his headquarters were in riga, on reimersa street. from the beginning of his involvement in latvia, lange gave orders to squads of latvians, such as the arajs kommando, that the germans had organised to carry out massacres in the smaller cities. according to one historian, victors arājs was "held on a short leash" by lange. another local organisation receiving orders from lange was the vagulāns kommando, which was responsible for the jelgava massacres in july and august 1941.