Comments by "bakters" (@bakters) on "The Numbers Say it All | The Myth of German Superiority on the WW2 Eastern Front" video.

  1. +Graff_Zitel - Actually, most people stopped by blocking detachments were not even sent to penal battalions. They were sent back to their own units. Very few were shot, just as you wrote, but almost none were shot without trial. Sure, it was a quick deal, but there was a trial and execution, not gunning down your own retreating units. Penal battalions could be additionally motivated with a machinegun behind their backs, but those machineguns also served as a reserve force, and were sent into battle when needed. The funniest part of it all for me, is that the reality of war meant that capable fighters were rarely used in blocking detachments who were not expected to see the enemy eye to eye too often. Invalids, halfwits that sort of stuff. And Soviets wanted to use them for something, so they were often sent to do the mundane tasks like digging latrines and that sort of thing. Not particularly nefarious picture, all in all.
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