Penal Company

" "You need a suicide squad?" "

– Company of Heroes 2 Advisor, whenever a Penal Battalion is recruited in Company of Heroes 2

Flames of War

In game, they can replace a Rifle Company, giving you Fearless troops (3+, 2+ due to the Commissar).

In Real Life

The Shtrafniki penal battalions were infantry units composed of cowards, deserters, and political prisoners (So anyone with an ounce of self-preservation instincts), led by a Commissar who was more than ready to 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 not only with mass casualties, but retreats and desertions. Things got so bad that the Russians even had to install Barrier Troops, basically a rear-guard composed of NKVD troops whose main purpose was catching everyone who fled. Stalin's infamous Order 227 (Of "No Step Back!" in/fame) made it very clear that anyone who hesitated or ordered an unsanctioned retreat would be either executed on the spot (a sentence usually reserved for grunts who refused to fight), but most people they caught would be arrested, given a quick court-martial, and sent to the Shtrafniki battalions.

The Shtrafniki were often used for assaults of heavily-defended positions under the promise that exemplary service would grant them a pardon. While this was technically correct, some Shtraniki (less than a third) managed to survive the war, most were often killed in the attempt, and 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 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 (dying for the emp--Union), but anyone that survived a mission would simply be rounded up and readied for the next assault.

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, but 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 "minefield clearing"

Soviet Forces in Flames of War
Tanks:	T-70 - Valentine - M5/M3 Stuart - M3 Lee - T-34 - KV - Churchill - IS-2 - Captured Tank Platoon - T-28 - BT-7 - KV-2 - T-26
Transports:	M3 Scout Car - Universal Carrier - SdKfz 251
Infantry:	Rifles - Motor Rifles - Penal Company - Storm Group - SMG Company - Engineer Sapper Company
Artillery:	Katyusha - 152mm Artillery - 122mm Artillery - 76mm Artillery - 120mm Mortars - 82mm mortars
Tank Destroyers and Assault Guns:	45mm Anti Tank - 57mm Anti Tank - 76mm Anti Tank - 100mm Anti Tank - SU-76 - SU-85 - SU-100 - SU-122 - SU-152 - ISU-122/ISU-152
Recon:	Scout Platoon - BA-64 Platoon - Armored Reconnaissance Platoon - Reconnaissance Platoon
Aircraft:	Il-2 Sturmovik
Anti-Aircraft:	ZSU M17 - DShK AA MG Platoon
Midwar Monsters:	KV-3 - KV-5 - T-43