I read somewhere that the Soviet Union employed troops who would shoot anyone who attempted to retreat, desert, or showed any sign of panic or "cowardice". Apparently they would even place land mines in front of their own trenches to prevent any Soviet troops from deserting to the German side and sight their artillery in on their positions so if entire units began to retreat or desert they would be killed.
I would like to know whether or not this is true and to what extent it is true. Where does this information come from? Any stories or accounts proving its veracity?
I especially want to know whether or not the part about the use of land mines and pre sighted artillery to deter and if necessary combat " treason" is true. I find that this fact adds another horrifying layer to the endless, brutal hell that was the Eastern Front.
Yes, the Red Army did deploy units who could shoot retreating units, but the practice wasn't nearly as widespread as often depicted. The actual number of retreating soldiers shot by the 'Barrier Troops' on the spot was relatively small. The already low figure for people killed also includes soldiers arrested by barrier troops and subsequently sentenced to death by tribunal. Service in a penal unit was another possible punishment. Far more commonly, the barrier troops would just turn fleeing soldiers around. Deploying units to 'back stop' less reliable troops or to collect deserters isn't that far out a practice, and combined with how dire things were for the Soviets when the original order for blocking units was given, wasn't entirely insane.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrier_troops#Barrier_troops_in_the_Red_Army
Here is a bit of analysis on the topic from a previous post on AskHistorians:
I've never heard of the use of landmines or artillery to stop mass defections to the Germans. The landmines thing doesn't actually make a lot of sense since during the early period of the conflict, Soviet troops were often being used in counter-offensives, and mines would have gotten in the way (never mind there wouldn't have been a heap of time to deploy them).
The artillery story actually sounds like something that happened in WWI, rather than WWII, and it was in France - though against Russian troops: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Army_Mutinies#Repression