Einsatzkommando - The Earliest Einsatzgruppen in Occupied Poland

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 192-page-book 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. 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.

  1. Einsatzgruppe I or EG I–Wien (under the command of SS-Standartenführer Bruno Streckenbach), deployed with the 14th Army
    1. Einsatzkommando 1/I: SS-Sturmbannführer Ludwig Hahn
    2. Einsatzkommando 2/I: SS-Sturmbannführer Bruno Müller
    3. Einsatzkommando 3/I: SS-Sturmbannführer Alfred Hasselberg
    4. Einsatzkommando 4/I: SS-Sturmbannführer Karl Brunner
  2. Einsatzgruppe II or EG II–Oppeln (under SS-Obersturmbannführer Emanuel Schäfer), deployed with the 10th Army
    1. Einsatzkommando 1/II: SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Sens
    2. Einsatzkommando 2/II: SS-Sturmbannführer Karl-Heinz Rux
  3. Einsatzgruppe III or EG III–Breslau (under SS-Obersturmbannführer und Regierungsrat Hans Fischer), deployed with the 8th Army
    1. Einsatzkommando 1/III: SS-Sturmbannführer Wilhelm Scharpwinkel
    2. Einsatzkommando 2/III: SS-Sturmbannführer Fritz Liphardt
  4. Einsatzgruppe IV or EG IV–Dramburg (under SS-Brigadeführer Lothar Beutel), deployed with the 4th Army
    1. Einsatzkommando 1/IV: SS-Sturmbannführer und Regierungsrat Helmut Bischoff
    2. Einsatzkommando 2/IV: SS-Sturmbannführer und Regierungsrat Walter Hammer
  5. Einsatzgruppe V or EG V–Allenstein (under SS-Standartenfürer Ernst Damzog), deployed with the 3rd Army
    1. Einsatzkommando 1/V: SS-Sturmbannführer und Regierungsrat Heinz Gräfe
    2. Einsatzkommando 2/V: SS-Sturmbannführer und Regierungsrat Robert Schefe
    3. Einsatzkommando 3/V: SS-Sturmbannführer und Regierungsrat Walter Albath
  6. Einsatzgruppe VI (under SS-Oberführer Erich Naumann), deployed in Wielkopolska area
    1. Einsatzkommando 1/VI: SS-Sturmbannführer Franz Sommer
    2. Einsatzkommando 2/VI: SS-Sturmbannführer Gerhard Flesch
  7. Einsatzgruppe z. B.V (under SS-Obergruppenführer Udo von Woyrsch and SS-Oberfürer Otto Rasch), deployed in Upper Silesia and Cieszyn Silesia
  8. Einsatzkommando 16 or EK–16 Danzig (under SS-Sturmbannführer Rudolf Tröger), deployed in Pomerania.

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