Destruction battalions
| Destruction battalions | |
|---|---|
| Active | from 24 June 1941 to 1954 |
| Country |
 Soviet Union
|
| Type | Paramilitary |
| Role | Internal security |
| Size | ca 328,000 |
| Part of | NKVD, Soviet Armed Forces |
| Motto(s) | If the Enemy Does Not Surrender, He Will Be Annihilated. |
| March | The Internationale |
| Anniversaries | 24 June |
| Engagements | |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Dmitrii Kramarchuk Mikhail Pasternak |
Destruction battalions, colloquially istrebitels (истребители, "destroyers", "exterminators") abbreviated: istrebki (Russian), strybki (Ukrainian) were paramilitary units under the control of NKVD in the western Soviet Union, which performed tasks of internal security on the Eastern Front and after it. After the Fall of the Soviet Union the battalions were deemed to be a criminal organisation.
As Germany attacked the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, a state of war was declared in the western regions of the country and in the annexed Baltic states.Vladimir Tributs the Commander-in-Chief of the Baltic Fleet of the Soviet Union issued an order on 24 June 1941 warning of the paralysing actions of enemy paratrooper squads aided by the "capitalist-kulak" portions of the populations, which allegedly had a large number of weapons that had not been turned in. The officers ordered the strengthening of defences of headquarters, army units and communications. Attacking "bandits" were to be shot on the spot. The struggle against saboteurs was the responsibility of the border guard units subordinate to the NKVD (People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union).
The battalions were created in the territories near the front line during Operation Barbarossa, with the missions of securing the Red Army rear, assuring the operation of strategically important enterprises and destroying the valuable property that could not be evacuated. The units received authority to summarily execute any suspicious person. Their tasks accounted for the implementation of a scorched earth policy.
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