Unlike all previously published books by A. V. Pyltsyn about the penal battalion, the geography of combat operations of the penal units of the Great Patriotic War has been significantly expanded and the volume of factual historical and illustrative material has been increased due to the appearance and involvement of a large number of new documents received from TsAMO RF and with the help of search engines-enthusiasts. This is one of the rare books based on personal memories supported by historical documents. For the first time, the book provides an assessment of the relationship between such legal categories as “crime”, “punishment” by penal units, terms of stay in them, “atonement” by feat and “repentance”, which to a certain extent echoes the well-known formula of F. M. Dostoevsky. Documented examples are given of the unfair persecution of high-ranking military leaders by some high-ranking political officials, as well as surveillance of those whose relatives had criminal records under the “popular” Article 58 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR in the pre-war and war years. The book is based only on real events, involving real-life individuals. There is not a single fictitious combat episode in it, not a single fictitious person, and not even a single fictitious surname.