"Penal battalions are making a breakthrough..." Being virtually completely banned under the Soviet regime, after the fall of the USSR this topic became one of the main trump cards of anti-Soviet propaganda, a favorite reason for denouncing the "damned totalitarian past" and political speculations of unscrupulous pseudo-historians. The culmination of this campaign was the broadcast on state television of the scandalous series “Penal Battalion” - a thoroughly deceitful piece of propaganda that carefully led to the idea that it was “the penal battalions that won the war,” although in fact in 1941-1945. the number of penal units was only 1.24% of the size of the Soviet Armed Forces. Not to mention the fact that not all those who fought in penal battalions were penal soldiers - according to Stalin’s order, the permanent command staff of penal companies and battalions - from platoon and above - was staffed "from the number of strong-willed and most distinguished commanders and political workers in battle." One of these "permanent" officers was the author of this book, Alexander Vasilyevich Pyltsyn, who from December 1943 to May 1945 fought in the 8th Separate (officer) penal battalion (field post 07380 ), who walked from Belarus to Berlin and spoke in detail, thoroughly and honestly about this military path - without embellishing the “trench truth”, but also without denigrating the past. True books about Soviet penal prisoners can literally be counted on the fingers of one hand. And this one is the best among them..