 In West Prussia, the "Selbstschutz" organization led by "SS-Gruppenführer" Ludolf von Alvensleben was 17,667 men strong, and by 5 October 1939 had already executed 4,247 Poles.Notably, Alvensleben complained to the "Selbstschutz" officers that too few Poles had been shot.German officers had reported to him that only a fraction of Poles had been "destroyed" in the region, with the total number of those executed in West Prussia during this action being about 20,000.