World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseFriedrich Christiansen was born in Wyk auf Föhr in the North Frisian Islands in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. His father was a sea captain, and he followed his father's footsteps as he joined the merchant marine in 1895. In 1901, he served aboard military motor torpedo boats as a volunteer. Shortly after, he served aboard the 5-masted sailing ship Preussen, the largest sailing ship in the world, as her second officer. In 1913, he learned how to fly and changed his career to become a civilian flight instructor. In Aug 1914, he entered naval service as an aviator. During WW1, he flew W.12 seaplanes over the waters between continental Europe and Britain as well as flying bombing Dover and Ramsgate in southern England. For his service in WW1, he was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class, the Iron Cross First Class, Knights Cross with Swords of the House Order of Hohenzollern, and the Pour le Mérite.

ww2dbaseDuring the inter-war years, Christiansen returned to the merchant marine as a captain. In 1929, he became a pilot for the German aircraft company Dornier, with which company he flew the Do X, the world's largest seaplane, in 1930.

ww2dbaseIn 1933, Christiansen joined the fledgling German Luftwaffe. In 1936, he was promoted to the rank of Generalmajor. In 1937, he was appointed the chief of the National Socialist Flyers Corps (NSFK). Later in 1937, he was promoted to the rank of Generalleutnant. In 1939, he was promoted to the rank of General der Flieger.

ww2dbaseChristiansen served nearly the entire duration of the European War as the commanding officer of German forces in the Netherlands, which lasted from May 1940 until Apr 1945; he also commanded the German 25th Army in late 1944 and early 1945. In late 1944, in retaliation of the killing of his subordinate Leutnant Sommers by Dutch resistance fighters, he gave the order for his troops to attack the village of Putten, Gelderland, the Netherlands; this attack resulted in many civilian deaths and the deportation of 661 men to labor camps. After the end of WW2, Christiansen was arrested, convicted of war crimes, and was imprisoned in Arnhem, the Netherlands until 1948. In 1951, his home town of Wyk auf Föhr named a street after him, which sparked controversy in Germany and the Netherlands; the town council took away his name from the street in 1980.

ww2dbaseChristiansen passed away in Aukrug, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany in Dec 1972.

Photographs

Friedrich Christiansen Timeline

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