Michael Jones: Stalingrad: How the Red Army Triumphed:
Newly available documentary evidence shows that the ‘Not a Step Back!’ order was invoked against Chuikov’s predecessor [as commander of 62nd Army] Lopatin. On 6 September 1942 Lopatin was removed from his post ‘for non-fulfilment of Order 227, for the unauthorized withdrawal of units from the 23rd Tank Brigade from the defence line’, and, most ominously ‘for lying to the High Command’. His case was referred to Red Army supreme command, and Lopatin was arrested and placed under the authority of a military tribunal. His fate is unclear, but he may eventually have been shot.
