 Collective punishment was used during such operations to discourage offering shelter to Soviet POWs and providing aid to any guerrilla forces.Pacifications included the extermination of entire villages including women and children, expulsions, the burning of homes, confiscation of private property, and arrests.In many instances the operations of this kind conducted jointly by the "Einsatzgruppen" and the German Order Police battalions, were characterized by extreme brutality.