He administered vast sections of the Soviet state. He served as de facto Marshal of the Soviet Union in command of the NKVD field units responsible for anti-partisan operations on the Eastern Front during World War II. His troops also were a barrier against thousands of "turncoats, deserters, cowards and suspected malingerers". Beria administered the vast expansion of the Gulag labor camps. He was responsible for overseeing the secret defense institutions known as "sharashkas", critical to the war effort. 