Order No. 270

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Order No. 270, dated August 16, 1941, was issued by Joseph Stalin acting as People's Commissar of Defence. It prohibited any soldier from surrendering, with Stalin declaring, "There are no Russian prisoners of war, only traitors."[1] The order demanded anyone deserting or surrendering to be killed on the spot, and subjected their families to arrest and their wives sent to labor camps. Doing this ensured his army would fight to the death.

Stalin's son, Yakov Dzhugashvili, served in the Red Army and was captured by the Germans after this order was issued. They offered to exchange him for Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus, but Stalin turned the offer down, allegedly saying "A lieutenant is not worth a general"; others credit him with saying "I have no son."[1] Molotov quotes him saying that "All these boys are my sons."

After returning to the Soviet Union, nearly 80 per cent of Russian workers and prisoners of war returning from Germany were sent to forced labour, some given fifteen to twenty-five years of 'corrective labour', others sent off to hard labour; all were categorized as 'socially dangerous'."[2]

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[edit] References

  1. ^ a b The warlords: Joseph Stalin. Retrieved on 2007-07-03.
  2. ^ Rosemary H. T. O'Kane, Paths to Democracy: Revolution and Totalitarianism, Routledge, 2004, ISBN 0415314739, Google Print, p.164
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