ORDER
COMMISSIONER OF NATIONAL DEFENSE OF THE UNION
� 227
"28" July 1942
Moscow
The enemy throws at the front of new forces, regardless of the loss of a large for him, climbing down,
Rushes into the depths of the Soviet Union, captures new areas, destroying our cities and villages, raping, plundering and killing the Soviet population. There are fights in the Voronezh area, on the Don, in the south gate of the North Caucasus. German invaders penetrate toward Stalingrad, to Volga, want at any cost to trap Kuban and the North Caucasus with their oil and grain. The enemy has already captured Voroshilovgrad, Starobelsk, Rossosh, Kupyansk, Valuyki, Novocherkassk, Rostov-on-Don, half of Voronezh. After the loss of Ukraine, Byelorussia, the Baltic, the Donets Basin and other areas we have much less territory. We have lost more than 70 million people, more than 800 million tons of grain and more than 10 million tons of steel per year. We have already now the predominance over the Germans in human resources or in the stocks of grain. Retreat further - means to ruin themselves and ruin at the same time our country. It is necessary to eliminate talk that we are able to retreat without end that have a lot of territory, that our country is great and rich, a lot of people, there will always be bread in abundance. Such conversations are false and harmful, they weaken us and strengthen the enemy, because if you do not stop the retreat will be without bread, without fuel, without metal, without raw materials, without factories and plants, without railways. From this it follows that it is time to end the retreat. No step back! Such should now be our grand prize! What are we missing? There is no order and discipline in companies, battalions, regiments, divisions, in tank units and air squadrons. This is our main deficiency. We must establish in our army the most stringent order and discipline, if we want to save the situation and defend our homeland. Alarmists and shorts should be exterminated on the spot. From now on the iron law of discipline for each commander, Red Army soldier, and commissar should be a requirement:
"No step back!"without order from higher command. The only reason for leaving a position can only be death!
When the loosened discipline, the Germans took some strict measures that led to good results in the German army. They have formed more than 100 companies from soldiers and about ten penal battalions from commanders guilty of breaches of discipline. And our troops with the purpose of protecting the abused Motherland do not have the discipline and defeated.
Order: Form within each Front from one to three fine battalions of eight people. Form within the army of five to ten penal companies up to two hundred people each, to give them an opportunity to redeem by blood their crimes against the Motherland.
Commanders and commissars to bring to all the fronts, armies, connections, fleets, divisions, battalions, companies and platoons!
Defense Commissar of the USSR STALIN