Bellydeep, We digress a little here, but there are many accounts that in the Winter War, the Soviets sent "politically unreliable'' units into the Finnish guns fully intending that they be slaughtered...it was cheaper than sending them to the gulags. If the units faltered they were machine gunned from the rear with no chance of survival, if they advanced into the Finn positions they had a chance to survive another day. The 'Shtraftbat' battalions gained infamy in WW2 but had their beginnings in the Winter War.


Well this is a fine pickle we're in, should'a listened to Joe McCarthy and George Orwell I guess.