I'm a bit confused about the structure and organization of the SS-Einsatzgruppen. Were they their own distinct, separate branch and just recruited from the Waffen-SS, SD, etc., or were they actually a subunit under the Waffen-SS? I've been trying to find the answer but keep getting confused because of bits and pieces of info present in some articles and not in others.
From my understanding, the two main branches of the SS were the Allgemeine SS and the Waffen-SS. Since the Waffen-SS was the armed branch, this suggests that perhaps the Einsatzgruppen was a subunit of the Waffen-SS, right? Or am I reading things incorrectly and the Einsatzgruppen were their own branch under the SS as a whole, similarly to the Allgemeine/Waffen-SS branches? A simple Google search says the two main branches were the two I just mentioned, so this makes it sound like there were other smaller branches?
The Einsatzgruppen were under the jurisdiction of the Reich security head office, aka the RSHA. To be more specific, they were under AMT/Department 4 of the RSHA, AKA the Gestapo.
Department IV was for "suppression of opposition". Most of the Einsatzgruppen were drawn from reserve Police Batallions, which were under the jurisdiction of the SS.