So nestor are you doubting the fact that certain NKVD units were formed just to keep the regulars in line? Do you remember this phrase? "In the soviet army, it takes more courage to retreat than advance". Why do you think that is ya dumb Wookie?
I certainly am not - I am questioning the use of the word 'deathsquad' as if that were an official designation. I think I can also recognise a piece of Stalin's macho posturing when it is quuoted at me.
I am also questioning whether you actually have done any serious research at all into the Eastern Front - I have spoken to veterans of Stalingrad in my time, none mentioned that there were 'Enema at the Gates' -style squads of subhuman-looking guys with machine guns sitting behind them as they advanced without rifles or bullets, waiting to mow them down if they faltered.
I can imagine that, to someone who has never been outside of his own state, seeing a film like 'Enemy at the Gates' could seem like verification of prejudices developed during the late-phase cold war. But it is actually complete bull****. Funnily enough, in Volgograd itself, the only people who talk of the film without prefixing it, "That piece of sh**..." are some of the old-school soviets. They tend to like the fact that it is based on the life, not of the most successful sniper, but the one with the best party credentials.
Zagradotriady did turn guys round if they were heading in the wrong direction, did arrest people if they wouldn't turn round and put them into
shtrafbatalioni, and did, on occasion, shoot cowards. Papers are now, after many years of secrecy, being released regarding the actions of these units. They show that, whilst questionable and often morally objectionable, their tasks were generally a lot more mundane than massacring their own side.
There is also mention of them being called up to the frontline at Stalingrad by Chuikov, who saw the presence of relatively well-equipped political troops behind the guys doing the fighting as a waste of resources and also a serious sap on the morale of the front-line guys. They were presumably asking, "Why the hell aren't they up here with us getting mauled as well?" I doubt the
Zagradchiki were too keen on their frontline role but they fought and died along with all the rest, consequently raising morale along the frontline by demonstrating that no-one was being excused. Check out the actions of the 10th NKVD Rifle Division around Orlovka to see how your 'DeathSquads' were deployed.
I have gone on the record on these forums as stating my extreme distaste for the barbaric actions committed by both sides in the most brutal campaign the world has known. As someone who has, if any at all, anarchist and libertarian leanings, I have sympathy with the ordinary people on both sides who were caught up in the struggle between two totalitarian ideologies fomented by two monsters. As someone who spent a long time living in Russia I tend to have more interest in their side of the story as that relates to places and people I know and have encountered.
The people who come up with the most negative opinions of the Russian people and the Soviet fight are usually those who have had no contact whatsoever with them. People whose opinions of the Soviet war effort come from 'evidence' uncovered in US interrogation of Nazi officers after the war just as the cold war was beginning.
I have absolutely zero tolerance of poorly-informed, prejudiced opinions which try to belittle the unimaginable suffering and bravery of people by saying things like, "Well of course the Soviets fought hard, Stalin was there to shoot them in the back if they didn't." It is a glib, superficial and highly suspect attitude.
My advice is, read some books, get a passport, meet some of the people you imagine to be these ciphers such as portrayed in Enemy at the Gates. Then form an opinion. Then I might be able to treat your opinions with something more than scorn.