ϟϟ-Sturmbannführer der Waffen-SS Hansen

Max Hansen as SS-Sturmbannführer

Original SS-Division Leibstandarte SS Cuff Title

Max Hansen joined the SS in 1933 before he was selected for officer training as a result of his performance and personality. Max Hansen saw intense combat in the invasion of Poland, the fall of France, the sweep through the Balkans and Greece before the Campaign in the East, named Operation Barbarossa. By the winter of 1941, Hansen was awarded the German Cross in Gold, in part for his actions at Uman, at the Sea of Asov, along the Mius and during the fighting at Rostov. SS-Sturmbannführer Max Hansen could take pleasure in the award of the Knight's Cross in the spring of 1943, which was presented to him for his extraordinary successes in the Third Battle of Kharkov. Hansen's division Leibstandarte SS, plus SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Das Reich and Totenkopf – tore open the northern flank of the defending Soviet forces and then advanced back into Kharkov in house-to-house fighting that lasted for days. His battalion broke through to the Red Square in Kharkov and opened the way to the city centre. Dozen of Soviet divisions were eliminated. Hansen also received the Wound Badge in Silver for the shrapnel he received from an exploding hand grenade in close combat. Since he was involved in so many days of close combat with the Leibstandarte SS at Kharkov and then again in the summer during the major offensive campaign at Kursk, Hansen had assembled enough close-combat days by September 1943 that he was awarded the Close Combat Badge in Silver. In 1944 he participated in the bitter fighting of the Normandy Campaign and in the Ardennes and in 1945 in the German-Hungarian attempt to relieve the Soviet siege of Budapest. Hansen was wounded for the ninth time in the failed counteroffensive Spring Awakening in Hungary – even as a regimental commander, the SS-Obersturmbannführer Max Hansen led from the front. He collected enough close-combat days that he crossed the 50 standard for the Close Combat Clasp in Gold. He not only received that award in the hospital, but was also rewarded for the performance of his regiment in the Ardennes with the Oakleaves to the Knight's Cross. He was promoted SS-Standartenführer on April 20 1945. Hansen surrendered his forces.to the Americans at Linz after six difficult years of war. All that remained of what once had been one of the proudest elite divisions of the Waffen-SS were some 1,600 SS-Panzergrenadiers. After World War II, Max Hansen served as the manager of a mid-level company. The father of four died at his place of birth on March 7 1990. Credit: The Face of Courage. Top mage: Max Hansen as SS-Sturmbannführer at the Eastern Front. Commons: Bundesarchiv.