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; when Schmedes attempted to reorganize his division on 25 April, he found 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 Dirlewanger Brigade, was hanged by his own men.