While the middle and upper classes feared a left wing putsch, 300,000 mine workers supported the Ruhr Red Army. The strikers conquered Düsseldorf, Elberfeld, Essen and soon had control over the whole Ruhr area. On 12 April Reichswehr General Oskar von Watter banned any illegal behaviour on the part of his troops, which put an end to all battles and fights in the Ruhr area. Between 1919 and 1922 there were 35,600 political murders in Germany. [citation needed]