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Fritz Christen was born on June 29, 1921, in Wredenhagen,  Germany. Due to the hardships that followed Germany's loss in WWI and  the effects of the Great Depression, his family suffered. Things began to change in 1933 when the National Socialist German  Workers' Party achieved power. As Germany's economy improved, his family  reaped the benefits and, their humiliation forgotten, they fell in love  with National Socialism. Christen joined the  Hitler Youth...  After high school, he joined the Waffen-Schutzstaffel (Armed SS); the  military wing of the NSDAP. Christen qualified for the 3rd SS Panzer  Division Totenkopf. Then on June 22, 1941, Operation Barbarossa began; the invasion of the Soviet Union. Three million German soldiers, supported by about 650,000 troops from  Finland and Romania, crossed the Soviet border in 134 divisions on  three fronts. Italy, Croatia, Slovakia, and Hungary also sent forces in  an assault that stretched from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black  Sea in the south.

Although the Soviets had been expecting an invasion, they were taken  by surprise.  Christen's unit was in the Demyansk  District in Novgorod, Oblast, Russia. Almost 300 miles northwest of  Moscow. On September 21, German intelligence advised that a  major Soviet offensive was headed their way. Soviet forces had been  probing the Totenkopf with tentative attacks that were becoming more  vicious. Christen's unit dug themselves into the woods outside the  village of Lushno, preparing for their turn. Christen was in charge of a  50mm anti-tank gun set on the forest's edge to the north of Lushno,  guarding a clearing to the east. A line of Soviet medium T-34-85 tanks was rolling their  way. Behind them followed a large infantry force to pick off what the  tanks did not.

Before the sun had fully risen, the Soviet tanks began their barrage.  With only trees and dugouts to protect them, Christen's group were  sitting ducks. What the tanks did not pulverize, the infantry did. Christen fired with his anti-tank gun as men fell around him. He had  destroyed five or six tanks when there was a lull in the fighting.  However, the Soviets were not retreating; they were regrouping.  Christen called out soldiers' names, but there was no response.  Everyone else was either dead or severely wounded. He was the only one  left to fight. As the Soviets were not attacking him, the lone German began  desperately digging a trench around his anti-tank weapon. He vaguely  wondered why no one took potshots at him.  When evening fell, the attack resumed. Trees shattered around him.  Wood and metal fragments tore into the flesh of his injured comrades.  Christen hugged the ground. Then he heard the sound of many boots heading his way.  It was the Soviet infantry.

The former Hitler youth opened fire. To his surprise, they retreated –  probably thinking he was not alone.  Before dawn, the Soviets attacked with a barrage from several tanks. At one point, he partially  dismantled his anti-tank gun, dragged it several meters, propped it up  with a log, and then fired at incoming tanks. He kept it up throughout  the next day, despite his hunger and thirst, made worse by the cold.  All he had left was a pistol taken from his officer's corpse.  The morning stretched on, but there was no attack  He wondered if he should save the last bullet for himself. Then he heard the soldiers speak. They were German! Despite having no food and water for almost three days, he had killed over 100 soldiers and destroyed 13 tanks on his own. He was the first SS-man with just the rank of an ordinary soldier (SS-Sturmann) to get the The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross personally from his Führer Adolf Hitler on 20 October 1941. He survived the war and lived until 23. September 1995. His grave is in Neusorg, Oberpfalz, Germany.