Penal battalion, penal company, etc., are military units consisted of convicted persons for which military service was either the assigned form punishment or a voluntary replacement of imprisonment. In military terminology, a battalion consists of two to six companies typically commanded by a lieutenant colonel. ... A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 100-200 soldiers. ... Military service is service in the armed forces of a nation or the military arm of a political organization. ... In society, punishment is the practice of imposing something unpleasant on a wrongdoer. ... A prison is a place in which people are confined and deprived of a range of liberties. ...

Nazi Germany

See Afrika-Brigade 999 (also Bewährungseinheiten 999, Strafbataillon 999, Bewährungstruppe 999 Division 999).

Soviet Union

In Soviet Union the systematical formation of penal military units started during the World War II after Stalin's Order No. 227 (July 1942) that made unauthorized retreats severely punishable. In this order Stalin referred to positive experience of Nazi German troops. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვილი; see Other names section) (December 21, 1879[1] – March 5, 1953) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and leader of the Soviet Union. ... Order No. ...

Penal battalions (shtrafbats (штрафбат, штрафной батальон), up to 800 per unit) were formed of midrange and senior commanding officers and political officers (politruks). A political commissar is an officer appointed by a communist party to oversee a unit of the military. ...

Penal companies (штрафная рота) 150-200 per unit) were formed of junior officers (NCOs) and privates. NCO may mean: a numerically-controlled oscillator in electronics a non-commissioned officer in the military   This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... A private is a military soldier of the lowest military rank. ...

Main sources of Soviet penal battalions and companies were

• military convicts according to order 227;
• Former Soviet POWs. Many of them were moved to shtrafbats after the Order 227 retroactively.

Standard rates of conversion of imprisonment terms into penal batalion terms existed. Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ...

Together with shtrafbats, Order 227 introduced "barrage troops", which have led to a modern misconception that shtrafbats were rearguarded by barrage troops. In fact, it was unnecessary: those who served in penal units were unconditionally under the threat of death penalty.