A WAR veteran hailed as an SAS hero who fought the Nazis has been exposed as a fraudster — who was really in Hitler’s SS.

Hugo Plaun, 97, proudly wore a Distinguished Service Order medal allegedly won for his exploits — which included trekking across the North African desert to destroy 435 planes.

3 97-year-old Hugo Plaun, second from right, claimed to have been an SAS war hero - even meeting Prince Charles at a 2012 ceremony to honour veterans Credit: Getty Images

He was wearing it with a chestful of other medals and the SAS’s winged dagger badge, when he met Prince Charles and Camilla in Copenhagen at a 2012 ceremony to honour veterans.

But a policemen researching archives discovered Plaun was a deserter from Hitler’s Waffen SS, whose wartime job was writing Nazi propaganda.

Plaun, who lives in Copenhagen, has admitted his story was a fantasy and his medals are copies.

3 Plaun who lives in Copenhagen, has admitted his story Credit: Camera Press

He said he came up with his Walter Mitty tale while living near the SAS base in Hereford during the 1980s after listening to real veterans tell stories in the pub.

Plaun added: “When I came back to Denmark I retold the stories with myself in the lead role.

“The illusion built up. Is there anything wrong with having a fantasy? I volunteered for the SS but never fired a shot.”

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Plaun embellished his fantasy when he was invited to give talks to military officers in Scandinavia, detailing how he was one of the original members of the SAS.

He claimed he was born in the US, moved to Denmark and joined the Canadian Army during the war.

Plaun said he was sent to Egypt and was recruited to the fledgling SAS to operate behind enemy lines.

3 Not only was the fraudster lying about being in the SAS, he was even a member of Hitler's SS Credit: Getty Images

He claimed his unit helped change the course of the war in North Africa with a daring mission that destroyed 435 enemy planes.

Plaun said he also fought in Italy, France and Holland and was shot five times during his exploits.

In fact he shot himself in the leg in 1944 to get a release from his SS unit — and fled to Sweden, where he was jailed for two years.