One of the "ingenious innovations" of the Russian Civil War that broke out following the 1917 October Revolution, was the establishment of "blocking units," communist forces positioned behind the soldiers fighting on the front lines. As for their task, it was to shoot the soldiers fleeing battle. These units were set up because army personnel, whose morale had collapsed during World War I, which was accompanied by sharp economic decline, did not demonstrate the enthusiasm needed for subsequent wars. They were thus presented with a stark choice: either kill or be killed.
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