Penal Battalions historicaly and what confusses most people

Sentence for Penal battalion:

3 months in Penal Battalion, not a day more.

Any man that dies in battle has washed the stain from his record with his blood and is given full military funeral and military honors

Any man that is wounded in battle has proven his loyalty to Soviet Union and is automatically discharged from Penal Battalion with record wiped clear and military honors.

Any man that does or is part of heroic action in battle is deemed to have proven his loyalty to Soviet Union and is released from Penal Battalion with record wiped clean and honors. On recommendation of NKVD officer.

Any man that serves 3 months in Penal Battalion is released to General army with his service in Penal battalions remaining on his record.

Surviving 3 months in Penal battalion was the worst outcome as soldier and his family would be tarnished as non-patriotic and subject to being sent to Sibir or scrutinized.

These troops were highly motivated, many of them received highest Soviet medals and many died or were wounded in heroic actions.

Thats why they were given best weapons, and most important objectives during battles.

Would you like to face vs battalion of these man or farmboys, accountants and factory workers with 2 week crash course military training?

Many people confuse Penal Battalions with deserters who were shot on spot or sent to clear mine fields as punishment

Your text.. Watch around minute 8, if you aren't that interested

Thats why they were given best weapons...

Yes, no doubt the Soviet Union gave troops who it wanted to punish brand new weapons to play with.

I'll have a double of whatever you're smoking.

Yes, no doubt the Soviet Union gave troops who it wanted to punish brand new weapons to play with.

I'll have a double of whatever you're smoking.

Who do you think I'll believe, History channel, British museum of History or some guy from internet opinion about something he knows absolutely nothing about?

Exactly.

Vast majority of people, for whatever reason(lack of education on the subject DUUH) think penal troops were conscripts, but without any training, which is wrong.

Penal troops had absolutely nothing to loose and could gain something if they succeeded, they were determined to complete the task at hand, they weren't used for MG42 target practice(thou they did cleared minefields) and were often experienced soldiers and officers.

Game description wording make it sound like they were taken out of prisons, given rifles and pointed to the battlefield. Nothing more misleading.

Penal battalions were expendable, but they were also battle hardened in most cases.

the history channel is load of shit. they jumped off a ship a long time ago. not to say there wrong on this but in reality it doesn't matter what there called it is a unit and it's balanced like any other unit, to fill a certain role. (its a game) Guards would be interesting non doctrinal unit. but there not and its probably far to late the change so im sure they make due.

Exactly.

Vast majority of people, for whatever reason(lack of education on the subject DUUH) think penal troops were conscripts, but without any training, which is wrong.

Penal troops had absolutely nothing to loose and could gain something if they succeeded, they were determined to complete the task at hand, they weren't used for MG42 target practice(thou they did cleared minefields) and were often experienced soldiers and officers.

Game description wording make it sound like they were taken out of prisons, given rifles and pointed to the battlefield. Nothing more misleading.

Penal battalions were expendable, but they were also battle hardened in most cases.

I agree that they were highly motivated but the notion that they were given the best weapons and even armor is ridiculous. Casualties in penal battalions were 3-6 times higher than in regular units, why would you give the best weapons to soldiers who had a life expectancy of 1-2 months at most?

Well, they were given equipment that would allow them to complete the task effectively. It didn't matter if they survived, but as I've said, they had equipment to get the job done.

It was some assault and bunker busting? They got decent rifles and explosives.
It was running over mine fields? They got enough vodka to do it willingly.

Casualties were so high because they were given the hardest tasks. They were leading attacks and covering retreats. That means they needed the best possible equipment to be able to complete their tasks.

I agree that they were highly motivated but the notion that they were given the best weapons and even armor is ridiculous. Casualties in penal battalions were 3-6 times higher than in regular units, why would you give the best weapons to soldiers who had a life expectancy of 1-2 months at most?

There is a fail in your logic. It depends what their tasks were. Casualty rates might have no correlation to the kind of equipment a unit receives though it is most likely they are positively correlated (the units who are exposed to combat, particularly high risk combat, receive good equipment). There are very many examples of this:

- U-boats were constantly being updated redesigned. Yet there is no single service in WWII that suffered a greater attrition rate (90%).

- US bomber never expected to finish their 25 mission tour of duty despite flying the most advanced combat systems of their time.

- Casualty rates of Airborne units was expected to be 50% or greater in practically EVERY drop.

Invariably history seems to want to tarnish the commanders as being inhumane when this was rarely the case. The legends of WWI were that the officers dined while the troops died. In fact the officers tried many different tactics, many different technologies, and much training to break the deadlocks. The British officer corps suffered greater casualties than the troops did.

The most inhumane acts inflicted on troops was sending poorly trained troops to the lines. Both sides were guilty. The US sent non-armor trained troops to fight in Shermans (which is the real reason for high Sherman losses, not the equipment) and filled ranks depleted by casualties while units were on the front instead of replacing frontline units to re-train and integrate replacements. The Nazis sent up pilots with only 10 hours of flight time to man high performance fighters.

Penal battalion would be fine if they would add at-grenade to them if the upgrade is bought in HQ.

They would still be different than conscripts. (They still lack merge, molotov and they cost more)

My 2 cent.

Truly yours.

The penal battalions were equipped like assault troops and given equipment suitable to the task.

Assault troops got SMGs, SVTs, flamethrowers, explosives, mine detectors, etc They were NOT sent on the battlefield to do minimal damage and then die.

There is memoir of penal battalion officer I looked at and it discloses that many were composed completely of dishonored officers and noncoms. (combat leaders). In the regular army they were ranked men and in the penal battalion they were privates.

The goal in the unit was to essentially get re-instated in the regular army and have their records clear. This was typically accomplished by succeeding in battle and winning medals.

It was not a 'suicide battalion'.

Yes, no doubt the Soviet Union gave troops who it wanted to punish brand new weapons to play with.

Because no one gave The Dirty Dozen weapons at all.


Which is the pop cultural reference point people should be using

I agree that they were highly motivated but the notion that they were given the best weapons and even armor is ridiculous. Casualties in penal battalions were 3-6 times higher than in regular units, why would you give the best weapons to soldiers who had a life expectancy of 1-2 months at most?

What if I told you that Penal unit as you imagine it is just a video game unit.

In Reality Penal battalions consisted of Penal Guards Rifle squads, Penal Engineer squads, Penal Snipers, Penal tank formations, Penal Airforce squadrons, etc.

Yes they were punished, but they were given way to redeem themselves while in the same time making Penal battalions highly motivated and huge asset for Red Army commanders.

Hence they were given the best weapons, because there were few other soldiers as highly motivated.

Their casualty rate was 80% but their ability to attack and defeat strongest defenses was unrivaled

There's a book called "Penalty Strike" by a guy who commanded a penal company which I've been meaning to get for sometime...