Early in the summer of 1944, the SS began transferring the 130,000 prisoners at Auschwitz-Birkenau to other camps since the Red Army was moving rapidly west. By 21 December 1944 the Red Army had drawn close enough that orders were issued for Auschwitz to be totally evacuated. It was Schmauser who followed Himmler's order to expedite the camp's inmates away as he was in charge in Silesia. Not knowing exactly how to handle the matter, however, he telephoned SS-"Obergruppenführer" Oswald Pohl, who told him that Himmler wanted no 'healthy' prisoners left alive in the camp.