the front line, but stepped on a mine and was moments later killed by shrapnel from a Russian artillery shell. The subsequent rescue of his corpse, which caused a casualty, revealed extensive injuries including a leg torn off at the hip and a missing foot. Legacy On 3 June 1942, von Schalburg's body was transported in a coffin draped in Dannebrog to the cemetery of the corps located in the small village Biakovo in the Demjansk area. The commanding officer of the 3rd SS Division Totenkopf SS-Brigadeführer Hellmuth Becker spoke at the funeral. On the same day, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler posthumously promoted von Schalburg to SS-Obersturmbannführer, effective from 1 June. In Denmark, the newspaper of the DNSAP 'Fædrelandet' (the Fatherland) filled the front page with the news of the fallen commander, and a memorial service for von Schalburg was disrupted by protests shouted by a student. The poet Valdemar Rørdam who had already gotten himself into public scandal with a poem praising Hitler, further alienated himself from the Danish public when he published a tribute to Schalburg. A Danish medal, the Schalburg Cross and the Danish Germanic-SS Schalburg Corps, was named after von Schalburg. His widow called herself Valet de chambre (Kammerjunkerinde) Helle von Schalburg and founded Schalburgs mindefond (memorial fund), which sent packages to Danish SS volunteers on the Eastern Front. On the second anniversary of von Schalburg's death commander of the Schalburg Corps K. B. Martinsen inaugurated a memorial for fallen, Danish members of the SS. Following the liberation the memorial was destroyed. The fact that von Schalburg advanced, against the advice of a company commander, towards the front line and jeopardized not only his own life but also those of his corps made him a reckless commander in some eyes. However, his record indicates that he was a competent commander and in the SS, that behaviour was not uncommon, and the losses of commanders were exceptionally high, including von Schalburg's successor, who fell just two days after arriving at the corps. References External links Webpage about Christian Frederik von Schalburg 1906 births 1942 deaths SS-Obersturmbannführer Danish military personnel Waffen-SS personnel killed in action Danish anti-communists Danish Nazis Danish collaborators with Nazi Germany Danish people of Russian descent Recipients of the Iron Cross (1939), 1st class Recipients of the Iron Cross (1939), 2nd class Danish Waffen-SS personnel White Russian emigrants to Denmark Emigrants from the Russian Empire to