Fritz Christen

Fritz Christen
Born	(1921-06-29)June 29, 1921 Wredenhagen
Died	Neusorg
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Waffen-SS
Years of service	1941–45
Rank	Oberscharführer (Staff Sergeant)
Unit	3rd SS Division Totenkopf (Death's Head)
Battles/wars	World War II Eastern Front Operation Barbarossa Demyansk Pocket Battle of Kursk Operation Bagration Operation Konrad
Awards	Knight's Cross

Fritz Christen (June 29, 1921 – September 23, 1995) was a decorated soldier of the Totenkopf division of the Waffen-SS during World War II.

Operation Barbarossa

Having missed the Polish campaign, and having cut its teeth successfully in France, the Totenkopf division was heavily embroiled in combat on the Eastern Front from the first days of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. On the morning of September 24, 1941, Christen and his anti-tank battery were engaging Russian targets north of the village of Lushno (Luzhno). In an initial engagement, Soviet skirmishers killed all of the other men of the battery. While exposed to artillery and small arms fire, Christen manned his 50mm cannon alone, holding on without supplies or provisions for the next three days. When a counterattack by other Totenkopf troops recaptured Lushno, Christen was credited with having knocked out 13 Soviet tanks and killed nearly 100 enemy soldiers singlehandedly. The soldiers that greeted him were baffled that a single artilleryman could hold his position against hundreds of Soviet troops and a formidable armor presence. For this stunning act of individual bravery, SS-Obergruppenführer Theodor Eicke awarded Christen with the Iron Cross, First Class and recommended him simultaneously for the Knight's Cross. Subsequently, Hitler awarded him the Knight's Cross, making Christen the first enlisted man in his division to be given the honor.

Further service

Christen served with distinction for the remainder of the war. In spring 1945, he was captured by the Americans along with the remainder of the depleted Totenkopf division in Czechoslovakia. He and the remnants of the division were turned over to the Soviets and few survived.

Release

Soviet-held POWs, especially those from the Waffen-SS, often died in their lengthy captivity. Christen, along with many of the men in his unit, endured ten years in a Soviet gulag before being returned to Germany in 1955. He died of natural causes in 1995.

External links

• German language entry on Fritz Christen