Meisinger proceeded to apply brutal force against Poles, mostly those of Jewish descent. As part of the German AB-Aktion in Poland, he authorized the Palmiry massacre, the mass shooting of 1,700 people in the forest near Palmiry. As a reprisal for the murder of a Polish policeman, he ordered the execution of 55 Jewish residents on 22 November 1939, and on 20 December, the execution of 107 Poles as a reprisal for the murder of two Germans. Meisinger became so notorious that he was called the "Butcher of Warsaw" (although this sobriquet was also given to SS-"Gruppenführer" Heinz Reinefarth). According to Schellenberg, his atrocities in Warsaw even appalled his superiors: "I had collected a huge file which proved him to be so utterly bestial and corrupt as to be practically inhuman...At this stage...Heydrich intervened: Meisinger knew too much, and Heydrich managed to prevent the trial from taking place." Heydrich's appeal to Himmler saved Meisinger from court-martial and possible execution. He was sent to Tokyo as a means of keeping him at arm's length until the dust had settled.