Anders Frederik Emil Victor Schau Lassen

Major Anders Frederik Emil Victor Schau Lassen VC MC & Two Bars was a Danish-born officer who served with British special forces during the Second World War. He was born on 22 September 1920 in Denmark and came to Britain after the German occupation of his homeland. He joined British commando forces in 1940 and served with No. 62 Commando, also known as the Small Scale Raiding Force, under the Special Operations Executive.

Lassen first made his reputation in daring raiding operations, including Operation Postmaster, the seizure of Axis ships at Fernando Po in 1942, for which he received the Military Cross. He later served in the Mediterranean with the Special Boat Section, attached to the Special Air Service, and became known for aggressive small-boat raids and special operations across North Africa, Crete, the Aegean islands, mainland Greece, Yugoslavia and Italy. His repeated gallantry earned him two bars to the Military Cross.

By 1945 Lassen was a temporary Major in the Special Boat Section. On the night of 8–9 April 1945, during operations at Lake Comacchio in Italy, he led a patrol of one officer and seventeen other ranks against German positions on the north shore of the lake. The patrol was challenged on a narrow road flanked by water and came under heavy machine-gun fire from several positions.

Lassen personally attacked the first enemy position with grenades, destroying it and silencing two machine guns. He then advanced under intense fire to attack further positions, rallied and reorganised his reduced force, and continued the assault despite mounting casualties. When he moved forward to accept the apparent surrender of another enemy position, he was struck by machine-gun fire and mortally wounded. Even as he fell, he threw another grenade, enabling his men to capture the position.

Lassen refused to be evacuated because it would delay the withdrawal and endanger his men. He died on 9 April 1945, aged 24, and was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. His actions helped create confusion and divert German attention during the final Allied operations around Lake Comacchio. He is buried at Argenta Gap War Cemetery in Italy, and his Victoria Cross is held by the Museum of Danish Resistance in Copenhagen.