>>25657398
>>25657397
The Headquarters of the Supreme Command orders:
1.
estroy and burn down in the rear area of the German troops in a depth of 40 to 60 kilometers from the main line of combat and 20 to 30 kilometers to the left and right of the roads. To immediately
force to destroy in the indicated radius, to
nd grenade launchers to a great extent, as well as reconnaisance commandos, ski units and diversion groups of the partisans equipped with bottles filled with burning substances, hand grenades
2. To form
f 20 to 30 men each in every regiment for blowing up and setting on fire where the troops of the enemy take quarter. For the special units there must be chosen the fighters, commanders and political workers that are the most daring and strongest under political and moral aspects, to whom the task and its importance for the destruction of the German army must be explained in detail. Courageous fighters who distinguish themselves in
for the destruction of where there are German troops are to be recommended for distinction.
3. In case of forced retreats of our units on this or that sector, to take along the Soviet population and in any case
out exception so that the enemy may not use them. The special units formed in the regiments are to be primarily used for this.
4. To the war councils of the fronts and the single armies, to systematically verify how
struction of are accomplished in the above mentioned radius measured from the front line.
given a special report every three days about how many and which settlements have been destroyed in the past days and by which means these results have
The Headquarters of the Supreme Command
I. Stalin
B. Šapošnikov
The above is a rendering of the full text of Stalin Order 0428 of 17 November, 1941. translation from the Russian original, which can be found in the Central Archive of the Russian Federation (Central’nyj Archiv Ministervo Oborony RF) in Podols’k, Fond 4, Opis’11, Delo 66, List 221.