The implementation of the order was entrusted to "Sonderkommando 4a", commanded by Blobel, under the general command of Friedrich Jeckeln. This unit consisted of "Sicherheitsdienst" (SD) and "Sicherheitspolizei" (SiPo), the third company of the Special Duties Waffen-SS battalion, and a platoon of the 9th Police Battalion. Police Battalion 45, commanded by Major Besser, conducted the massacre, supported by members of a Waffen-SS battalion. Contrary to the myth of the "clean Wehrmacht", the Sixth Army under the command of Field Marshal Walter von Reichenau worked together with the SS and SD to plan and execute the mass-murder of the Jews of Kyiv.