Aaaand over 150,000 of their own soldiers for retreating
Before anyone asks for a source:
July 1942’s famous “Order No. 227,” better known as the “Not One Step Backward!” rule, which decreed that cowards were to be “liquidated on the spot.” Under this order, any troops who retreated were to be shelled or gunned down by so-called “blocking detachments”—special units who were positioned behind their own lines and charged with shooting any soldier who tried to flee. Stalin’s draconian orders were designed to increase the Red Army’s fighting spirit, but they weren’t empty threats. According to some estimates, Soviet barrier troops may have killed as many as 150,000 of their own men over the course of the war…
History.com is NOT a reliable source. In fact, it is a horrible source. They are full of conspiracy theorist and alien believers. In this article, they don’t even have any citations, just made up shit apparently.
Agreed History.com has some wacky articles, but these numbers come from Richard Overy, a respected and well-researched historian. But feel free to do some pleasure reading on these:
https://notevenpast.org/order-no-227-stalinist-methods-and-victory-eastern-front/#:~:text=How many Soviet soldiers were,a couple weeks in Stalingrad. (Numbers pulled from Russian sources)
