Einsatzkommando During World War II , the Nazi German Einsatzkommandos were a sub - group of five " Einsatzgruppen mobile killing squads " ( term used by Holocaust historians ) – up to 3 , 000 men each – usually composed of 500 – 1 , 000 functionaries of the SS and " Gestapo " , whose mission was to kill Jews , Polish intellectuals , Romani , communists and the NKVD collaborators in the captured territories often far behind the advancing German front . After the outbreak of war with the Soviet Union known as Operation Barbarossa , the Red Army began to retreat so rapidly that the large Einsatzgruppen had to be split into dozens of smaller commandos ( " Einsatzkommandos " ) , responsible for systematically killing Jews and , among others , alleged Soviet partisans behind the " Wehrmacht " lines . Several " Einsatzkommando " officers were tried and hanged after the war ( see Einsatzgruppen Trial ) . As a military term , the German " Einsatzkommando " ( Operational Command ) is roughly equivalent to the English " task force " and is still in use for German paramilitary organizations , such as SEK and " Einsatzkommando " Cobra . Organization of the " Einsatzgruppen " . " Einsatzgruppen " ( ) were paramilitary groups originally formed in 1938 under the direction of Reinhard Heydrich – Chief of the SD , and " Sicherheitspolizei " ( Security Police , SiPo ) . They were operated by the " Schutzstaffel " ( SS ) . Per a Hitler - Himmler directive , the " Einsatzgruppen " were re - formed in anticipation of the 1941 assault on Russia . The " Einsatzgruppen " were once again under the control of Reinhard Heydrich as Chief of the " Reichssicherheitshauptamt " ( RSHA — Reich Main Security Office ) ; and after his death , under the control of his successor , Ernst Kaltenbrunner . Hitler ordered the SD and the Security Police to suppress the threat of native resistance behind the Wehrmacht ' s fighting front . The " Quartermaster " General Eduard Wagner ( representing Wilhelm Keitel , Chief of the Supreme Command of the " Wehrmacht " ) met Heydrich and agreed to the activation , commitment , command , and jurisdiction of Security Police and SD units in the " Wehrmacht " s table of operations and equipment ( TOE ) : in the rear operational areas , the " Einsatzgruppen " were to function in administrative sub - ordination to the field armies in order to effect the tasks assigned them by Heydrich . Their principal task ( during the war ) , according to SS General Erich von dem Bach , at the Nuremberg Trials : " was the annihilation of the Jews , Gypsies , and Soviet political commissars " . They were a key component in the implementation of the " Final Solution of the Jewish question " ( German : " Die Endlösung der Judenfrage " ) in the conquered territories . These killing units should be viewed in conjunction with the Holocaust . The military commanders knew the task of the " Einsatzgruppen " . The " Einsatzgruppen " depended upon their sponsoring army commander for billet , food , and transportation . Relations between the regular army and the SiPo and the SD were close . " Einsatzgruppen " commanders reported that the understanding by " Wehrmacht " commanders of " Einsatzgruppen " tasks made their operations considerably easier . In the beginning of Operation Barbarossa ( June 1941 ) , four " Einsatzgruppen " were formed , each attached to an Army group : " Einsatzgruppe " A to Army Group North ; " Einsatzgruppe " B to Army Group Center , " Einsatzgruppe " C to Army Group South , and " Einsatzgruppe " D to the 11th German Army . " Einsatzgruppen " officers were drawn from the SD , the " Waffen - SS " , the Criminal Police ( " Kripo " ) , and the " Gestapo " . The enlisted men were from the " Waffen - SS " , the regular police , the " Gestapo " , and the locally - recruited police . When occasion demanded , German Army commanders bolstered the strength of the " Einsatzgruppen " with their own regular - army troops . The earliest " Einsatzgruppen " in occupied Poland . The first eight " Einsatzgruppen " of World War II were formed in the course of the 1939 invasion of Poland . They were composed of the Gestapo , Kripo and SD functionaries , and deployed during the classified Operation Tannenberg ( codename for murder of Polish civilians ) and the Intelligenzaktion lasting till the spring of 1940 ; followed by the German AB - Aktion which ended in late 1940 . Long before the attack on Poland , the Nazis prepared a detailed list identifying more than 61 , 000 Polish targets by name , with the help of German minority living in the Second Polish Republic . The list was printed as a called " Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen " ( Special Prosecution Book – Poland ) , and composed only of names and birthdates . It included politicians , scholars , actors , intelligentsia , doctors , lawyers , nobility , priests , officers and numerous others – as the means at the disposal of the SS paramilitary death squads aided by Selbstschutz executioners . < ref name = " Browning - 31 / 34 " > < / ref > By the end of 1939 already , they summarily killed around 50 , 000 Poles and Jews in the annexed territories , including over 1 , 000 POWs . The SS operational groups were assigned Roman numerals for the first time on September 4 , 1939 . Before that , their names were derived from the names of cities in the German language . " Einsatzgruppe " A . " Einsatzgruppe " A — attached to the Army Group North — was assembled in Gumbinnen — in east Prussia — on 23 June 1941 . Stahlecker — the first commander of the unit — ordered it to concentrate along the Lithuanian border . Soviet troops withdrew from the Lithuanian temporary capital Kaunas ( Kovno ) the day before , and the city was taken over by Lithuanians during the anti - Soviet uprising . On 25 June , the " Einsatzgruppe " entered Kaunas with the units of the German army . Commanders : Einsatzkommando 3 . " Jäger " Report . The " Jäger " Report is the most precise surviving chronicle of the activities of one " Einsatzkommando " . It is a tally sheet of the actions of " Einsatzkommando " 3 — a running total of their killings of 136 , 421 Jews ( 46 , 403 men 55 , 556 women , 34 , 464 children ) , 1 , 064 Communists , 653 mentally disabled , and 134 others , from 2 July - 1 December 1941 . A second , major sweep occurred in 1942 , before death camp killing replaced " Einsatzkommando " open - pit executions . " Einsatzkommando " 3 operated in the Kovno ( Kaunas ) district , west of Vilna ( Vilnius ) in contemporary Lithuania . ( See also Rollkommando Hamann ) " Einsatzgruppe " B . The operational command of " Einsatzgruppe " B – attached to the Army Group Center – was established a few days after the invasion of the Soviet Union , under the command of " SS - Gruppenführer " Arthur Nebe . It departed from the city of Poznań ( Posen ) on 24 June 1941 , with 655 men from the Security Police , Gestapo , Kripo , SD , Waffen - SS and the 2nd Company of Reserve Police Battalion 9 . On 30 June 1941 Himmler visited the newly formed Bezirk Bialystok district and pronounced that more forces were needed in the area , due to potential risks of partisan warfare . The chase after the Red Army ' s rapid retreat left behind a security vacuum , which required urgent deployment of additional personnel . Scrambling to meet the " new threat " Gestapo headquarters in Zichenau ( Ciechanów ) formed a lesser known unit called the " kommando SS Zichenau - Schroettersburg " which departed from sub - station Schröttersburg ( Płock ) under the command of " SS - Obersturmführer " Hermann Schaper ( * 1911 ) , with the mission to kill Jews , communists and the NKVD collaborators across the local villages and towns . On July 3 additional formation of Schutzpolizei arrived in Białystok , summoned from the General Government . It was led by " SS - Hauptsturmführer " Wolfgang Birkner , veteran of " Einsatzgruppe " IV from the Polish Campaign of 1939 . The relief unit , called " Kommando Bialystok " , was sent in by " SS - Obersturmbannfuhrer " Eberhard Schöngarth on orders from the Reich Main Security Office , due to reports of Soviet guerrilla activity in the area with Jews being of course immediately suspected of helping them out . On 10 July 1941 , Schaper ' s unit was split into smaller " Einsatzkommandos " due to requirements of Operation Barbarossa . On 14 November 1941 , " Gruppenführer " Nebe told Berlin that , up until then , 45 , 000 persons had been eliminated . A further report , dated 15 December 1942 , established that the " Einsatzgruppe " B had shot a total of 134 , 298 people . After 1943 , the mass killings of " Einsatzgruppe " B diminished , and the unit was decommissioned in August 1944 . Commanders : Around 5 July 1941 , Arthur Nebe consolidated " Einsatzgruppe " B near Minsk , establishing a headquarters and remaining there for some two months . The " Gruppenführer " determined that " Sonderkommando " 7a and " Sonderkommando " 7b and the " Vorkommando " Moskau would follow the Army Group Center , while " Einsatzkommandos " 8 and 9 clean up to the sides of the spearhead . In compliance , " Einsatzkommando " 8 reached Bialystok on 1 July , passed through Slonim and Baranovichi , and began systematic mass killing operations in southern Bielorussia . On 5 August , " Gruppenführer " Nebe moved his " Einsatzgruppen " command to Smolensk , where the " Vorkommando " Moskau was concentrated . On 6 August , " Einsatzkommando " 8 reached Minsk , remaining there until 9 September 1941 . From Minsk , it reached Mogilev , which became its general headquarters , and from there " Einsatzkommando " 8 effected successive killings in Bobruisk , Gomel , Roslavl , and Klintsy systematically attacking the local Jewish communities , and killing the inhabitants . Meanwhile , " Einsatzkommando " 9 was put to work ; they had left Treuburg , in eastern Prussia , and reached Vilna on 2 July . Their main theater of mass killing operations were Grodno and Bielsk - Podlaski ( Biala - Podlaska ) . On 20 July it moved its headquarters to Vitebsk , and then exterminated the citizens of Polotzk , Nevel , Lepel , and Surazh . The command progressed to Vtasma , and from there they killed the communities of Gshatsk and Mozhaisk in the Moscow vicinity . The Soviet counter - offensive forced the " Einsatzkommando " to withdraw to Vitebsk on 21 December 1941 . Anticipating the fall of Moscow , the " Vorkommando " Moskau advanced to Maloyaroslavets , earlier captured by the Wehrmacht on 18 October 1941 . In practice , " Sonderkommandos " 7a and 7b operated behind the vanguard of the army . The actions were fast , in order to prevent the Jews from escaping the advancing German Army . To the south and east of Smolensk and Minsk , the two " Sonderkommandos " left a wake of dead civilians , from Velikiye Luki , Kalinin , Orsha , Gomel , Chernigov and Orel , to Kursk . " Sonderkommando " 7a . " Sonderkommando " 7a led by Walter Blume , was attached to the 9th Army under General Adolf Strauß . SK 7a entered Vilna on 27 June and remained there until 3 July . Soon Vilna was in the command sphere of " Einsatzgruppe " A , and " Sonderkommando " 7a was transferred to Kreva near Minsk . The " Sonderkommando " was active in Vilna , Nevel , Haradok , Vitebsk , Velizh , Rzhev , Vyazma , Kalinin , and Klintsy . It executed 6 , 788 people . " Sonderkommando " 7b . The " Sonderkommando " was active in Brest - Litovsk , Kobrin , Pruzhany , Slonim , Baranovichi , Minsk , Orsha , Klinzy , Briansk , Kursk , Tserigov , and Orel . It executed 6 , 788 people . " Sonderkommando " 7c . See also " Vorkommando " Moskau " Einsatzkommando " 8 . The " Einsatzkommando " was active in Volkovisk , Baranovichi , Babruysk , Lahoysk , Mogilev , and Minsk . It executed 74 , 740 people . " Einsatzkommando " 9 . The " Einsatzkommando " was active in Vilna , Grodno , Lida , Bielsk - Podlaski , Nevel , Lepel , Surazh , Vyazma , Gzhatsk , Mozhaisk , Vitebsk , Smolensk , and Varena . It executed 41 , 340 people . " Vorkommando " Moskau . The " Vorkommando — also known as " Sonderkommando " 7c — was to operate in Moscow , until it became apparent that Moscow would not fall ; it was incorporated to " Sonderkommando " 7b , where it was active in Smolensk and executed 4 , 660 people . " Einsatzgruppe " C . The " Einzatzgruppe " was attached to the Army Group South and executed 118 , 341 people . " Einsatzkommando " 4a . The " Einsatzkommando " was active in Lviv , Lutsk , Rovno , Zhytomyr , Pereyaslav , Yagotyn , Ivankov , Radomyshl , Lubny , Poltava , Kiev ( Babi Yar ) , Kursk , Kharkiv and executed 59 , 018 people . " Einsatzkommando " 4b . The " Einsatzkommando " was active in Lviv , Tarnopol ( modern Ternopil ) , Kremenchug , Poltava , Slaviansk , Proskurov , Vinnytsia , Kramatorsk , Gorlovka and Rostov . It executed 6 , 329 people . " Einsatzkommando " 5 . The " Einsatzkommando " was active in Lviv , Skvyra and Kiev ( Babi Yar ) . It executed 46 , 102 people . " Einsatzkommando " 6 . The " Einsatzkommando " was active in Lviv , Zolochiv , Zhytomyr , Proskurov ( modern Khmelnytskyi ) , Vinnytsia , Dnipropetrovsk , Kryvyi Rih , Stalino and Rostov . It executed 5 , 577 people . " Einsatzgruppe " D . The " Einsatzgruppe " was attached to the 11th Army . It was established in June 1941 and operated until March 1943 . " Einsatzgruppe " D conducted operations in northern Transylvania , Cernauti , Kishinev and across the Ukrainian Crimea . In March 1943 it was re - deployed in Ovruch as an anti - partisan unit called " Kampfgruppe Bierkamp " , named after its new commander Walther Bierkamp . The " Einsatzgruppe " D was responsible for the killing of over 91 , 728 people . " Einsatzgruppe " E . Commanders : " Einsatzkommando " 16 . The Commando was involved in a series of mass executions known as " Pommern Katyń " between the fall of 1939 and spring of 1940 in Piasnica Wielka . During that period approximately 12 , 000 to 16 , 000 Poles , Jews , Czechs , and Germans were murdered .