Well "stink eye" me Shad boy, Still I will bow down to the majority view.
However my reading on the subject matter was that these poor bastards in the Penal units did not race towards enemy lines shouting "Hurrah" but had to be goaded and pushed along by accompanying NKVD or regular troops. In this scenario I an trying to co-ordinate the attack by using them to adsorb OF fire and move INF/HMG units behind them. Its called tactics.