The order cast the war against the Soviet Union as one of ideological and racial differences, and it provided for the immediate liquidation of political commissars in the Red Army.[14] The order was formulated in 1941 with the participation of the Army Hight Command (the OKH) and issued by the Wehrmacht High Command (the OKW.[15] General Franz Halder, welcomed it writing that "Troops must participate in the ideological battle in the Eastern campaign to the end".[1]