Editing Schutzstaffel (section)

===Invasion of Poland===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-380-0069-33, Polen, Verhaftung von Juden, Transport.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Polish Jews arrested by the ''[[Sicherheitsdienst]]'' (SD) and police, September 1939]]
In the September 1939 [[invasion of Poland]], the LSSAH and SS-VT fought as separate mobile infantry regiments.{{sfn|Stein|2002|p=27}} The LSSAH became notorious for torching villages without military justification.{{sfn|Butler|2001|p=45}} Members of the LSSAH committed war crimes in numerous towns, including the murder of 50 Polish Jews in [[Błonie]] and the massacre of 200 civilians, including children, who were machine-gunned in [[Złoczew]]. Shootings also took place in [[Bolesławiec]], [[Torzeniec]], [[Goworowo, Płońsk County|Goworowo]], [[Mława]], and [[Włocławek]].{{sfn|Rossino|2003|pp=114, 159–161}} Some senior members of the ''Wehrmacht'' were not convinced the units were fully prepared for combat. Its units took unnecessary risks and had a higher casualty rate than the army.{{sfn|Flaherty|2004|p=149}} ''[[Generaloberst]]'' [[Fedor von Bock]] was quite critical; following an April 1940 visit of the ''SS-Totenkopf'' division, he found their battle training was "insufficient".{{sfn|Hein|2015|p=82}} Hitler thought the criticism was typical of the army's "outmoded conception of chivalry."{{sfn|Stone|2011|p=127}} In its defence, the SS insisted that its armed formations had been hampered by having to fight piecemeal and were improperly equipped by the army.{{sfn|Flaherty|2004|p=149}}

After the invasion, Hitler entrusted the SS with extermination actions codenamed [[Operation Tannenberg]] and [[German AB-Aktion in Poland|AB-Aktion]] to remove potential leaders who could form a resistance to German occupation. The murders were committed by ''[[Einsatzgruppen]]'' (task forces; deployment groups), assisted by local paramilitary groups. Men for the ''Einsatzgruppen'' units were drawn from the SS, the SD, and the police.{{sfn|Longerich|2010|pp=144–145}} Some 65,000 Polish civilians, including activists, [[intelligentsia]], scholars, teachers, actors, former officers, and others, were murdered by the end of 1939.{{sfn|Evans|2008|pp=14–15}}{{sfn|Flaherty|2004|pp=109–111}} When the army leadership registered complaints about the brutality being meted out by the ''Einsatzgruppen'', Heydrich informed them that he was acting "in accordance with the special order of the ''Führer''."{{sfn|Kershaw|2001|p=246}} The first systematic mass shooting of Jews by the ''Einsatzgruppen'' took place on 6 September 1939 during the attack on [[Kraków]].{{sfn|Laqueur|Baumel|2001|p=xxxi}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1968-034-19A, Exekution von polnischen Geiseln.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Murder of civilians by ''[[Einsatzgruppen]]'' in [[Kórnik]], Poland, 1939]]

Satisfied with their performance in Poland, Hitler allowed further expansion of the armed SS formations but insisted new units remain under the operational control of the army.{{sfn|Reynolds|1997|pp=6, 7}} While the ''SS-Leibstandarte'' remained an independent regiment functioning as Hitler's personal bodyguards, the other regiments—''SS-Deutschland'', ''SS-Germania,'' and ''SS-Der Führer''—were combined to form the ''[[2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich|SS-Verfügungs-Division]]''.{{sfn|Stein|2002|p=32}}{{sfn|Flaherty|2004|p=149}} A second SS division, the ''SS-Totenkopf'', was formed from SS-TV concentration camp guards, and a third, the [[4th SS Polizei Panzergrenadier Division|''SS-Polizei'']], was created from police volunteers.{{sfn|Stein|2002|pp=33–35}}{{sfn|McNab|2009|p=66}} The SS gained control over its own recruitment, logistics, and supply systems for its armed formations at this time.{{sfn|McNab|2009|p=66}} The SS, Gestapo, and SD were in charge of the provisional military administration in Poland until the appointment of [[Hans Frank]] as Governor-General on 26 October 1939.{{sfn|Hildebrand|1984|p=50}}{{sfn|Weale|2010|p=229}}