It included series of murders of civilians committed by destruction battalions, known as Kautla massacre.

In the coming days, the extermination battalion undertook the systematic murder of all civilians in the region and burning their farms.

The low toll of human deaths in comparison with the number of burned farms is due to the Erna long-range reconnaissance group breaking the Red Army blockade on the area, allowing many civilians to escape.

[2] On the night of 10 July the Erna platoon had made a landing on the northern coast of Estonia with 42 men arriving onshore and hiding in the Kautla Marshes 60 km south east of Tallinn.

The group's task was to perform reconnaissance deep behind Red Army lines for the Finnish Army but it turned to saving around 2,000 civilians hiding in the Kautla woods by allowing them to escape while the outnumbered Erna force engaged Soviet destruction battalions in a fierce battle on 31 July to 1 August 1941.