On 2 August 1944, he took command of all soldiers fighting against the Warsaw Uprising as "Korpsgruppe Bach". Units under his command killed about 200,000 people including more than 65,000 executions, and an unknown number of POWs. After more than two months of heavy fighting and the total destruction of Warsaw he then was able to control the city. For what he did in Warsaw, the Nazi Government gave him the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on September 30, 1944.