Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

  • Apple
  • Android
  • Windows Phone
  • Android

To get the free app, enter your email address or mobile phone number.
Download to your computer
Kindle Cloud Reader
Facebook Twitter Pinterest <Embed>
Qty:1
  • List Price: $18.95
  • Save: $1.66 (9%)
FREE Shipping on orders with at least $25 of books.
Only 9 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Penalty Strike: The Memoi... has been added to your Cart
Want it Saturday, April 23? Order within and choose Saturday Delivery at checkout. Details
Ship to:
Select a shipping address:
To see addresses, please
or
Please enter a valid US zip code.
or
+ $3.99 shipping
Used: Very Good | Details
Sold by hippo_books
Condition: Used: Very Good
Comment: Very Good: Cover and pages show some wear from reading and storage.

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon
Flip to back Flip to front
Listen Playing... Paused   You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more
See all 2 images

Penalty Strike: The Memoirs of a Red Army Penal Company Commander, 1943-45 (Stackpole Military History Series) Paperback – April 28, 2009

by
Alexander V. Pyl'cyn (Author)
› Visit Amazon's Alexander V. Pyl'cyn Page
Find all the books, read about the author, and more.
See search results for this author
Are you an author? Learn about Author Central
Alexander V. Pyl'cyn (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars 25 customer reviews
See all 4 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions
Price
New from Used from
Kindle
"Please retry"
$13.44
— —
Hardcover
"Please retry"
—
$35.50 $32.47
Paperback
"Please retry"
$17.29
$9.64 $8.49
Best Books of the Month
See the Best Books of the Month
Want to know our Editors' picks for the best books of the month? Browse Best Books of the Month, featuring our favorite new books in more than a dozen categories.
$17.29 FREE Shipping on orders with at least $25 of books. Only 9 left in stock (more on the way). Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Frequently Bought Together

  • Penalty Strike: The Memoirs of a Red Army Penal Company Commander, 1943-45 (Stackpole Military History Series)
  • +
  • Panzer Destroyer: Memoirs of a Red Army Tank Commander
  • +
  • Guns Against the Reich: Memoirs of an Artillery Officer on the Eastern Front
Total price: $84.76
Buy the selected items together
If you buy a new print edition of this book (or purchased one in the past), you can buy the Kindle edition for only $2.99 (Save 82%). Print edition purchase must be sold by Amazon. Learn more.
Image
Interested in the Audiobook Edition?
If you’re the author, publisher, or rights holder of this book, let ACX help you produce the audiobook.Learn more.

Product Details

  • Series: Stackpole Military History Series
  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Stackpole Books (April 28, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0811735990
  • ISBN-13: 978-0811735995
  • Product Dimensions: 0.5 x 5.8 x 8.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #964,196 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested In These Sponsored Links

  (What's this?)

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsThe Only WWII Red Army Memoir on Punishment Units
By Gilberto Villahermosa on December 11, 2006
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
This interesting and insightful book is the only War World II memoir written by an officer of the Soviet Army's World War II penal or punishment formations.

Some 422,700 Red Army soldiers served in punishment battalions during World War II. Few survived service in such formations, which one specialist of the Soviet Army described as "forlorn," "deadly," and "soul destroying."

Alexander Pyl'cyn served as a platoon commmander and deputy commander of the 8th Independent Penal Battalion. He and his battalion fought in Byelorussia, Poland and Germany, ending the war in Berlin. Wounded three times during the war, Pyl'cyn's description of life and death in a penal battalion is powerful. He and his company carried out the most difficult and dangerous missions on any sector to which they were assigned and were frequently in the lead of Red Army breakthroughs of the German lines. Suffering casualty rates of some 80 percent, he and his men usually accomplished their mission.

"Penalty Strike" is not an easy read, though it is very well written. The text is dense and packed full of people, places, and battles. Still, the author manages to clearly and powerfully convey to the reader what it meant to be a Soviet soldier on the Eastern Front in World War. II. And many parts of the story are moving, especially when dealing with close friends killed in battle or Pyl'cyn's courtship with a Red Army nurse, whom he later married.

Those interested in the Red Army or the Eastern Front in World War II will find this book an important contribution to the literature.
Comment 31 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent Account of a Red Army Penal Battalion at War
By Michael Slater on March 24, 2007
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
As a lieutenant, the author in December 1943 was assigned to lead a platoon in a Red Army "Officer Penal Battalion". He describes the organization, training, equipment of his battalion, and the personalities he recalls, in great and fascinating detail. Essentially, Officer Penal Battalions were shock troops used to infiltrate through or breach holes in German defensive lines. The "Officer Prisoners" fought to redeem their honor and freedom after being arrested and convicted of crimes against the State. If the officer prisoners survived and fought with honor, they were often freed and reinstated to officer status, depending on the personality and quirks of the commander of the army to which the penal battalion was attached. The author was not a convicted offender; he was part of the cadre assigned to lead this unit into combat. As a platoon leader, his deputy in one battle was a lieutenant colonel who had commanded an infantry regiment with distinction before running afoul of the State. He freely admits his unit sometimes captured, interrogated, and executed German prisoners of war, because when operating behind enemy lines in his words, "What else could we do?" This is a harsh book on the nature of close in infantry combat and the soldiers who wage it. Mercy is an alien concept when you are outnumbered and slugging it out with pistol, submachine gun, grenades, and entrenching tool against German soldiers at night inside an enemy trench. Readers interested in Soviet accounts of the infantryman's war during the last years of WWII will find this one of the best books on the subject. The author tells a candid story, one chock full of fascinating details and chilling memories, quite well. Heroism, cowardice, and luck fill the pages.Read more ›
Comment 18 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
3.0 out of 5 starsPenalty Strike: The Memoirs of a Red Army Penal Company Commander
By Extraordinary Gent. on July 22, 2010
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
A good book for getting a balanced view of life on the Eastern Front when the tide had definitely turned in favour of the Red Army after the Battles of Stalingrad and Kursk.
But it is a view through 'Rose Coloured Glasses' I think.
The author is an unrepentant Party Member and Russian patriot and some of his views of the 'other side', such as the Germans conducting alcohol fuelled suicide charges into massed machine gun, artillery and mortar fire are very similar to accounts written by German soldiers about their Russian counterparts. From what I have read over many, many years (perhaps 50) the Wehrmacht was always a numerically inferior force to the Red Army - except in isolated cases where it was launching a major offensive - and would not have had the men to spare for such wasteful charges.

Sadly, and I speak from personal experience, this view, that the Germans conducted massed suicide charges, is also espoused by some 'reputable' Russian battle site guides.

Apart from this, it is the story of a Penal Company made up of former officers, upto and including colonels, sentenced to a few months service before 'rehabilition' and return to service at their former rank -- if they survived.
The chance of survival seems to have been greatly enhanced for the former officers by the issue of the 'latest and greatest' in assault weapons and copious amounts of munitions.
One thing that did strike me, and it was perhaps a bit of 'licence,' was the absolute obedience and indeed adoration that former colonels etc had for their commanding lieutenant. As an example I refer to the passage where former higher ranking officers insisted that their commanding lieutenant sleep in such a way that he was protected by the bodies of officers who were once his superiors.Read more ›
Comment 13 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse

Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent book. Well worth reading

Excellent book. Well worth reading.

Published 1 month ago by J. Kindred
5.0 out of 5 starsCompany commander in a Soviet penal battalion

First hand experience by a front line penal battalion company commander. The title is a bit misleading but I I can see why they did not call it "Penal Strike" instead. Read more

Published 4 months ago by ldw120
2.0 out of 5 starsDull Book

If you are looking for a book that has a lot of action details, this book is definitely not for you. Mr. Read more

Published 5 months ago by Slammer
5.0 out of 5 starsThis book is well written and informative. Not only is it exciting but...

A must read for a soviet block study.

Published 6 months ago by ksmith
4.0 out of 5 starsAn insightful first account of the Great Patriotic War, from a very...

These memoirs provide a first-hand account of the bitter fighting in the Soviet-German front, during the latter half of WWII, in one of the Soviet Union's controversial penal... Read more

Published 12 months ago by R. Ortiz B.
4.0 out of 5 starsA Non-Fiction book that recounts the trials and tribulations of...

This is an excellent book about leadership and survival within the harsh environment of a "Penal Punishment Battalion. Read more

Published 13 months ago by Robert C. Day
4.0 out of 5 starsRussian higher ups is nuts

Penal Battalions

Published 16 months ago by Dave T.
4.0 out of 5 starsGood yarn. The author is a patriotic Russian

Good yarn.The author is a patriotic Russian,who tells what appears to be an authentic story of his part in W2.Gives plenty of credit to heroism of his subordinates . Read more

Published 16 months ago by Frederick J. Fournier
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

read it!

Published 16 months ago by Antal Gaspar
5.0 out of 5 starsUnique Book

I don't expect any memoir book to be completely unbiased. If you are in search of objectivity, look for a book from academic researchers. Read more

Published 24 months ago by MFC

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Penalty Strike: The Memoirs of a Red Army Penal Company Commander, 1943-45 (Stackpole Military History Series)
Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more
This item: Penalty Strike: The Memoirs of a Red Army Penal Company Commander, 1943-45 (Stackpole Military History Series)
Set up a giveaway

There's a problem loading this menu right now.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.



Pages with Related Products. See and discover other items: russia