Anders Lassen - History

History

Anders Lassen was the son of Emil Victor Schau Lassen and Suzanne Maria Signe Lassen, of Nyhavn, Copenhagen and a cousin of Axel von dem Bussche, who in 1943 unsuccessfully tried to kill Adolf Hitler. Serving in the Danish Merchant Navy, he came to the United Kingdom shortly after the start of the Second World War where he joined the British Commandos in 1940, serving with No. 62 Commando (also known as the Small Scale Raiding Force) as a private. He was commissioned in the field and awarded an immediate Military Cross for his part in Operation Postmaster the capture of three Italian and German ships from the neutral Spanish island of Fernando Po now known as Bioko, in the Gulf of Guinea.

No. 62 Commando was later absorbed into the Special Air Service in February 1944 and Lassen rose through the ranks to become a Major by October 1944. During his service he fought in North-West Europe, North Africa, Crete, the Aegean islands, mainland Greece, Yugoslavia and Italy. He was awarded two bars to the Military Cross, the first dated 27 September 1943 and the seconded dated 15 February 1944.