World War Two Attrocities

While writing the biography of a World War Two veteran, I keep coming across interesting tidbits. Here's one that caught my interest.

During World War Two, both the Germans and Russians were inhumane to their own soldiers who didn’t obey. Those that weren’t shot on the spot were put in penal units. One notorious form of this punishment became known as the tramplers—troops used for suicide missions. In the Russian army, these troops received fortification with a ration of vodka and proceeded to be blown to bits to mark safe passage for the regular troops through the mine fields.