On January 29, 1944, Heinz Reinefarth was assigned as SS and Police Leader in Reichsgau Wartheland (the pre-war Polish Greater Poland Voivodeship, annexed by Germany in 1939). In this post, he was responsible for the organised repression against Poles and other nationalities deprived of all rights by Germany. After the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, Reinefarth was ordered to organise a military unit from the 16th Police Company and other smaller security units and head for Warsaw. Upon arrival, his forces were included in the "Korpsgruppe Von Dem Bach" of General Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski who Himmler ordered to quell the rebellion. From August 5, 1944, Reinefarth's group fought in the Wola area. In several days, his and Dirlewanger's soldiers executed approximately 40,000 civilian inhabitants of Warsaw in what is now known as the Wola massacre. The Wola killings were mostly inflicted by "Kampfgruppe Reinefarth" that assaulted the area held by the insurgents from the west.