Andy's War: The Life of Major Anders Lassen, VC, MC

- Blurb -

A moonless night. Eighteen British soldiers and two Italian fishermen are crossing a huge lake. Under cover of darkness, they complete the five-mile crossing to the bank occupied by the Germans. Commanding the patrol is a 24-year-old Dane. In a few hours, it will be exactly five years since the Germans occupied his homeland. He has been at war ever since.The life of Anders Frederik Lassen, VC, MC & Two Bars is one that was entirely defined by the Second World War, as much as the war was defined by his brand of patriotism, ingenuity and courage under fire.Highly decorated in his nativeDenmark and nicknamed 'The Great Dane' by his comrades in the SAS and SBS, he remains the only non-Commonwealth recipient of the Victoria Cross in the SecondWorld War.However, his story has never been told in English until now.Thomas Harder's extraordinary book tells the story of how, at the outbreak of war, the young Lassen came to the United Kingdom and joined the British Commandos.He later signed up with the Special Forces and went onto carve out a career leading courageous raids on land and at sea in some of the most celebrated operations of theSecond World War.After five implausibly adventure-filled years he would lose his life leading a daring raid on the shore of Lake Comacchioin April 1945. Tasked to cause as much confusion as possible to give the impression of a major landing, he single-handedly eliminated three enemy positions before being mortally wounded. He refused to be evacuated as it would have endangered the life of his men.