Order No. 270 of the Stavka of the Supreme Command of the Red Army, 16 August 1941

Source: Tom 18

Source: Tom 18

Not only friends acknowledge, but our enemies are also forced to admit that in our war of liberation against the German-fascist invaders, the units of the Red Army -- the vast majority of them -- their commanders and commissars, conduct themselves irreproachably, courageously, and at times with outright heroism. Even those units of our army that have accidentally become separated from the army and fallen into encirclement preserve their spirit of steadfastness and courage, do not surrender, and try to inflict as much damage on the enemy as possible and to break out of the encirclement. It is known that individual units of our army, finding themselves encircled by the enemy, use every possibility to defeat the enemy and break out of the encirclement.

Deputy Commander of the Western Front, Lieutenant-General Boldin, finding himself in the area of the 10th Army near Belostok, encircled by German-fascist forces, organized detachments from Red Army units remaining behind enemy lines, which for 45 days fought behind enemy lines and broke through to the main forces of the Western Front. They destroyed the headquarters of two German regiments, 26 tanks, 1,049 passenger, transport, and staff vehicles, 147 motorcycles, 5 artillery batteries, 4 mortars, 15 heavy machine guns, 8 light machine guns, 1 aircraft on an airfield, and a bomb depot. More than a thousand German soldiers and officers were killed. On August 11, Lieutenant-General Boldin struck the Germans from the rear, broke through the German front, and, joining our troops, brought out of encirclement 1,654 armed Red Army soldiers and commanders, of whom 103 were wounded.

Commissar of the 8th Mechanized Corps, Brigade Commissar Popel, and the Commander of the 406th Rifle Regiment, Colonel Novikov, fought their way out of encirclement with 1,778 armed men. In fierce battles with the Germans, the Novikov-Popel group covered 650 kilometers, inflicting enormous damage on the enemy's rear.

Commander of the 3rd Army, Lieutenant-General Kuznetsov, and member of the Military Council, Commissar 2nd Rank Biryukov, fought their way out of encirclement with 498 armed Red Army soldiers and commanders of the 3rd Army and organized the breakout of the 108th and 64th Rifle Divisions from encirclement.

All these and other numerous similar facts attest to the steadfastness of our troops, the high morale of our soldiers, commanders, and commissars.

But we cannot conceal the fact that recently there have been several disgraceful instances of surrender to the enemy. Individual generals have set a bad example for our troops.

Commander of the 28th Army, Lieutenant-General Kachalov, while at the headquarters of his group of forces in encirclement, displayed cowardice and surrendered to the German fascists. The headquarters of the Kachalov group broke out of the encirclement, units of the Kachalov group fought their way out of encirclement, but Lieutenant-General Kachalov preferred to surrender, preferred to desert to the enemy.

Lieutenant-General Ponedelin, who commanded the 12th Army, finding himself encircled by the enemy, had every opportunity to fight his way through to his own forces, as the overwhelming majority of his army's units did. But Ponedelin did not display the necessary persistence and will to victory, gave in to panic, displayed cowardice, and surrendered to the enemy, thereby deserting to the enemy, committing a crime against the Motherland as a violator of the military oath.

Commander of the 13th Rifle Corps, Major-General Kirillov, finding himself encircled by German-fascist forces, instead of fulfilling his duty to the Motherland and organizing the troops entrusted to him for steadfast resistance to the enemy and for breaking out of the encirclement, deserted from the battlefield and surrendered to the enemy. As a result, the units of the 13th Rifle Corps were routed, and some of them surrendered without serious resistance.

It should be noted that in all the above-mentioned instances of surrender to the enemy, members of military councils of armies, commanders, political workers, and special department personnel who found themselves in encirclement displayed inadmissible confusion, disgraceful cowardice, and did not even attempt to prevent the panic-stricken Kachalovs, Ponedelins, Kirillovs, and others from surrendering to the enemy.

These disgraceful instances of surrender to our sworn enemy testify to the fact that in the ranks of the Red Army, which is steadfastly and selflessly defending its Soviet Motherland from vile invaders, there are unstable, fainthearted, cowardly elements. And these cowardly elements exist not only among the rank and file, but also among the command staff. As is known, certain commanders and political workers, by their behavior at the front, not only fail to set an example of courage, steadfastness, and love of the Motherland for the Red Army soldiers, but on the contrary hide in dugouts, busy themselves in offices, do not see or observe the battlefield, and at the first serious difficulties in battle give way before the enemy, tear off their insignia, desert from the battlefield.

Can we tolerate in the ranks of the Red Army cowards who desert to the enemy and surrender, or such fainthearted commanders who at the slightest setback at the front tear off their insignia and desert to the rear? No, we cannot! If we give free rein to these cowards and deserters, they will in short order demoralize our army and ruin our Motherland. Cowards and deserters must be destroyed.

Can we regard as battalion or regimental commanders those commanders who hide in dugouts during battle, who do not see the battlefield, who do not observe the course of battle on the field, and yet imagine themselves to be commanders of regiments and battalions? No, we cannot! They are not commanders of regiments and battalions but impostors. If free rein is given to such impostors, they will in short order turn the army into one vast office. Such impostors must be immediately removed from their posts, demoted, transferred to the ranks, and when necessary shot on the spot, with brave and courageous men from the junior command staff or from the ranks of Red Army soldiers promoted to replace them.

I order:

1. Commanders and political workers who during battle tear off their insignia and desert to the rear or surrender to the enemy are to be considered malicious deserters, whose families are subject to arrest as families of oath-breakers and deserters who have betrayed their Motherland.

All superior commanders and commissars are obliged to shoot such deserters from the command staff on the spot.

2. Units and subunits that have fallen into enemy encirclement are to fight selflessly to the last possibility, to guard their materiel like the apple of their eye, and to fight their way to their own forces through the enemy's rear, inflicting defeat upon the fascist dogs.

Every serviceman, regardless of his position, is obliged to demand of his superior, if his unit is encircled, that he fight to the last possibility in order to break through to his own forces, and if such a superior or a group of Red Army soldiers, instead of organizing resistance to the enemy, prefers to surrender -- they are to be destroyed by all means, both on the ground and from the air, and the families of Red Army soldiers who have surrendered are to be deprived of state allowances and assistance.

3. Division commanders and commissars are obliged to immediately remove from their posts battalion and regimental commanders who hide in dugouts during battle and are afraid to direct the course of battle on the field of combat, to demote them as impostors, transfer them to the ranks, and when necessary shoot them on the spot, promoting brave and courageous men from the junior command staff or from the ranks of distinguished Red Army soldiers to replace them.

This order is to be read in all companies, squadrons, batteries, air squadrons, commands, and staffs.

Stavka of the Supreme Command of the Red Army:

Chairman of the State Defense Committee -- I. Stalin

Deputy Chairman of the State Defense Committee -- V. Molotov

Marshal of the Soviet Union -- S. Budyonny

Marshal of the Soviet Union -- K. Voroshilov

Marshal of the Soviet Union -- S. Timoshenko

Marshal of the Soviet Union -- B. Shaposhnikov

Army General -- G. Zhukov

Voenno-istoricheskiy zhurnal. 1988. No. 9. Pp. 26-28.