The first pacification action, conducted on the ground by the Wehrmacht officers and soldiers, took place in Złoczew on September 3 and 4, 1939, in which the German soldiers murdered some 200 Poles. According to historian Alexander B. Rossino, the atrocity was committed with the participation of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH), which was also involved in the murder of 50 Polish Jews in Błonie near Warsaw, and the shooting actions in Bolesławiec, Torzeniec, Goworowo, Mława, and Włocławek. LSSAH torched villages along the road without military justification.
