Warsaw. The division was pushed back to the northeast when the final Soviet offensive began on 16 April 1945. The next day, Dirlewanger was seriously wounded in combat for the twelfth time. He was removed from the front and he was sent to the rear and Schmedes immediately assumed command; Dirlewanger would not return to the division. Desertion became more and more common, and when Schmedes attempted to reorganize the division on 25 April, he found that it had virtually ceased to exist. On 28 April 1945, SS-Sturmbannführer Ewald Ehlers, who commanded the 73rd Waffen Grenadier Regiment of the SS within the division, was hanged by his own men. He had been a former commandant of Dachau concentration camp who had been convicted of corruption. On 1 May 1945, the Soviets wiped out all that was left of the unit in the Halbe pocket. Only a small remnant of the division managed an escape attempt to reach the US Army lines on the Elbe river. Schmedes and his staff managed to reach the Americans and surrendered on 3 May. Only about 700 men of the division survived the war. In June 1945, Dirlewanger was captured by French forces in Germany and died in their custody by 8 June, allegedly beaten to death by Polish soldiers in Altshausen. Orders of battle SS Assault Brigade "Dirlewanger" (October 1944) Brigade staff SS Regiment 1 SS Regiment 2 Artillery detachment Fusilier company Engineer company Signals company 36th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (March 1945) Division staff 72nd Waffen Grenadier Regiment of the SS 73rd Waffen Grenadier Regiment of the SS Panzer Battalion Stansdorf 1 36th Artillery Detachment 36th Fusilier Company 1244th Volksgrenadier Regiment 687th Engineer Brigade (Heer) 681st Heavy Panzerjäger Battalion (Heer) Legacy The cross-grenades emblem of the division is still used by Neo-Nazis, such as the Wolfsbrigade 44. See also List of SS personnel List of Waffen-SS divisions List of Waffen-SS units References Notes Bibliography Michaelis, Rolf – Das SS-Sonderkommando Dirlewanger: Ein Beispiel deutscher Besatzungspolitik in Weißrussland A witness account of a German Sturmpionier soldier from the Warsaw Uprising.com. Testimonies concerning activity of Division during Wola massacre Infantry divisions of the Waffen-SS Military units and formations established in 1940 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 Nazi war crimes Nazi war crimes in Poland Penal units 36 Warsaw Uprising German forces