About SS Lt.Arno Giesen(Das Reich)

[jagdiv]

Did he really join fighting together with Ernst Barkmann in Viena(near Floridsdorfer Bridge 4/12/45)
This boy destroyed 111 allied targets,then why he didnt get a Knights Cross?
What happened to him after he surrended to the Russians?
And request any his photos or other information.

[Doug Nash]

He was SS-Fahnenjunker Arno Friesen (name changed to avoid close scrutiny) and really did serve next to Barkmann in SS-Pz.Rgt. 2 "Das Reich" during the Battle for Vienna. After the war, he settled in the US and retired in Arizona. His son, Major Bo Friesen, was a West Point Graduate and fought in the 1st Gulf War with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. Mr. Friesen Sr. used to teach classes to the regiment's officers on his experiences in WWII. I can't vouch for the number of tanks he knocked out - don't think 111 is correct. Maybe that's tanks, antitank guns, SP guns, trucks and armored cars combined. He was relatively junior officer, actually an officer cadet. Unfortunately, he died a few years back but did write an article for Armor Magazine about 10 years ago that described his experience in the fight for the Floridorfer Bridge in Vienna.
Hope this helps --
Regards,
Doug Nash

[jagdiv]

Many thanks!

[alessandro bray]

Hi,

the number of 111 contains only tank kills even though is a personal count of Friesen itself. Friesen was only 20, but saw much action in Russia 1943, Normandy and the final battles in Hungary and Wien and won the tank assault badge "75", so a high number of kills is plausible

alessandro

[TiKi]

Hi Doug Nash,

from where do you know the fact, that Friesen Arno is not his real name??
But his real nickname is it, or is this name also changed?

Friesen is also some time mentioned as Obstuf.! But no Friesen with the rank of Ostuf exists!!!!!!
Are you in contact with his son?

With best regards,

TiKi

[Doug Nash]

I know have to go back and correct my original post from 9 May 2005. "SS-Hauptsturmfuehrer Arno Giesen" is (or was) a fraud, never served in the Waffen-SS, never served aboard a Panzer and definitely did not knock out 111 tanks while serving in the "Das Reich" Panzer Division. Background: A generation ago, the name "Arno Giesen" would have been instantly recognizable to anyone studying the Waffen-SS in the early 1980s. A man who touted himself as the commander of the "last SS tank in Vienna," Giesen convinced many of us (including junior armor officers such as myself) that he was the real deal. Even his son, a colleague of mine, believed him. He was a popular speaker on the US Army Professional Development circuit until he was finally exposed for what he was - a fraud, but not after maligning a number of genuine Waffen SS veteans, such as Fritz Langanke and Ernst Barkmann. Here's a very recent article by his son, former Army Captain Bo Friesen, who wrote about his father's colorful career as a storyteller and a textbook example of German "Stolen Valor."
http://fathercodersoldierspy.com/?page_id=9

[alessandro bray]

Thank you for the news! Incredible!

Alessandro