The soldiers reported the matter to four chaplains of the Heer, who passed along their protests to Field Marshal von Reichenau;[2] it was the only time during World War II that Wehrmacht chaplains tried to prevent an Einsatzgruppen massacre, but Paul Blobel's verbal order was direct and decisive.

[4] At the onset of the invasion of the Soviet Union, Jewish men were the sole target of mass murder campaigns, however by late July to early August, Jewish women and children also became targets of mass murder campaigns by the Wehrmacht, SS and Ukrainian collaborators.

[6] In August 1941, General Walther von Reichenau, commander of the 6th Army of Nazi Germany, ordered his men to assist the Einsatzgruppen and their Ukrainian auxiliaries with killing the Jews of Bila Tserkva.

All that remained were the children, aged between a few months to four years old, and a few of the women, who were dumped off at a school to await execution.

[7] The two chaplains attached to the 295th Infantry Division, Catholic Father Ernst Tewes and Lutheran Pastor Gerhard Wilczek, visited the school.

[9] Joined by two other chaplains from the 295th Division, a series of protest letters were sent to people in positions of authority asking that the children of Bila Tserkva be spared.

[9] In areas near the front, the Einsatzgruppen were under Army command and so when Colonel Groscurth ordered the massacre to be delayed, the local Einsatzkommando leader had no choice but to comply.

[12][11]: 217  The protests at Bila Tserkva were unique as being the only time during the war that Wehrmacht chaplains tried to prevent an Einsatzgruppen massacre.

[9] Bergen further observed the "terrible irony" that a gesture of protest further served the genocidal aims of the regime; the soldiers who were troubled by the crying of the children waiting for their time to die felt that they had "dealt with" the issue by "doing something", namely appealing to Father Tewes and Wilczek, and they had no further role to play in this matter.