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| Erik Wallin as SS-Unterscharführer |
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| Schwesternhelferin Deutsches Rotes Kreuz |
Erik Wallin, born in 1921 in Stockholm, Sweden, had already volunteered twice to fight the Soviets before he volunteered for the Waffen-SS. He participated in both the Winter War and the Continuation War following the Soviet assault on Finland. Erik Wallin fought in the Swedish Volunteer Corps 1939 – 1940 and in the Swedish Volunteer Battalion 1941 – 1942. After returning to Sweden, he was stationed at Luleå Anti-Aircraft Corps in the Swedish Army before joining the Waffen-SS in January 1943. Wallin was first assigned to the multinational SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Wiking after having attended the Waffen-SS training school SS-Ausbildungslager Sennheim. Wallin was then transferred to the 11.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland where he served as a platoon commander in SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 11, Nordland's Reconnaissance battalion known as Panzergruppe Saalbach. Nordland's fighting units, including its own medical department SS-Sanitäts-Abteilung 11, were destined to be drastically thinned by casualties during its fighting withdrawal from the Baltics. SS-Unterscharführer Erik Wallin continued in Nordland from the fierce fighting in Narva all the way to the central government district in Defence sectore Zitadelle of Berlin as described in his war memoirs. The book does not evade the brutality of fighting against the advancing Soviet Red Army. It is edited by another Swede, the Leibstandarte SS Kriegsberichter Thorolf Hillblad who is still alive in 2011. Wallin was promoted to SS-Oberscharführer in 1945. He died aged 76 on September 24 1997 during a Waffen-SS reunion in Berlin. Awards: Iron Cross Second Class, Close Combat Clasp in Silver, Panzer Assault Badge 25, Wound Badge, Finnish Medal of Liberty Second Class, Finnish Coastal Artillery Cross and the Lapland Cross for the Continuation War - awarded members serving in the Finnish-German Army Corps. Source: Twilight of the Gods: A Swedish Waffen-SS Volunteer's Experiences with the 11th SS-Panzergrenadier Division Nordland. Left image: Erik Wallin as SS-Unterscharführer at the Baltic front. Courtesy of Joakim Munter. Right image: a volunteer nurse of the DRK. The Nordland's female front nurses retreat from Balticum was characterized by a stop and go process and constant fear of the Soviets. Such themes highlighted a perception of victimization or threat of victimization, which continued to be relevant as the nurses' units moved into the eastern portions of the Reich itself. Credit: Olga Shirnina.
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ReplyDeleteSwedish volunteer Erik Wallin, Twilight of the Gods: Furious, the Bolsheviks threw themselves against us, the situation was hopeless but the boys fought formidably. While I helped Gebauer to feed the MG with new ammunition I could hear myself swearing non-stop, wishing them the worst possible tortures in hell. I let Gebauer handle the MG alone while I fired alternatively with the assault rifle and with my sub-machine gun. He forgot the danger, pushing his chest above the parapet in order to fire better. ‘Down!’ I screamed but he laughed, he was just 19 years old. Too late. Gebauer suddenly jerked backwards and sank to one side. I turned him around towards me. He was hit under the left eye, the bullet passing through his neck. He was still alive, blood flowing down from cheek and neck. He begged; ‘Write to my mother … just a few lines …’ and then I was alone.
ReplyDeleteWaiting for the book to arrive
ReplyDelete