Christian Tychsen

[Leroy]

Saw this photo of Christian Tychsen today. Probably seen by SS collectors a million times, but I thought it was a nice thing.

[Steinar]

Nice picture.

Would be nice to see Christian Tychsen's uniform/hat and badges..

[Leroy]

Here's the standard one with his cap.

[WeyAx]

Christian Tychsen

One of the most famous fates of Normandy and for a long time mysterious:


third resting place



place of ambush and death at haute vents


Alex

[karlo]

Nice picture.

Would be nice to see Christian Tychsen's uniform/hat and badges..

there are pics of one of his tunics in M D Beavors Uniforms of the SS...vol 2 i think offhand...k

[karlo]

In 1995, from Captain John C. Bult of the 2d Armored MP Co., I purchased 1/2 dozen photos which were on Tychsen's person at the time of his demise, as well as a flatwire Das Reich cuffband taken from his tunic, and a small Mauser made .25 auto pistol and holster, which Tychsen wore on the rear of his belt. The location or disposition of his Soldbuch and dogtag are still unknown. As a result of the publication of my book, most of the medals Tychsen was wearing when ambushed have been located. The vet who got the medals was a tank driver in the 67th Armored Regiment of the 2d Armored Division and he died in 1992. A person who worked with this vet in a hardware store after WW2, wound-up with the medals. Before he died, the vet told that younger co-worker some details of the ambush. Tychsen's car tried to run a 2d AD roadblock during the St Lo Breakout and was shot up; it turned on it's right side and crashed. The vet in question was first to examine the bodies. He removed Tychsen's KC with oakleaves, discarding the ribbon, probably because it was bloody. He got all the medals and badges which were visible on the left chest, as Tychsen was lying on his right side. Then another GI turned the body over and snatched the DK in gold from Tychsen's right chest and held it up for all present to see. At that point, the other soldiers began a detailed search of Tychsen's person and removed everything except his tunic; more on that later. Lt John Cleveland of the CCB 2d AD traffic squad happened to be at the roadblock when the ambush took place. His job was to direct traffic for Combat Command 'B' and he evidently took the photos and cuffband and pistol during the group pilfering of the body. Since Cleve preferred Lugers and binoculars as souvenirs, he gave Tychsen's items to Captain Bult, his C.O. a week later. He tossed the pistol, photos and cufftitle on Bult's desk and said "I got these from a German colonel.. I almost missed the pistol because it was on his back, not on his side." In 1968, some friends of Tychsen's from Germany had exhumed several bodies of unidentified German officers, in search of his remains. They ID'd him by his dental work, which was unique and resulted from the Russian grenade wound in 1942, which left the horrible scars on his chin. Tychsen's black panzer tunic was exhumed with the body in 1968, still bearing a 4 pip rank collartab and one field grade shoulderboard. All other insignia and decorations were gone. The fact that his tunic was still present when the body was exhumed can be verified in an article in the SS Veterans' magazine 'Der Freiwillige'. The article is called 'The Search For Christian Tychsen', and was published in 1994. This contradicts what Jost Schneider wrote in his KC winners book, when he asserted that souvenir hunters removed Tychsen's tunic with all decorations. Tychsen was reburied under a stone with his name on it-prior to that, he had been listed as an unknown German officer. As to Tychsen's cap, I suspect the vet who got the KC picked it up and tossed the medals inside. I also suspect he later discarded the cap and kept only the metal skull, because one of those was in his effects, plus the following decorations: 1 bronze Infantry Asslt badge, 1 silver close combat bar, 1 Iron Cross 1st class, 1 black wound badge made of brass, with the paint deliberately removed to make it appear gold, and of course the RK with Eichenlaub, As to why Tychsen's body wound-up buried several miles away from the ambush site, it appears possible that the French residents of la Noraiserie, (the farm where the ambush took place), didn't want the body of a high ranking German officer found anywhere near their property. Because if German troops managed to re occupy the area, it would cause an unwelcome investigation. So they probably loaded the body on a farmcart and drove it to the Haut Vents crossroads at Cambry, France, and dropped it among other German bodies at a main road intersection.

[stonemint]

In 1995, from Captain John C. Bult of the 2d Armored MP Co., I purchased 1/2 dozen photos which were on Tychsen's person at the time of his demise, as well as a flatwire Das Reich cuffband taken from his tunic, and a small Mauser made .25 auto pistol and holster, which Tychsen wore on the rear of his belt. The location or disposition of his Soldbuch and dogtag are still unknown. As a result of the publication of my book, most of the medals Tychsen was wearing when ambushed have been located. The vet who got the medals was a tank driver in the 67th Armored Regiment of the 2d Armored Division and he died in 1992. A person who worked with this vet in a hardware store after WW2, wound-up with the medals. Before he died, the vet told that younger co-worker some details of the ambush. Tychsen's car tried to run a 2d AD roadblock during the St Lo Breakout and was shot up; it turned on it's right side and crashed. The vet in question was first to examine the bodies. He removed Tychsen's KC with oakleaves, discarding the ribbon, probably because it was bloody. He got all the medals and badges which were visible on the left chest, as Tychsen was lying on his right side. Then another GI turned the body over and snatched the DK in gold from Tychsen's right chest and held it up for all present to see. At that point, the other soldiers began a detailed search of Tychsen's person and removed everything except his tunic; more on that later. Lt John Cleveland of the CCB 2d AD traffic squad happened to be at the roadblock when the ambush took place. His job was to direct traffic for Combat Command 'B' and he evidently took the photos and cuffband and pistol during the group pilfering of the body. Since Cleve preferred Lugers and binoculars as souvenirs, he gave Tychsen's items to Captain Bult, his C.O. a week later. He tossed the pistol, photos and cufftitle on Bult's desk and said "I got these from a German colonel.. I almost missed the pistol because it was on his back, not on his side." In 1968, some friends of Tychsen's from Germany had exhumed several bodies of unidentified German officers, in search of his remains. They ID'd him by his dental work, which was unique and resulted from the Russian grenade wound in 1942, which left the horrible scars on his chin. Tychsen's black panzer tunic was exhumed with the body in 1968, still bearing a 4 pip rank collartab and one field grade shoulderboard. All other insignia and decorations were gone. The fact that his tunic was still present when the body was exhumed can be verified in an article in the SS Veterans' magazine 'Der Freiwillige'. The article is called 'The Search For Christian Tychsen', and was published in 1994. This contradicts what Jost Schneider wrote in his KC winners book, when he asserted that souvenir hunters removed Tychsen's tunic with all decorations. Tychsen was reburied under a stone with his name on it-prior to that, he had been listed as an unknown German officer. As to Tychsen's cap, I suspect the vet who got the KC picked it up and tossed the medals inside. I also suspect he later discarded the cap and kept only the metal skull, because one of those was in his effects, plus the following decorations: 1 bronze Infantry Asslt badge, 1 silver close combat bar, 1 Iron Cross 1st class, 1 black wound badge made of brass, with the paint deliberately removed to make it appear gold, and of course the RK with Eichenlaub, As to why Tychsen's body wound-up buried several miles away from the ambush site, it appears possible that the French residents of la Noraiserie, (the farm where the ambush took place), didn't want the body of a high ranking German officer found anywhere near their property. Because if German troops managed to re occupy the area, it would cause an unwelcome investigation. So they probably loaded the body on a farmcart and drove it to the Haut Vents crossroads at Cambry, France, and dropped it among other German bodies at a main road intersection.

Fascinating--I never heard this story, only the Schneider version. What book did you write, and is it still in print?

[panzer1432]

Tychsen

He was an excellent officer !

[WeyAx]

Tychsen

The passage is out of the famous Mark Bando's book Breakout at Normandy (The 2nd Armored Division in the Land of the Deadf), published by MBI in 1999 (now out of print but sometimes available on ebay or amazon). The french historian Patrick Fissot assisted Bando in the writting of this book. The job done by M. Bando is wonderful.

The first search for Tychsen was made of his comrades, they found his Kübel with the dead driver but not his body and now the legends started:
Was he only wounded and brought to hospital??? Was he taken prisoner??

The second search started in the beginning fifties initiated from his surviving comrades and his family.
The true story you can read in a letter of his brother Kurt or in "Der Freiwillige"

Please look at my thread here:
http://forum.panzer-archiv.de/viewtopic.php?t=9854

Alex

[Wijtman01]

thats a amazing story, but what happend with his face
damn thats a hell of a scar

[karlo]

a grenade??

[karlo]

another pic

[karlo]

from MD BEAVERS UNIFORMS OF THE WAFFEN SS......an early tunic and obviously not the one he was wearing when kia...k

[SJP]

Karlo, Thanks for sharing that story .

That fills in the gap in Mark's book. Excellent information.
__________________________________________________ __
Cheers Steve

[karlo]

Karlo, Thanks for sharing that story .

That fills in the gap in Mark's book. Excellent information.
__________________________________________________ __
Cheers Steve

thanks...but its not my story....just a paste from another forum...k