Desert Rats thought Germans might be liberators and shared German hatred for “JewishBolshevism.” The problem of desertion by western ethnic groups was so severe that on August 12, 1941, soldiers from those regions were barred from serving in reorganized Red Army tank corps The ban was later lifted as the real impact of Nazi occupation was felt in Ukraine and Belorussia Senior commanders were given power to summarily execute subordinate officers, and lesser officers were granted authority to shoot their men without trial Summary executions for those suspected of desertion, which included surrender, was ordered by Joseph Stalin in Order #270 issued on August 16, 1941 On July 28, 1942, Stalin signed an even more draconian Order #227, which demanded of all Soviet troops: “Not one step back!” Order #227 designated military or political officers who removed insignia or surrendered as “malicious deserters” and extended severe punishment to the families of all Soviet deserters In practice, that included families tied by blood relation to unrecovered corpses in areas overrun by the enemy The stigma and economic punishment that attended the charge of desertion lasted many years, even decades, after the war Soldiers cut off by German action who strove to return to their unit were sometimes shot for desertion upon achieving that goal Knowing that, others preferred to remain with partisan units rather than chance a return to the line Many stayed with their unit as raw winter closed down any real chance of escape and made solitary survival a gamble not worth taking Despite brutal countermeasures, Red Army desertion rates climbed into early 1942 Even Stalin recognized that Soviet official terror was ineffective in the face of the natural terror of battle He approved a switch in emphasis from October 1941, calling for more propaganda and less persecution Even so, in the battle before Moscow that month, 5,000 Red Army soldiers were arrested for desertion and 12,000 more were arrested for evasion of military service Death sentences continued to rise until February 1942, when the Eastern Front stabilized Desertion remained a problem throughout the war, though it abated somewhat during 1942 as German atrocities were uncovered in liberated territory and a desire for revenge overtook fear of battle, or of Stalin, among many Soviet troops As combat intensified in 1943, Red Army desertion rates climbed once more Thousands per month crossed to the German lines; others ran into nearby woods; some befuddled peasant boys naively tried to go home Still others formed armed gangs that operated behind German and Soviet lines They were led by hard criminals from the GULAG who escaped from penal battalions and were determined never to obey another order from anyone Over the course of the war at least 158,000 Red Army soldiers were formally sentenced and executed for desertion, self-mutilation, or “cowardice.” No one knows, or at least NKVD fi les have yet to be released that would confirm, how many tens or hundreds of thousands more were summarily executed or shot down by blocking troops See also Burma National Army; Indian National Army; Manteuffel, Hasso von; Polish Army; Ukraine, First Battle of; Waffen-SS DESERT RATS Originally and most properly, British 7th Armoured Division commanded by General William Gott The sobriquet was later applied more 306