How did Einsatzgruppen carry out mass killings in occupied Soviet territory?

During the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the Einsatzgruppen—mobile killing units composed of SS, Security Police, and Order Police personnel—carried out systematic mass murder as part of the Nazi regime's racial war of extermination.1

These units operated by following the advancing Wehrmacht into conquered territories. Their methodology typically involved the following actions:

• Rounding up victims: Upon entering a town, the units would identify and gather their targets, which included Communist Party functionaries, Soviet officials, political commissars, and Jewish men, women, and children.12
• Execution: Victims were herded to the outskirts of towns or specific sites, such as ravines or forests, and executed by shooting.2
• Collaboration: The Einsatzgruppen often operated with the assistance of local police, native anti-Semitic populations, and accompanying Axis troops.2
• Concealment: To destroy evidence of these crimes, special units were later tasked with exhuming and burning the bodies of the victims.2

The Einsatzgruppen were responsible for the murder of an estimated 1.4 to 1.5 million people, most of whom were Jews.12