Late in World War II, he was called up into the Wehrmacht, fighting on the Eastern Front.
Thus, Schlienz joined VfB permanently in the summer of 1945, as the Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt club took part in the newly founded semi-professional Oberliga Süd (South) from October 1945.
But on 14 August 1948, he lost his left forearm (it had to be amputated) in a car accident travelling to a VfB cup match in Aalen.
[1] Despite being handicapped, he was now captain and playmaker at VfB Stuttgart, leading the team to win the German Championship twice in 1950 and 1952 (runner-up in 1953, losing to 1.
He ended his career in 1960 and subsequently moved to the village of Dettenhausen, about 20 miles south of Stuttgart, where he died and was buried in 1995.