:stalin-pipe:

  • DingusDangus [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    It comes from Order No. 227 issued by Stalin in July 1942. The line 'Not a step back!' (Ни шагу назад!, Ni shagu nazad!) became a huge slogan for the war effort around that time.

    The Order itself is kind of where the west gets the asiatic hordes, 'Enemy at the Gates'-esque portrayal of the Eastern Front, because the order established penal battalions and blocking detachments to hold the line against the Nazis.

      • panopticon [comrade/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Not sure if I could find it again, but I read that the capital punishments were mainly reserved for officers, and any fleeing soldiers caught by the blocking detachments weren't punished but sent back to their units... Which I guess could be seen as a punishment if the entire context is ignored