The myth of penal battalions with prisoners from the Gulag
"Shtrafbat" is a 2004 Russian television series.
Prisoners and war
Huge losses in the initial period of the Great Patriotic War made it necessary to use all possible sources to replenish the Armed Forces (AF) of the USSR.
Already on July 12, 1941, a decree was issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (PVS) of the USSR on the release from punishment of those convicted of certain categories of crimes from areas under martial law. These categories included those convicted for short terms: hooliganism, petty theft, unauthorized leaving from enterprises, violation of discipline, etc. Also subject to release were those convicted for minor domestic crimes (with a remaining term of less than 1 year), pregnant women, women with young children. The course of criminal cases was stopped if the convicted person was entitled to a term of less than 1 year. In total, 260 people were released under this decree. Those fit for service were drafted into the Red Army.
November 4, 1941 and. O. The USSR Prosecutor Safonov suggested that the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks extend the decree to areas not declared under martial law. The prosecutor noted that there were many people of military age among the prisoners, and they asked to be released in order to join the ranks of the Soviet Army. There were especially many applications from convicted military men who were convicted for minor offenses. November 24, 1941 PVS extended the decree to the rear areas.
In February 1942, the Soviet government was informed that out of the 350 people to be released, more than 279 had been released. Of these, 82 people of military age were transferred to military registration and enlistment offices. Later this practice continued. So, in the report of the head of the Gulag Nasedkin to the head of the NKVD Beria dated August 14, 1944, it is reported that by decision of the State Defense Committee (GKO) in 1942-1943. 157 of those convicted of minor crimes were released ahead of schedule. They were included in the ranks of the Red Army.
Also, all those fit for military service after serving their sentence were also transferred to the Armed Forces. In just three years of the war, 975 thousand people were transferred from the Gulag to replenish the army. This practice continued until the end of the war.
Thousands of Polish and Czechoslovak citizens were also liberated from the Gulag camps, most of them sent to create national military units.
Speaking about the prisoners of the Gulag, who contributed to the Victory, we must also remember about the labor armies. The recruitment of the labor army in accordance with the GKO decree of January 10, 1942 took place at the expense of the repressed peoples: ethnic Germans and other peoples whose countries were at war with the USSR, and then other nationalities (Bulgarians, Kalmyks, Crimean Tatars, etc.). In total, over 400 thousand people were mobilized into the labor army.
In addition, the labor of tens of thousands of prisoners was used for the construction of railways, highways and airfields, in the mining and metallurgical, construction, forestry industries, etc.
Changes in the legal system
Before the war, under the current legislation, the loss of rights in relation to persons who had served the main measure of punishment prevented conscription into the army. The war changed everything.
On January 7, 1943, the Supreme Court (SC) of the USSR issued a resolution "On the procedure for the early removal of a loss of rights in relation to persons who have served the main measure of punishment and are subject to conscription or mobilization due to their age."
It was noted that in wartime conditions it is inappropriate to deprive the convicted and deprived of their rights of the opportunity to fulfill their military duty, who have served their sentences for crimes that do not pose an exceptional public danger. The courts received the right to prematurely remove the loss of rights from former convicts of military age.
On April 6, 1943, an order was issued by the People's Commissariat of Defense (NPO) to remove the loss of rights from men under 50 years of age who had served the main measure of punishment, and to draft them into the army. An exception was made only for former counter-revolutionaries and bandits. After the corresponding decision of the court, the former "defeatists" were put on military records and drafted into the army.
The myth of the penal-prisoners
During the war, they actively used the postponement of the execution of the sentence under Article 28 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR. The sentence, which sentenced the serviceman to imprisonment, could be deferred until the end of hostilities. And the military went to the army. During the war years, a decree of the PVS of the USSR was in force on the removal of a criminal record from persons with a valid deferment who proved themselves to be "staunch defenders of the Motherland."
The Red Army soldiers with a delay were in the troops on an equal footing with those with no criminal record. Only after the order of the NPO No. 323 of October 16, 1942, all military personnel convicted by military tribunals with the use of a suspended sentence were to be sent to penal units for a period of 1-3 months.
Thus, it was not prisoners who were taken into the Red Army, as falsely testified in the liberal myth, but already free people who were not deprived of their rights.
Free citizens of the USSR fought, not criminal prisoners. The former prisoners drafted into the army fought in the same units and formations as other conscripts and had the same rights. Many were awarded medals and orders.
The penal units created already during the war were also not staffed with criminals and prisoners. Guilty Red Army soldiers were sent to them, who could correct their crimes and misdeeds with “blood”.
The myth of penal battalions with prisoners from the GULAG, which is broadcast by movie hacks like the famous TV series “Penal Battalion” (filmed based on the novel of the same name by E. Volodarsky, directed by N. Dostal), was created in order to denigrate Soviet civilization and Stalin personally.
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