Order No. 227: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Order No. 227 is Joseph Stalin's order of July 28 1942. It decreed that all in the Red Army who retreated or otherwise left their positions without orders to do so were to be summarily shot. It is also known as the "Not one step back!" order.

Order No. 227 also authorised the punishment of families of deserters and the establishment of special units (called shtrafbaty - penal battalion) made up of "cowards" who did the most dangerous tasks, a measure used previously to great success by the Germans. Shtrafbaty were often used as minesweepers: the entire unit would simply be sent across a suspected minefield.