Has there ever been a military or section of a military that was made up entirely of conscripted criminals?
More importantly, if there are did it work?
Has there ever been a military or section of a military that was made up entirely of conscripted criminals?
Parker Gray
Thomas Jackson
Dirlewanger
Jace Turner
The soviets did, Stravniki(?) I believe they were called, penal battalions.
Sebastian Ramirez
Soviet Union during WW2 famously made use of many penal divisions. I haven't done any reading on the subject but just from my gut I doubt the officers were criminals though.
Jaxon Turner
I have an unusual interest in edgy subjects like this. I thought the Germans had some penal troops too, but not sure.
French had something similar in WWI, but there was something about that I can't remember.
Kevin Davis
>en.wikipedia.org
Jesus fucking christ
Charles Cooper
There was. Erillinen Pataljoona 21 (Isolated Battalion) was a finnish penal unit in continuation war which was consisted from political prisoners and violent criminals. It was commanded by colonel Nikke Pärmi who today is most known for his pioneering work with spurdo speech.
Duoda duoda noin.
Austin Nguyen
Adrian Bell
Many such cases. Italians, British, Polish, German and Russian's come to mind. Look up "Penal Battallions" or "March Battalions". Also
Mason Davis
92nd Infantry in WW2
Jaxson Campbell
Almost third of the political ones by the way deserted or defected within couple weeks so they dumped the rest back to the prison camps.
William Gutierrez
The french foreign legion was and is still a bit composed by a lot of ex prisonners and criminals
Gabriel Phillips
British Red coats.
Landon Price
This popped into mind. Very unreliable soldiers.
Jordan Sanders
nice meme
Shtrafbat under the Soviets during WWII, mostly political prisoners goaded into battle by NKVD
James Cruz
Search bat d'af
Or bataillon d'afrique
Jackson Gonzalez
No it isn't at all. That was the case maybe 50 years ago but now they do such extensive background checks it's mind boggling.
Also my friend was rejected by them for having a Totenkopf tattoo on his back, so there's that.
Michael Clark
The U.S. in the '70s.
Anthony Foster
It worked like a charm.
Jaxson Jackson
Like some kinda suicide squad or some shit?
Brandon Hill
>nazi war crimes: the military unit
William Anderson
Penal units were a thing.
Sebastian Peterson
Doesn't that pretty much describe the French Foreign Legion? Many people who joined the Legion joined to escape criminal prosecution and took up a job as a soldier of fortune in return for a new identity.
"An 1896 survey showed that 26 percent of the Legion’s men came from Alsace-Lorraine, 25 percent from Germany, 17 percent from Belgium, 10 percent from Switzerland, 3.5 percent from Austria, and less than 1 percent apiece from Britain, the US, Russia, and other nations. Some 11 percent were judged to be educated. In more recent times, those national proportions have changed somewhat, but there have never been many Anglo-Saxons. A surprising number of recruits have already served in their own national armies before joining the Legion. A significant quota sign on to escape domestic embarrassments or criminal records, though nowadays the French are at pains to ensure that a man has done nothing too unspeakable before accepting him as a legionnaire."
nybooks.com
Ayden Perez
>implying all soldiers aren't hired criminals
John Adams
almost cut myself on the edge
Connor Parker
>giving violent criminals gun