Order 0391 About the facts of sybstitution of educational work with repressions

Order of people's Deffense Commissar of the USSR

"About the facts of sybstitution of educational work with repressions"

4 December 1941 № 0391

Recently, there have been frequent cases of illegal repressions and gross abuse of power by individual commanders and commissars in relation to their subordinates. Lieutenant of the 288th rifle regiment Komissarov, without any reason, killed a Red Army soldier Kubica with a shot from a revolver.
The former head of the 21st UR, Colonel Sushchenko, shot Jr. Sergeant Pershikov for too slowly getting off the car due to an injured hand.
The commander of a platoon of a motorized rifle company of the 1026th rifle regiment, Lieutenant Mikryukov, shot dead his assistant, junior platoon commander Baburin, allegedly for not following orders.
The military commissar of the 28th Panzer Division, Regimental Commissar Bankvitzer, beat a sergeant for lighting a cigarette at night; he also beat Major Zanozny for an unrestrained conversation with him.
The chief of staff of the 529th Infantry Regiment, Captain Sakur without any reason has hit twice senior lt. Lieutenant Sergeyev with a pistol. Such intolerable facts of the perversion of disciplinary practices in the Red Army, the excess of granted rights and power, lynching and assault are explainable with:

• the method of persuasion was incorrectly relegated to the background, and the method of repression against subordinates moved into first place;
• daily educational work in units is in some cases replaced by swearing, repression and assault;
• the method of explanations and conversations of commanders, commissars, political workers with the Red Army soldiers is abandoned and the clarification of questions that are incomprehensible to the Red Army soldiers is often replaced by shouting, abuse and rudeness;
• individual commanders and political workers in difficult conditions of battle get lost, fall into a panic and cover their own confusion with the use of weapons without any reason;
• the simple truth is forgotten that use of repression is an extreme measure, permissible only in cases of direct disobedience and open resistance in a combat situation or in cases of malicious violation of discipline and order by persons deliberately going to disrupt the orders of the command.

Commanders, commissars, and political workers must remember that without a correct combination of method of persuasion with method of coercion, the imposition of Soviet military discipline and the strengthening of the political and moral state of the troops is unthinkable.
Severe punishment in relation to malicious violators of military discipline, accomplices of the enemy and open enemies should be combined with careful analysis of every case of violation of discipline that require a detailed clarification of the circumstances it has occurred in.
Unjustified repressions, illegal executions, arbitrariness, and assault on the part of commanders and commissars are a manifestation of lack of will and handlessness, often lead to the opposite results, contribute to decline in military discipline and political and moral state of troops, and can push unstable fighters to defect to the side of the enemy.

I order:

1. Restore educational work, widely use the persuasion method, do not replace everyday explanatory work with administration and repressions.
2. To all commanders, political workers and chiefs to talk daily with the Red Army soldiers, explaining to them the necessity for strict military discipline, honest fulfillment of their military duty, the military oath and orders of the commander and chief. In conversations, also explain that a serious threat looms over our Motherland, that the greatest self-sacrifice, unshakable steadfastness in battle, contempt for death and a merciless struggle against cowards, deserters, self-mutilators, provocateurs and traitors to the Motherland are needed to defeat the enemy.
3. Explain to the commanding staff that lynching, assault and public swearing are degrading the rank of a soldier of the Red Army, lead not to strengthening, but to undermining the discipline and authority of the commander and political worker.
4. In the most resolute manner, up to bringing the perpetrators to trial by a military tribunal, to combat all manifestations of illegal repression, assault and lynching.

The order is to be announced to the entire commanding staff of the Army in the field, up to and including the commander and commissar of the regiment.

People's Commissar of Defense I. Stalin
Chief of the General Staff B. Shaposhnikov

ЦАМО РФ Ф. 4. Оп. 11. Д. 66. Л. 149–152.