Order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR No. 0391, 4 October 1941

Source: Tom 18

Source: Tom 18

Recently, frequent cases of unlawful reprisals and gross abuse of authority by individual commanders and commissars toward their subordinates have been observed.

Lieutenant Komissarov of the 288th Rifle Regiment shot and killed Red Army soldier Kubitsa with a revolver without any grounds.

Former commander of the 21st Fortified Region, Colonel Sushchenko, shot Junior Sergeant Pershikov for climbing out of a truck slowly because of an injured hand.

Platoon commander of the motorized rifle company of the 1026th Rifle Regiment, Lieutenant Mikryukov, shot and killed his deputy -- the junior platoon commander Baburin -- allegedly for failure to carry out an order.

Military Commissar of the 28th Tank Division, Regimental Commissar Bankvitser, beat a sergeant for smoking at night; he also beat Major Zanosny for an impertinent conversation.

Chief of Staff of the 529th Rifle Regiment, Captain Sakur, struck Senior Lieutenant Sergeyev twice with a pistol without any grounds.

Such instances of distortion of disciplinary practice, abuse of rights and authority, summary justice, and physical violence, which are intolerable in the Red Army, are explained by the fact that:
a) the method of persuasion has been improperly relegated to the background, while the method of repression against subordinates has taken first place;
b) daily educational work in units has in a number of cases been replaced by cursing, repressions, and physical violence;
c) the method of explanation and conversation between commanders, commissars, and political workers with Red Army soldiers has been abandoned, and the clarification of questions that are unclear to the soldiers is often replaced by shouting, abuse, and coarseness;
d) individual commanders and political workers, in the complicated conditions of battle, lose their composure, fall into panic, and cover up their own confusion by using weapons without any grounds;
e) the truth has been forgotten that the application of repressions is an extreme measure, permissible only in cases of direct insubordination and open resistance in combat conditions, or in cases of malicious violation of discipline and order by persons deliberately intent on disrupting the commands of the leadership.

Commanders, commissars, and political workers must remember that without a proper combination of the method of persuasion with the method of coercion, it is impossible to instill Soviet military discipline and to strengthen the political-morale state of the troops.

The severe punishment of malicious violators of military discipline, accomplices of the enemy, and outright enemies must be combined with a careful examination of all cases of disciplinary violations requiring a detailed investigation of the circumstances.

Unjustified repressions, unlawful shootings, arbitrary acts, and physical violence on the part of commanders and commissars are manifestations of weakness and spinelessness, frequently lead to the opposite results, contribute to a decline in military discipline and the political-morale state of the troops, and may push unstable soldiers to desert to the enemy.

I order:

1. To restore the rights of educational work, to make wide use of the method of persuasion, and not to replace day-to-day explanatory work with administrative measures and repression.

2. All commanders, political workers, and chiefs are to conduct daily conversations with Red Army soldiers, explaining to them the need for iron military discipline, the honest fulfillment of military duty, the military oath, and the orders of commanders and superiors. In conversations, also explain that a grave threat hangs over our Motherland, that the greatest self-sacrifice, unwavering steadfastness in battle, contempt for death, and a merciless struggle against cowards, deserters, self-mutilators, provocateurs, and traitors to the Motherland are needed for the defeat of the enemy.

3. To broadly explain to the command staff that summary justice, physical violence, and gutter language that demeans the title of a soldier of the Red Army lead not to the strengthening but to the undermining of discipline and the authority of the commander and political worker.

4. To combat in the most decisive manner, up to and including trial before a military tribunal of those guilty, all instances of unlawful repressions, physical violence, and summary justice.

This order is to be announced to the entire command staff of the Active Army down to and including regimental commanders and commissars.

People's Commissar of Defense

I. Stalin

Chief of the General Staff

B. Shaposhnikov

TsAMO RF. F. 4. Op. 11. D. 66. L. 149-152.