Churchill's Secret Warriors

[RyanSC]

Has anyone read this??

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/boo...warriors-broke-hearts-rules-Nazis-spirit.html

In Italy in 1945, one regular officer told Lassen that he and his wild bunch were a disgrace. What, he thundered, would the enemy think of them, if they were found not just dead, but unshaven? It is certainly true he was no respecter of bureaucratic authority. After every raid, he and other key commanders were supposed to file an operational report. But he detested all such paperwork and his reports famously consisted of no more than five words: ‘Landed. Killed Germans. F***ed off.’

This book is next on my list.

 

[pardus]

I haven't read that book but Ive read a few accounts of that guy. He was SAS, not sure about the SOE stuff though...

 

[Gunz]

Interesting. From what I've found he was with 62 Commando, the SSRF, which was a unit in the then-designated British "Commandos." I looked through Vol 3 of The Last Lion and was surprised not to see any specific mention of Lassen, although there are plenty of references to the formation and activities of Hugh Dalton's SOE. 62 Commando was under the Special Operations Executive. Apparently after the war Lassen joined the SBS in the Mideast.

Good find, @RyanSC

 

[pardus]

Interesting. From what I've found he was with 62 Commando, the SSRF, which was a unit in the then-designated British "Commandos." I looked through Vol 3 of The Last Lion and was surprised not to see any specific mention of Lassen, although there are plenty of references to the formation and activities of Hugh Dalton's SOE. 62 Commando was under the Special Operations Executive. Apparently after the war Lassen joined the SBS in the Mideast.

Good find, @RyanSC

Anders Lassen was a Commando, then was SBS, attached to the SAS, he was killed in 1945 in Italy.

Rank:
Major
Service No:
234907
Date of Death:
09/04/1945
Age:
24
Regiment/Service:
Special Boat Service, S.A.S. Regiment, A.A.C.
Awards:
V C, M C and 2 Bars
Grave Reference:
II, E, 11.
Cemetery:
ARGENTA GAP WAR CEMETERY
Additional Information:
Son of Emil Victor Schau Lassen and Suzanne Maria Signe Lassen, of Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Citation
The London Gazette of 4th September, 1945, gives the following particulars: In Italy, on the night of 8th/9th April, 1945, Major Lassen was ordered to take out a patrol and raid the north shore of Lake Comacchio. His task was to cause casualties, capture prisoners and give the impression of a major landing. The patrol was challenged and came under machine-gun fire. Major Lassen himself attacked with grenades and silenced two enemy posts, capturing two prisoners and killing several Germans. The patrol had suffered casualties and was still under fire. Major Lassen moved forward and flung more grenades into a third enemy position, calling upon the enemy to surrender. He was then hit and mortally wounded, but whilst falling he flung a grenade, wounding more of the enemy and enabling his patrol to capture this last position. Finally, he refused to be evacuated lest he should impede the withdrawal and endanger further lives. His high sense of devotion to duty and the esteem in which he was held by the men he led, added to his own magnificent courage, enabled Major Lassen to carry out with complete success all the tasks he had been given.

http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1716704/LASSEN, ANDERS FREDERICK EMIL V. SCHAU

 

[Gunz]

Thanks, Pardus, I got some bum info there. Again, interesting to learn that SBS was originally a sub-unit of SAS.

 

[pardus]

Thanks, Pardus, I got some bum info there. Again, interesting to learn that SBS was originally a sub-unit of SAS.

The evolution of spec ops during WWII is pretty interesting. The Brit Commandos were basically the forerunner of most later units, Brit Paratroopers, SAS, US Rangers, plus a few European country's spec ops units.

 

[Gunz]

Very cool. (Not to mention Jeremy Clarkson. ) And the regular Army hated them and did its best to disband them. Imagine that