Pripyat swamps (punitive operation)

"Pripyat swamps" (German: "Pripiatsee"), also "Pripyat march" was the codename of the punitive operation conducted by German forces in July and August 1941. The operation was aimed at the mass murder of the local Jewish population from the territories of nine raions of Byelorussian SSR and three raions of Ukrainian SSR in the region of the Pripyat swamps and Pripyat river.

The operation is considered to be the first planned mass extermination operation conducted by Nazi Germany. In the course of the operation, at least 13,788 people were killed in phase one and 3,500 Jewish men were killed in phase two. The villages of Dvarets, Khochan', Azyarany, Starazhowtsy, Kremna, were completely destroyed by burning and Turaw was partially destroyed. The principal means of execution employed was mass shootings, after the local populace had been rounded up. Other methods were also tried, including driving people into the swamp and drowning them.

The operation was conducted on the order of SS leader Heinrich Himmler by the SS Cavalry Brigade, as well as the regular army 162nd Infantry Division and 252nd Infantry Divisions, under the general command of HSSPF Erich von dem Bach. Beginning on 28 July 1941 and lasting until August 1941, the operation was conducted in two stages, with the second stage beginning on 14 August 1941. There is no data on the SS troops' losses in their reports.

Captured German documents about the operation reached Moscow in January 1942, and were published in the USSR People Commissary (Minister) of Foreign Relations note, issued on 27 April 1942. The note was addressed to all countries with which USSR had maintained diplomatic relations. It is believed that the international publicity and shock caused by this data prompted Nazis to hide or destroy other materials concerned with this operation.

On 19 July 1941, by order of Himmler, the 1st and 2nd SS cavalry regiments were assigned to the general command of HSSPF Erich von dem Bach for the action which took place in two stages. The beginning date of the operation is considered 28 July 1941. On that day, by Himmler's prior order, the two SS cavalry regiments were transferred to Baranavichy for the "systematic combing of the Pripyat swamps".

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