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SMG Company

2023-06-17T06:42:26Z

2607:FB90:E34A:473D:6960:C012:826D:5DF8: /* In Real Life */

{{topquote|Industrialisation is how we are still in this war. Any my balls! My BIG BALLS!|Anonymous Red Army soldier, Company of Heroes 2}}

==Mid War==

==Late War==
The SMG Company is unique among Soviet infantry in that it doesn't have its own company, but is available as a support unit in almost every formation in the game. Like most Soviet units it comes in 2 flavors: Spam and survivors guilt.

The Hero SMG company is an absolutely tiny unit (by soviet standards) at only 7 regular stands and a commissar. This means they play very different from the regular company, but are much more capable. Where the regular company is a sledgehammer that you throw in the enemies face to overwhelm a position with SMG fire and assault, the Hero SMG company is a bit more conventional, better for cleaning up after a couple turns of bombardment or capturing enemy tanks in assault. Their smaller numbers and size mean they can ride on the smaller hero tank companies and take up fewer points, but their veteran rating and ''2+ assault'' make them more flexible, even if they don't have the numbers to sustain casualties. Consider using the Tankodesantniki card and pairing them up with IS-2s to get to the bad guys faster.
==In Real Life==
[[image:PPSH41.jpg|thumb|300px|right|The PPsH-41, burping it's way to victory]]
One man trained with a rifle will reliably hit another man a hundred metres away, but while one man with an SMG will struggle to hit a barn door he'll keep his enemy pinned with the volume of fire he spews out as well as requiring little instruction beyond 'point this bit at whoever you want to die'. After noticing how the Finns used this very simple tactic in the close quarter combat of forests and cities of the Winter War, the Soviet war machine poured huge effort into creating easy to use SMGs. Keeping with the standard Soviet adage of 'quantity being a quality of its own' entire infantry battalions were often equipped with cheap and easy to manufacture PPSh-41's, pointed at the enemy and let loose to devastating effect in the urban battlefields of Eastern Europe. Later in the war, the Soviets issued the even cheaper PPS-43. Soviet Doctrine of having a mix of rifle and SMG companies would remain right up until the adoption of the AK-47, when the soviets realized that they had a gun that could fill both roles.

{{Soviet Forces in Flames of War}}

Penal legion

2023-06-16T07:31:26Z

2607:FB90:E34A:473D:6960:C012:826D:5DF8:

{{Grimdark}}
[[File:Penal_Legion.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Time for some Penal rectitude...]]
Penal Legions are regiments of the [[Imperial Guard]] composed solely of criminals. Instead of serving a very long sentence these men and women have been given the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fight and die for the [[Imperium]], thereby wiping away their past sins and allowing them to achieve the [[Emperor]]'s peace. The Penal Legions are most probably inspired by similar Soviet units in World War 2, though prisoners have been fielded by many desperate armies over the course of history. France conscripted criminals to fill the trenches during World War 1 for example while medieval galleys were sometimes rowed by convicts.

Needless to say, Imperial commanders tend to use Penal Legions as an expendable resource, even more so than normal regiments. Penal Legion soldiers hooked up on chems and sent on suicide missions is a major source of [[Grimdark]], which [[Warhammer 40,000|40K]] runs on.

Crimes punishable enough to be sent to the Penal Legions includes murder, minor [[heresy]], cowardice in battle, desertion, etc. They are often used to test enemy defenses and drown the enemy in blood and corpses. New troops have their heads shaved and tattooed with unit insignia, and explosive slave-collars are put around their necks. Contrary to popular belief, the collars are a disciplinary device rather than a means of turning the troops into human bombs; the blast is directed inwards, killing only the wearer. The collars are controlled by personnel accompanying the force, and are [[Blam|detonated]] only to restore discipline. As well as the collars, Penal troops are sometimes equipped with Frenzon dispensers. Frenzons are the chems and drugs which cause the user to become as angry as an [[Angry Marine]] and as fearless as a [[Necron]]. You know what also uses Frenzon? [[Eversor Assassin|Eversor Assassins]], so now you know what makes these drugged-up assassins so unhinged.

Troops sentenced to the Penal Legions serve for life. Most die in their very first battle, herded into the enemy gunfire and dying by the hundreds. A few, the born killers, somehow beat these merciless odds and survive through numerous battles. In extremely rare cases a penitent might be granted the Emperor's forgiveness in a way other than dying in battle, by performing some incredible act of battlefield valor. These redeemed men then enter the Imperial Guard as regular Guardsmen, which is not much of an improvement to be honest. (It is, see below).

Penal Legion units are formed from convicts, generally from those shipped to one of the Imperium's Penal Worlds. In fact they are the only prime export from Penal Worlds, whose populations consist of criminals from throughout the Imperium. Because the capital crimes in the Imperium vary from planet to planet, convicted criminals serve as an inexhaustible supply of recruits for the Penal Legions. For 'petty' crimes that do not warrant immediate execution, miscreants in the Imperium are sometimes shipped to a nearby Penal World. From there some may be formed into Penal Legion units. Sometimes [[Mutant|Mutants]] are found in Penal Legions as well, such as [[Abhuman|Abhumans]], like [[Beastmen (40k)|Beastmen]], from worlds that are very strict about genetic purity and don't bother sending normal abhuman troops to the Guard but use them as a combination of letting them save their soul and as disposable manpower.

[[Tl;dr]]: if [[Snotling|Snotlings]] are considered the cannon fodder of the cannon fodder [[Grots]], then the Penal Legions are the Guardsmen equivalent of the cannon fodder's cannon fodder.

==Notable Penal Units==
*[[The Last Chancers]]
*[[Savlar Chem Dogs]]

== On the Tabletop ==
They used to have rules back in [[Warhammer 40,000/5th Edition Tactics/Imperial Guard|5th Edition]], but they weren't particularly good. Basically, they were a standard Guardsmen Squad, but more expensive because you could give them a special rule for the rest of the game by rolling a D6 and comparing the result to a table. The only problem is that none of these special rules were good enough to justify their points cost, so you were almost always better off with standard Guardsmen or Veterans instead.

They were removed when the [[Warhammer 40,000 6th edition|Imperial Guard became the Astra Militarum]] and haven't been seen in official rules since. Of course, [[/tg/ gets shit done|this hasn't stopped some dedicated anons from making homebrew rules for them.]] If you want to bring Penal Legionnaires in [[Warhammer 40,000 8th edition|modern 40k]], your best bet is to use the [[homebrew]] [https://drive.google.com/file/d/180-o7W5Hk8KNx_n0NnfU0EhSG10zbgm1/view Index: Last Chancers] or [[Codex - Adeptus Arbites]].

==See Also==
*[[Commissar]] - Someone has to keep them in line.
*[[Adeptus Arbites]]
*[[Jopall Indentured Guard]] - Similar treatment and loadout for indebted non-criminals. Although with a substantial higher survival rate due to the Jopall's knack for self-survival.
{{Template:Imperial-Guard}}

Penal Company

2023-06-16T07:29:22Z

2607:FB90:E34A:473D:6960:C012:826D:5DF8:

{{Grimdark}}
{{topquote| You need a suicide squad? |Soviet Advisor, whenever a Penal Battalion is recruited in [[/v/|Company of Heroes 2]]}}

==Flames of War==
[[File:PenalCompany.jpg|thumb|right]]
In game, they can replace a Rifle Company, giving you Fearless troops (3+, 2+ due to the Commissar) that assaults on 3+.
===Mid War===

===Late War===

==In Real Life==
The ''Shtrafniki'' penal battalions were infantry units composed of cowards, deserters, and political prisoners (i.e. anyone with an ounce of self-preservation instinct), led by a [[Commissar]] who was more than ready to [[Blam|instill discipline in his men one bullet at a time]]. The first phase of the Eastern Front was going badly for the Russians, who had to contend with mass casualties, retreats, and desertions. Things got so bad that the Russians even had to install Barrier Troops, basically a rear-guard composed of [[Inquisition|NKVD troops]] whose main purpose was to capture everyone who fled. Stalin's infamous Order 227 (Of "No Step Back!" infamy) made it very clear that anyone who hesitated (or ordered an unsanctioned retreat) would be either executed on the spot or written up for a court martial. Execution was usually reserved for grunts who refused to fight, however. Most people they caught would be arrested, given a quick court-martial, and sent to the Shtrafniki battalions. Most of the Shtrafniki were therefore composed of ordinary soldiers. Demoted officers who ordered an unsanctioned retreat would be used as an example for anyone who dared question orders - if they were convicted in a court martial that is. While typically a kangaroo court, plenty of officers who retreated without orders from untenable positions to better hold the line often ended up not getting executed or thrown into a penal unit.

The Shtrafniki were often used for assaults of heavily-defended positions under the promise that exemplary service or being wounded in action would grant them a pardon. While this was ''[[Rules Lawyer|technically correct]]'', and some Shtrafniki (less than a third) did manage to survive the war, most were killed in action. Those whose sentence/service was coming to an end were often delegated to "mine clearing" missions that they would most likely not come back from. Political prisoners, especially nationalists from the various satellite states, and anti-Soviet dissidents would remain marked men even if they managed to survive all the suicide missions they were sent on. The luckiest of them would be the ones who earned a pardon after receiving a grievous injury that would make it impossible for them to act in their intended role ([[The Last Chancers|dying for the emp--Union]]), but anyone that survived a mission in fighting condition would simply be rounded up and readied for the next assault. Despite the high casualty rates, these units often ended up earning awards, and the non-political prisoners had a chance to return to their original units through either injury or their sentence running out.

The Shtrafniki was actually an idea borrowed from the Germans (Straf is a german word, after all), who used their prisoners as expendable troops as well. Similar to the Soviets, anyone sentenced to service in the Strafbataillon was stripped of rank and political rights, and were expected to regain their honor and status on the battlefield. This incentive was often suitable enough in the early phase of the war, when morale was high and Germany was in a strong enough position that the soldiers had something to look forward to, but later in the war, these troops were more likely to desert to the Western Allies and so were of dubious effectiveness. The Germans were more likely to use their prisoners for slave labor or [[Commander Kubrik Chenkov|"minefield clearing"]].

A little known fact was that the Soviet Air Force also operated Shtrafniki. They were used as pilots or gunners in the intense air missions over Stalingrad, but unlike their infantry counterparts, the air force kept no records on these men or their victories. Just like the infantry, if a Shtrafniki returned, they would simply be reassigned to the next bombing run and expected to repeat running sorties until they died.

{{Soviet Forces in Flames of War}}