Lassen, Anders, born 22-09-1920 in Hovdingsgard, 
the son of Emil Victor Schau Lassen and Suzanne Maria, born Signe, Lassen, of Nyhavn, Copenhagen and a cousin of Axel von dem Bussche, who in 1943 unsuccessfully tried to kill Adolf Hitler (did you know). Axel Freiherr (Baron) von dem Bussche-Streithorst (24-04-1919 – 26-01-1993),
usually referred to as Axel von dem Bussche in English, was a German nobleman, professional Army officer and member of the German Resistance. He tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler 
in coordination with Oberst der Kavallerie, Graf Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg
in November 1943 at the Wolfschanze. Lassen migrated to the United Kingdom shortly after the start of the World War II where he joined the British Commandos in 1940, serving with No 62 Commando 
, under Admiral Sir Roger Keyes 
also known as the Small Scale Raiding Force as a private. Keyes died age 73, on 26-12-1945 from pneumonia, in Buckingham. The commandos were formed in 1940, by the order of Winston Churchill 
the British Prime Minister. He called for specially trained troops that would “develop a reign of terror down the enemy coast”. At first they were a small force of volunteers who carried out small raids against enemy occupied territory, but by 1943 their role had changed into lightly equipped assault infantry which specialised in spearheading amphibious landings. Lassen
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 a second and third bar to the Military Cross, the first dated 27-09-1943 and the seconded dated 15-02-1944.
Death and burial ground of Lassen, Anders Frederik Emil Victor Schau.
On 09-04-1945 he take out a patrol of one officer and seventeen other ranks to raid the north shore of Lake Comacchio. 
His tasks were to cause as many casualties and as much confusion as possible, to give the impression of a major landing, and to capture prisoners. Whilst shouting to them to come out he was hit by a burst of Spandau fire 
from the left of the position and he fell mortally wounded, but even whilst falling he flung a grenade, wounding some of the occupants, and enabling his patrol to dash in and capture this final position Major Lassen had, in the face of overwhelming superiority, achieved his objects. Three positions were wiped out, accounting for six machine guns, killing eight and wounding others of the enemy, and two prisoners were taken. The 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 all the tasks he had been given with complete success.
Corporal Aubrey of the SBS (Special Boat Service) sharpens his fighting knife as he prepares for combat. He said about Lassen: He had the character of a first rate soldier and reacted in a flash. I never saw Andy hesitate to open fire, and as such he could have been labeled a killing machine; but that was the only way to survive.
Anders Lassen was buried, age 24, on the Argenta Gap War Cemetery, in Italy and Massimo Biolcati was so kind to sent me his grave picture.
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