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Extirpation Battalions

Categories / Army. Navy/Blokade

EXTIRPATION BATTALIONS, volunteer force units (from 50 to 300 people) organised by the People's Commissariat of Home Affairs (NKVD) of the USSR. The units were established during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45 to provide internal security (officially "For the extirpation of alarmists, provocateurs, enemy landing forces, spies and saboteurs", hence the name), and were formed of people unqualified for enlistment. They were equipped with small fire-arms. About 100 Extirpation Battalions were formed in Leningrad during the period from 24 June 1941 to 21 February 1942. In the winter of 1941-42, the majority of Extirpation Battalions were disbanded to reinforce units of the People's Volunteer Militia and NKVD troops.

Reference: Биленко С. В. На охране тыла страны: Истребит. батальоны и полки в Великой Отеч. войне, 1941-1945. М., 1988.

G. V. Kalashnikov.

Bibliographies

Биленко С. В. На охране тыла страны: Истребит. батальоны и полки в Великой Отеч. войне, 1941-1945. М., 1988