ORDER #227

"The conclusion is that it is time to stop the retreat.
Not a single step back!
This should be our slogan from now"

Before I analyze any of the battles that took place, I thought it would be fitting to provide a brief overview of what was expected of the soldiers and the mentality of their leader, Joseph Stalin. In order to do this I will be analyzing one of the most well known orders of the Soviets during the war, order 227. It was an order to prevent any retreat in an effort to stop the Nazi advance and push them back.

This order provides insight into the mind of Stalin through such passages as "Some unwise people at the front comfort themselves with arguments that we can continue the retreat to the east." This shows that Stalin thought that many people in the military were incompetent and that they were comforted by the thought of always having a way out. However, if a person believes they can run instead of fight and die, then they will almost always choose to run, and this was how Stalin viewed them. Although it is not clear whether or not these were the thoughts of the Soviet people, but instead this may have been simply a result of Stalin's frustration for losing so much ground in the war. Nevertheless, this order was brutal and forced the Soviet troops to march froward even if their death was guaranteed.

The Soviet troops were forced to endure incredibly difficult circumstances not just because of the war but also because of this order. One such example of this is part 1C, which states "Form within each Front 1 to 3 (depending on the situation) penal battalions (800 personnel), where commanding, senior commanders and political officers of corresponding ranks from all services, who have broken discipline due to cowardice or instability, should be sent. These battalions should be put on the more difficult sections of a Front, thus giving them an opportunity to redeem their crimes against the Motherland by blood." This is plain and simple a death sentence for being deemed a coward for such actions as falling back.  Another example of this  can be found in part 2B, which states "Form 3 to 5 well-armed guards (barrage) units (zagradotryads), deploy them in the rear of unstable divisions and oblige them to execute panic-mongers and cowards at site." This is Stalin's method of crowd control, which is no more than killing his own people to rule with fear.

In many cases the Soviet soldiers can be viewed as walking corpses. If they stepped back they were dead and by forcing them to march into circumstances that would cause any other army to retreat they were basically marching to their death. However, by throwing his forces against a brick wall Stalin would eventually  break through and force the Nazis to retreat back to Berlin and face defeat.

The actions of Stalin must make us stop and ask, do the ends justify the means? In this case I would disagree. However, what if Stalin didn't create this order, would the Soviets have surrendered? This would force the Nazis to only fight on one front in the war and it is unknown whether or not they could have been defeated without the Soviets. With all of this said, Stalin's tactics were barbaric, but they would eventually win the war against the Nazis.

ORDER #227 BY THE PEOPLE’S COMMISSAR OF DEFENCE OF THE USSR (Stalin)

Bibliography

"ORDER #227 BY THE PEOPLE’S COMMISSAR OF DEFENCE OF THE USSR (Stalin)." Ashland.edu. n.d. http://personal.ashland.edu/~jmoser1/227.htm (accessed April 4, 2012).

Welcome to a history of Russia during WWII: From Stalingrad to Berlin

Hello, my name is Nicholas Eller and I am a student at Harford Community College. Currently I am enrolled in Dr. Karmel's History of Russia class and this blog was assigned as a project for the class. With that being said, I am actually excited about doing a project that is far from the traditional term paper and allows me to explore history and provide my interpretation to anyone who wishes to view my blog.

As soon as I received the news that I would be doing a blog for my class, I immediately knew that I wanted my topic to involve WWII. I have studied various aspects of the war and find almost everything about it fascinating. However, I have only ever studied America's involvement in the war and almost nothing else. Over the course of analyzing the topic I have found that many people believe that America had the most significant role in the war, but I know that this is far from the truth. The nation that played the most significant role was the Soviet Union and over the course of a few weeks I will prove the significance of the Soviets in the war.

In the weeks to come I will cover the role of the Soviets in WWII starting with the turning point of the war with Stalingrad and ending with the battle of Berlin. Throughout my analysis I will also provide an overview of Stalin as a military leader and also the mentality of the Soviet soldiers. I believe this will be a very interesting learning experience for  myself and also anyone who reads this blog.