EG-B: On June 24th, EG-B advanced through Poznan to Warsaw, while SK-7a joined the Ninth Army, marching through East Prussia. On June 30th it reached Vilnius. On July 3, it was relieved by EK-9 and proceeded to Minsk.SK-7a and Vorkkomando (Work Group) Moscow were then transferred to the Fourth Panzer Army. On July 4, SK-7b also arrived inn Minsk, after passing through Briest, Kobrin, Pruzhany, Slonim and Baranovichi. On July 5, the headquarters of EG-B reached Minsk, where it remained for five weeks. It was then decided the the Sonderkommandos would march on with the advancing army units, while the Einsatzkommandos would continue to operate in the occupied areas.
EK-8 reached Bialystok on July 1. Moving through Slonim and Baranovichi, it organized mass executions in southern West Byelorussia. It stayed in Minsk from August 6 to September 9, 1941, and then moved to Mogilev, which became its headquarters. From there it operated in southern East Byelorussia by sending sub-units to Bobruisk, Gomel, Roslavl and Klinzy.
EK-9 left Warsaw and reached Vilnius via Treuburg (East Prussia) on July 2. Sub-units were active in Grodno and Bielsk-Podlaski. On July 20, it advanced to the area north of the Minsk-Moscow highway. The main body settled in Vitebsk, and sections were sent to Polotzk, Nevel, Lepel and Surazh. Following the advance on Moscow, the headquarters moved to Vtasma and advance sub-units were sent to Gshatsk and Mozhaisk, close to the Soviet capital. On December 21, 1941, it returned to Vitebsk.
In the meantime, on August 5, 1941, EG-B headquarters moved to Smolensk where Vorkkommando Moscow was stationed. An advance unit was attached to the Fourth Panzer Group, which marched towards Moscow. Beginning in October 1941, it joined the advance sub-units of EK-9, while Vorkkommando Moscow settled in Medyn and Maroyaroslavetz. After April 19, 1942, it was no longer mentioned in reports.
SK-7a and 7b proceeded with mass murder operations in vast areas to the east and south of Minsk and Smolensk, which included towns like Veliki-Luki, Kalinin, Orsha, Gomel, Tshernigov, Oryol and Kursk.
Arad, Yitzak, Shmuel Krakowski and Shmuel Spector, editors. The Einsatzgruppen Reports. New York: Holocaust Library. 1989, pp. x - xi
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Ken Lewis
March 30, 1998
Rev. 1.1
