SS-Ustuf - 21.6.44
I will now make an excpetion and write about a soldier who fell in Combat, I will do that from time to time. First out is the Swedish volonteer Torkel Tillmann. He was not 100% Swedish as he had a German Mother, but he was born i Sköllersta (Örebro), Sweden on November 19, 1917.
When he was young his parents divorced and he ended up in a fostercare family in Pommern before the war. He even joined the Hitlerjugend when he lived there. When he got older he went back to Sweden and went through the military training, he served at Signal Regemente 1 in Uppsala (today that ground is part of the Uppsala University) Signal is the swedish word for Nachrichten. He was in Sweden acccused for espionage , but eventually was those charges dropped.
He was member of the Swedish NS party, NSAP (National Socialistiska Arbetar Partiet), later SSS (Svensk Socialistisk Samling) . He joined the Waffen-SS in 1942 and was sent to the SS-Übungs Lager in Sennheim. According to sources he got in a conflict with another Swedish volonteer. Torkel Tillmann was later selected to become a Officer in the Waffen-SS and was sent to the SS-Junkerchule Tölz, 11,Kriegsjunkerlehrgang, after finished course he was sent to the SS-Nachrichtenschule in Metz in which he attended the SS-Oberjunkerlehrgang to become a Nachrichten Officer of the Waffen-SS.
After finished course he was instead of sent to a SS-Nachrichten Unit, sent to become a member of the SS-Kriegsberichter Abteilung "Kurt Eggers", there is not much know where he served during the time before his death. But there is a famous photos in which he is standing together with 4 other Swedish officers of the Waffen-SS near Narwa. So he must have been attached to either SS-Div. Nordland or SS-Div Nederland for some time.
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| From Left - Gösta Borg, Hans Caspar Kreuger, Hans-Gösta Pehrson,
Gunnar Eklöf, Carl Svensson and Torkel Tillman
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Before the invasion (D-Day) he was transfered and sent to the SS-Pionier Abteilung 12 of 12.SS-Pz.Div. Hitlerjugend, which he served until he was KIA at June 26, 1944. He is the one of three known Swedish volonteers who saw action against the Western Forces. All other fought on the eastern front. The other two was Sven Erik Olsson, served in 10.SS-Pz.Div. Frundsberg and Carl Svensson who also served in the SS-KB Abt. "Kurt Eggers".
Torkel Tillmann married Marianne and they got a daughter, the daughter has participated in a movie about the Swedish volonteers, her opinion must be second hand info as she was very young when her father felled in battle. She lives today in the USA.
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| The letter that Marianne Tillmann recieved from the SS-KB Abt. after that Torkel was KIA |
Sources: T-354 R-178, Skalmanforum, Personal Archive, Bosse Schön "Hitlers Svenska Soldater"
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