Special Forces Hero: Anders Lassen VC MC*

Until the German occupation of his native Denmark in April 1940 Anders Lassen had no interest in the War. Yet over the next five years he became a highly decorated Special Forces legend and the only non-Commonwealth recipient of the Victoria Cross. After taking part in a mutiny on board a Danish ship, he made his way to Scotland. He first joined the Special Operations Executive before serving with the Small Scale Raiding Force, Special Air Service and Special Boat Service. He took part in the daring Operation Postmaster, off West Africa, and raided the Channel Islands and the Normandy coast. He saw most action in Eastern Mediterranean, fighting in Crete, the Dodecanese, Yugoslavia, mainland Greece and finally Italy. In April 1945, now a major aged 24, he was killed at Lake Comacchio, where his gallantry earned him his posthumous VC. This superb biography is not just a worthy tribute to an outstanding soldier, but a superb account of the numerous special force operations Anders was involved in. AUTHOR: Thomas Harder is a Danish historian and literary translator. He is the author of twenty books on Italian subjects and four biographies. He has translated works by numerous authors notably Salman Rushdie, Umberto Eco and most recently, Giovanni Boccaccio’s medieval classic Decameron. He also works as a freelance conference interpreter. Thomas has received a number of Danish, Swedish and Italian awards for his historical research and writing and for his translations. He lives in Copenhagen with his wife. 60 b/w illustrations