movies. After the release of the series "Shtrafbat" on television, they received this information. Now it is not easy to convince them that what they saw is an ordinary fiction, an artistic vision of the director and screenwriter, who had a very vague idea of the real penal battalions. It is curious that even the cinematic master Mikhalkov could not resist the temptation, who sent his hero Kotov to the penalty boxes in "Burnt by the Sun-2", obviously for an exorbitant period.
During the war years, penal battalions and companies (these are fundamentally different separate military units) began to form only in the summer of 1942, and then existed until the summer of 1945. Naturally, the prisoners were not sent to the penalty boxes in echelons and were not appointed as company and platoon commanders.
Here it is necessary to make a reservation that in 1941 several large-scale amnesties were held for persons who had committed minor crimes and were fit for service, then more than 750 thousand people were sent to the front. In early 1942, another amnesty followed, giving the army 157,000 people. All of them went to replenish ordinary combat units, moreover, some units and subunits were almost completely (except for officers and sergeants) formed from former prisoners. Amnesties for a small number of prisoners continued later, but all amnestied were sent only to combat units.
The formation of penal battalions and companies began after the famous order No. 227 of July 28, 1942 "Not a step back!" It is believed that the first penal company was created on the Leningrad front three days before the release of this order. The mass formation of penal units began in September, when the regulations on penal battalions and companies of the active army were approved by order of the USSR People's Commissar of Defense.
It was envisaged that penal battalions in the number of one to three were created on each front in order to “enable persons of the middle and senior command, political and commanding personnel of all branches of the armed forces, guilty of violating discipline through cowardice or instability, to atone for their crimes against the brave homeland with blood. fighting the enemy in a more difficult area of hostilities."
As you can see, only officers and persons of equal status were sent to the penal battalions, and the decision on this was made by the chiefs in a position not lower than the division commander. A small part of the officers ended up in penal battalions on the verdicts of military tribunals. Before being sent to the penal battalion, the officers were subject to demotion to the rank and file, their awards were transferred to the front personnel department for storage. It was possible to send to the penal battalion for a period of one to three months.
Penal battalions, who were wounded or distinguished themselves in battles, were presented for early release with restoration in their previous rank and rights. The deceased were reinstated in rank automatically, and their relatives were assigned a pension "on a common basis with all the families of commanders." It was envisaged that all penalty boxers who had served their time "are presented by the battalion command to the front military council for release and, upon approval of the submission, are released from the penal battalion." All freed were reinstated in rank and all their awards were returned to them.
Penalty companies were created in the number of five to ten in each army in order to "give the opportunity to ordinary soldiers and junior commanders of all branches of the army, guilty of violating discipline through cowardice or instability, to atone for their guilt before the Motherland with blood." Former officers could also get into penal companies if they were demoted to privates by a military tribunal. In this case, after serving the term in the penal company, they did not restore their officer rank. The term of stay and the principle of release from penal battalions (for the entire period of their existence) was exactly the same as from penal battalions, only decisions were made by the military councils of the armies.
Penal battalions and companies were separate military units directly subordinate to the command of the front and the army, they were commanded only by regular (full-time) officers and commissars (later political workers) for whom it was envisaged to reduce the length of service to obtain the next rank by half, and each month of service was counted when assigned pensions for six months. The commanders of the penalties were given high disciplinary rights: the commanders as the commander of the regiment, and the battalion commander as the commander of the division. Initially, the number of full-time officers and commissars in penal companies reached 15 people, including the NKVD operative and paramedic, but then their number dropped to 8-10.
For some time in battle, the penalty box could replace the killed commander, but in normal circumstances he could not command the penalty unit, even as an exception. Penalties could only be appointed to sergeant positions with the assignment of the appropriate rank, and, in this case, they received a "sergeant" salary.
Penalty units were used, as a rule, in the most dangerous sectors of the front, they were entrusted with conducting reconnaissance in force, breaking through the enemy's front edge, etc. documents or memories of veterans.
The provisions on penal units provided that for specific exploits, penalties could be awarded government awards. Thus, A. Kuznetsov, in an article devoted to penalties, gives interesting figures taken from an archival document: “In the penal units of the 64th Army during the battles at Stalingrad, 1,023 people were released from punishment for courage. Of these, they were awarded: the Order of Lenin - 1, the Order of the Patriotic War of the II degree - 1, the Red Star - 17, medals "For Courage" and "For Military Merit" - 134 ". Let me remind you that in the armies there were only penalties, so we are talking about penalties - sergeants and privates. So Vysotsky was right: “And if you don’t catch lead in your chest, you’ll catch a medal on your chest“For Courage””.
In principle, former prisoners could not get into penal battalions if they had not received officer ranks before. The former amnestied also got into penal companies, but only after committing misconduct in the combat units where they served. In addition, a small number of convicts under minor articles were sent to penal companies, who, during the trial or already in the colonies, were given a deferral from serving their sentence and sent to a penal company. As a rule, these were not civilians, but former military personnel or soldiers from the rear, convicted by military tribunals.
Since 1943, when an active offensive began, former servicemen who remained during the fighting in the occupied territory, but who did not try to cross the front line or join the partisans, began to be sent to penal companies. Then, after appropriate checks, they began to send to penal companies voluntarily surrendered Vlasovites, policemen, employees of the occupation administrations, who did not stain themselves with reprisals against civilians, underground fighters and partisans, and were subject to conscription by age.
In total, 65 penal battalions and 1,037 penal companies were created during the war. The time of their existence was different, some were disbanded a few months after their creation, while others fought until the end of the war, reaching Berlin. The maximum number of penal companies that existed at the same time was 335 in July 1943. There were cases when the distinguished penal companies in their entirety were transferred to the category of combatants. Since 1942, penalty squadrons for pilots were also created; according to official data, they lasted only a few months.
Since 1943, the number of penal battalions began to decline sharply, in 1944 there were only 11 of them, each with about two hundred and a half. This is due to the fact that there were not enough experienced officers in the army, they were less likely to be sent to penal battalions, preferring to lower the guilty ones in rank by several steps and appoint them to lower officer positions.
In total, about 428 thousand people passed through the penal units during the war. The overwhelming majority of them redeemed their guilt, real or imagined, with honor, and many with their lives. Their memory should be treated with respect, because there is also their contribution to the Great Victory.
