<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II" id="mwsA" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="World War II">World War II</a>: Soviet leader <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin" id="mwsQ" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Joseph Stalin">Joseph Stalin</a> issues <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_No._227" id="mwsg" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Order No. 227">Order No. 227</a>. In response to alarming <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Germany" id="mwsw" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Nazi Germany">German</a> advances, all those who retreat or otherwise leave their positions without orders to do so are to be tried in a military court, with punishment ranging from duty in a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shtrafbat" id="mwtA" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Shtrafbat">shtrafbat</a> battalion, imprisonment in a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulag" id="mwtQ" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Gulag">Gulag</a>, or execution.