Putin's 'barrier troops' are straight out of Stalin's playbook

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Few things encapsulate the brutality of the Eastern Front in the Second World War better than the Soviet Union’s so-called “barrier troops”.

With the Red Army crumbling in the face of a relentless German advance, Josef Stalin was forced to place armed officers behind his own front-line troops to prevent any further desertion - on pain of death.

Such is the poor level of morale among Russian troops today in eastern and southern Ukraine, claims Britain’s Defence Intelligence, that the tactic has now been revived by the Russian Army.

The origins of barrier troops or “blocking units” lie in the Russian Civil War, when Leon Trotsky authorised their creation to stiffen the backbone of unreliable Red Army Units.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/putin-s-barrier-troops-are-straight-out-of-stalin-s-playbook/ar-AA13KENd

[Ilsa]

1. I remember seeing a re-enactment of this in a movie

with Jude Law, etc. Soldiers executed where they stood for not making a suicide run at the enemy. Brutal.

[RockRaven]

2. "Enemy at the Gates" (2001)

Not the most historically accurate film (but it wasn't trying to be, so that's not a criticism).