The dead included 74 children younger than 10 years old and twenty families that lost all their members. The youngest victim was only a few months old at the time of the attack, while the oldest was a 75-year-old woman. Most of them were buried at the local cemetery, at the village entrance. The local priest was executed there at the beginning of the operation. The German authorities described it as a counter-partisan campaign aimed at eradicating a resistance nest full of enemies and large quantities of ammunition. Most soldiers had no qualms about murdering innocent and unarmed civilians, but some expressed their displeasure at this “disgrace” that had nothing to do with the war.