Order No. 270, issued on 16 August 1941, by

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

during the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, ordered

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

personnel to "fight to the last," virtually banned commanders from surrendering, and set out severe penalties for senior officers and deserters regarded as derelicting their duties. Order 270 is widely regarded as the basis of subsequent, often controversial Soviet policies regarding prisoners of war.

Overview

During the pre-war period, the efficiency and morale of Red Army command staff was low as a result of Stalin's purges. By August 1941,

Axis forces The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...

had achieved overwhelming successes in their advancement deep into Soviet territory. Their successful

blitzkrieg Blitzkrieg ( , ; from 'lightning' + 'war') is a word used to describe a surprise attack using a rapid, overwhelming force concentration that may consist of armored and motorized or mechanized infantry formations, together with close air su ...

strategy disorganized the Soviet defense system, led to the

encirclement Encirclement is a military term for the situation when a force or target is isolated and surrounded by enemy forces. The situation is highly dangerous for the encircled force. At the strategic level, it cannot receive supplies or reinforceme ...

of numerous Soviet units, including whole

field armies A field army (or numbered army or simply army) is a military formation in many armed forces, composed of two or more corps and may be subordinate to an army group. Likewise, air armies are equivalent formation within some air forces, and with ...

. Stalin issued the order in his capacity as

People's Commissar of Defence The Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union refers to the head of the Ministry of Defence who was responsible for defence of the socialist Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1917 to 1922 and the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1992. Pe ...

.Roberts, Geoffrey. ''Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939–1953''. New Haven, CT/London: Yale University Press, 2006 (hardcover, ), page 98 The order was aimed primarily at rapidly raising the effectiveness and morale of officers. In the preamble, the order gives examples of troops fighting in encirclement, as well as cases of surrender by military command. The first article directed that any commanders or

commissars Commissar (or sometimes ''Kommissar'') is an English transliteration of the Russian (''komissar''), which means 'commissary'. In English, the transliteration ''commissar'' often refers specifically to the political commissars of Soviet and Eas ...

"tearing away their insignia and deserting or surrendering" should be considered malicious deserters. The order required superiors to shoot these deserters on the spot. Text of Order No. 270 Their family members were subjected to arrest. Order 270 required encircled soldiers to use every possibility to fight on, and to demand that their commanders fight on and organize resistance to the enemy. According to the order, anyone attempting to surrender instead of fighting on must be destroyed and their family members deprived of any state

welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

and assistance. The order also required division commanders to demote and, if necessary, even to shoot on the spot those commanders who failed to command a battle directly in the battlefield. Commenting on Order No. 270, Stalin stated: "There are no Soviet prisoners of war, only traitors."

Full text

:Headquarters of the Supreme Command, Red Army :Chairman of the State Defence Committee ''J. STALIN'' :Deputy Chairman of the State Defence Committee ''V. MOLOTOV'' :Marshal '' S. BUDYONNY'' :Marshal '' S. TIMOSHENKO'' :Marshal '' B. SHAPOSHNIKOV'' :General of the Army '' G. ZHUKOV''

References

{{Reflist Government documents of the Soviet Union Eastern Front (World War II) Joseph Stalin 1941 in the Soviet Union

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References