might be arrested, but not half. After this Order, the terms First/Second Category became standard abbreviations in NKVD documentation for "the highest measure of punishment" and "placing into corrective labor camps", respectively. The article III the Order of Conducting the Operation instructed to start the action for securing the anti-Soviet social elements on August 5, 1937 and finish it in four-month term. The implementation was swift. By August 15, 1937, 101,000 were arrested and 14,000 convicted. By the end of 1938, the NKVD had executed 386,798 Soviet citizens to fulfil order 00447. References Wikisource Full text in Russian language NKVD Government documents of the Soviet Union Great Purge