Erlewein, Hans-Karl Von der Waffen-SS zur Fremdenlegion

Hans-Karl Erlewein was born in Tettnang on 9 July 1922 and immediately volunteered for the Waffen-SS at the beginning of the war in 1939. However, as he was first to complete his commercial training, he was not called up until 15 April 1941 to join the 2nd /SS "Totenkopf" intelligence replacement unit in Nuremberg. After four months of training, he was detached to the 1st /SS Infantry Regiment (mot.) "Westland" - SS Division "Wiking" - on 20 August 1941, which was located in the area of the Dnjepropetrovsk bridgehead.

In mid-December 1941, like many others, he suffered frostbite to his hands and feet and was initially sent to a reserve hospital. At the end of March 1942, he was assigned to the SS infantry training and replacement battalion "Westland" in Klagenfurt as "recovered". From there, on 10 April 1942, he was sent to his front-line unit, which in the meantime was located on the Mius. During the heavy fighting around Malgobek, he was wounded by a bullet through the left shoulder shortly after 8 a.m. on 29 September 1942. After various stays in military hospitals, he was commanded to the replacement unit in Klagenfurt on 26 November 1942. After eight very quiet months, he was ordered to the Grafenwoehr military training area on 28 July 1943, where the III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps was to be formed. From 11 August 1943, he belonged to the 2nd Company of SS Panzer Reconnaissance Division 11 "Nordland" under SS-Obersturmführer Heinrich Heckmüller. On 8 February 1944, he had a serious accident on a reporting ride with the sidecar bike and remained in hospital receiving treatment until the end of the war. Denounced in his home town at the end of the war, French captivity followed, from which he enlisted in the French Foreign Legion in July 1945.