RIFLEMAN'S CREED.
This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine. It is my life. I must master it as I master my life. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than the enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will. My rifle and I know that what counts in war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, or the smoke we make. We know it is the hits that count. We will hit.
My rifle is human, even as I am human, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strengths, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other.
Before God I swear this creed. My rifle and I are the defenders of my county. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life.
So be it, until victory is America's and there is no enemy.
heres a bit of communism for you:
ORDER #227 BY THE PEOPLE’S
COMMISSAR OF DEFENCE OF THE USSR
July 28, 1942
Moscow
The enemy feeds more and more resources to the front, and,
paying no attention to losses, moves on, penetrates deeper
into the Soviet Union, captures new areas, devastates and
plunders our cities and villages, rapes, kills and robs the
Soviet people. The fighting goes on in Voronezh area, at Don,
in the Southern Russia, at the gates of the North Caucasus.
The German invaders are driving towards Stalingrad, towards
Volga, and want to capture Kuban and the North Caucasus with
their oil and bread riches at any price. The enemy has already
captured Voroshilovgrad, Starobelsk, Rossosh, Kupyansk,
Valuiki, Novocherkassk, Rostov on Don, half of Voronezh. Some
units of the South front, following the panic-mongers, have
abandoned Rostov and Novocherkassk without serious resistance
and without order from Moscow, thus covering their banners
with shame.
The people of our country, who treat the Red Army with love
and respect, are now starting to be disappointed with it, lose
faith in the Red Army, and many of them curse the Army for its
fleeing to the east and leaving the population under German
yoke.
Some unwise people at the front comfort themselves with
arguments that we can continue the retreat to the east, as we
have vast territories, a lot of soil, many people, and that we
will always have abundance of bread. By these arguments they
try to justify their shameful behaviour at the front. But all
these arguments are fully false, faked and working for our
enemies.
Every commander, every soldier and political officer have to
realise that our resources are not infinite. The territory of
the Soviet Union is not a wilderness, but people – workers,
peasants, intelligentsia, our fathers and mothers, wives,
brothers, children. Territory of USSR that has been captured
by the enemy and which enemy is longing to capture is bread
and other resources for the army and the civilians, iron and
fuel for the industries, factories and plants that supply the
military with hardware and ammo; this is also railroads. With
loss of Ukraine, Belorussia, the Baltics, Donetsk basin and
other areas we have lost vast territories, that means that we
have lost many people, bread, metals, factories, and plants.
We no longer have superiority over enemy in human resources
and in bread supply. Continuation of retreat means to destroy
us and also our Motherland. Every new piece of territory that
we leave to the enemy will strengthen our enemy and weaken us,
our defences, our Motherland.
This is why we have to eradicate the conversations that we can
retreat without ending, that we have a lot of territory, that
our country is great and rich, that we have a lot of
population and we will always have enough bread. These
conversations are false and harmful, as they weaken us and
strengthen the enemy, for if we do not stop retreating, we
will be left without bread, without fuel, without metals,
without raw materials, without factories and plants, without
railways.
The conclusion is that it is time to stop the retreat. Not a
single step back! This should be our slogan from now.
We need to protect every strongpoint, every metre of Soviet
soil stubbornly, till the last droplet of blood, grab every
piece of our soil and defend it as long as it is possible. Our
Motherland is going through hard times. We have to stop, and
then throw back and destroy the enemy, whatever it might cost
us. The Germans are not as strong as the panic-mongers say.
They are stretching their strength to the limit. To withstand
their blow now means to ensure victory in the future.
Can we stand and throw the enemy back toward west? Yes, we
can, as our plants and factories in the rear areas are working
perfectly and are supplying our army with more and more tanks,
planes, artillery and mortars.
So what do we lack? We lack order and discipline in companies,
regiments and divisions, in tank units, in the Air Force
squadrons. This is our major drawback. We have to introduce
the strictest order and strong discipline in our army, if we
want to save the situation and defend our Motherland.
We can no longer tolerate commanders, commissars, and
political officers, whose units leave their defences at will.
We can no longer tolerate the fact that the commanders,
commissars and political officers allow several cowards to run
the show at the battlefield, that the panic-mongers carry away
other soldiers in their retreat and open the way to the enemy.
Panic-mongers and cowards are to be exterminated at the site.
From now on the iron law of discipline for every officer,
soldier, political officer should be – not a single step back
without order from higher command. Company, battalion,
regiment and division commanders, as well as the commissars
and political officers of corresponding ranks who retreat
without order from above, are traitors of the Motherland. They
should be treated as traitors of the Motherland. This is the
call of our Motherland.
To fulfil this order means to defend our country, to save our
Motherland, to destroy and overcome the hated enemy.
After their winter retreat under pressure of the Red Army,
when morale and discipline fell in the German troops, the
Germans took some strict measures that led to pretty good
results. They have formed 100 penal companies that were
comprised of soldiers who broke discipline due to cowardice or
instability; they have deployed them at the most dangerous
sections of the front and have ordered them to redeem their
sins by blood. Further on, they have formed around ten penal
battalions comprised of officers who had broken discipline due
to cowardice and instability, deprived them of their
decorations and put them at even more dangerous sections of
the front and ordered them to redeem their sins by blood. At
last, the Germans have formed special guards units and
deployed them behind unstable divisions and ordered them to
execute panic-mongers at the site if they tried to leave their
defensive positions without order or if they tried to
surrender. As we know, these measures were effective, and now
the German troops fight better than they fought in winter.
What we have here is that the German troops have good
discipline, although they do not have an uplifted mission of
protection of the Motherland, and only have one goal – to
conquer a strange land. Our troops, having defence of defiled
Motherland as their mission, do not have this discipline and
thus suffer defeat.
Shouldn’t we learn this lesson from our enemy, as our
ancestors learned from their enemies in the past and overcame
their enemies? I think that we should.
THE SUPREME COMMAND OF THE RED ARMY ORDERS:
1. The military Councils of the fronts and first of all front
commanders should:
a) In all circumstances decisively eradicate retreat attitude
in the troops and with an iron hand prevent propaganda that we
can and should continue the retreat to the east, and this
retreat will not be harmful to us;
b) In all circumstances remove from offices and send to Stavka
for court-martial those army commanders who allowed their
troops to retreat at will, without authorisation by the Front
command;
c) Form within each Front 1 to 3 (depending on the situation)
penal battalions (800 personnel), where commanding, senior
commanders and political officers of corresponding ranks from
all services, who have broken discipline due to cowardice or
instability, should be sent. These battalions should be put on
the more difficult sections of a Front, thus giving them an
opportunity to redeem their crimes against the Motherland by
blood.
2. The Military Councils of armies and first of all army
commanders should:
a) In all circumstances remove from offices corps and army
commanders and commissars, who have allowed their troops to
retreat at will without authorisation by the army command, and
send them to the Military Councils of the Fronts for courtmartial;
b) Form 3 to 5 well-armed guards (barrage) units
(zagradotryads), deploy them in the rear of unstable divisions
and oblige them to execute panic-mongers and cowards at site
in case of panic and chaotic retreat, thus giving faithful
soldiers a chance to do their duty before the Motherland;
c) Form 5 to 10 (depending on the situation) penal companies,
where soldiers and NCOs, who have broken discipline due to
cowardice or instability, should be sent. These units should
be deployed at the most difficult sectors of the front, thus
giving their soldiers an opportunity to redeem their crimes
against the Motherland by blood.
3. Corps and division commanders and commissars should:
a) In all circumstances remove from offices regiment and
battalion commanders and commissars who allowed their troops
to retreat at will without authorisation from divisional or
corps command, deprive them of their military decorations and
send them to the Military Councils of fronts for courtmartial;
b) Provide all possible help and support to the guards
(barrage) units (zagradotryads) of the army in their work of
strengthening discipline and order in the units.
This order is to be read aloud in all companies, troops,
batteries, squadrons, teams and staffs.
The People’s Commissar for Defence
J.STALIN