" . . . The Red Army marched on foot and hauled its weapons and supplies on cart powered by draught animals; its soldiers were granted no leave and, if they hesitated, no quarter: 157,593 of them had been executed for 'cowardice' in 1941 and 1942 alone. But after a halting start, the USSR had out-produced and out-fought the Nazi colossus, ripping the heart from the magnificent German military machine. . . "
My first thought is, Holy Shit, that's a lot of people to lose to execution. And if it's a mere physical failing of running away from active battle or something of that sort, the person probably feels bad enough on their own and may do quite a bit better the second time. I'm thinking of the novel The Red Badge of Courage, but there's probably a number of examples of this.
And then, this is just one more big dark secret and one more reason people can't talk about things. Probably to the extent that if a manufacturing process is not working out too swell, people are afraid to speak up.
And so, if the Soviets had done things differently, the war may have gone even better. Fewer dark secrets, and maybe the thaw following Stalin's death would have been more substantial? Maybe.