The famous SS man, tank ace, who crushed the lands of France, Poland, Greece, the Soviet Union (Kursk Bulge) with his caterpillars, served in the Wehrmacht until 1936, after - until his death - in the SS. In the USSR he was the commander of a platoon of assault guns. In the spring of 1944, he was transferred to Normandy, where he showed that the German Tiger tank was significantly superior to all vehicles used by our allies. His name is included in all military encyclopedias - this is Michael Wittmann.
Tank ace
He covered himself with special glory near the town of Villers-Bocage, where a demonstration battle was given: in fifteen minutes, Michael Wittmann disabled 11 tanks, 13 armored personnel carriers and 2 anti-tank guns. Thus, he almost completely destroyed the intelligence of the British, not just intelligence, but also very glorious since the time of the African campaign, the very one that was called "desert rats". As a result of the actions of one "Tiger", the breakthrough of the British army ceased to exist.
St. Aignan de Cramesnil - a town in Normandy, where in 1944 the brave soldier of the SS group of troops Michael Wittmann laid down his head. The tank in whichthere was a German ace, was destroyed by a direct hit: ammunition detonated, the tower was blown off. Everyone in the tank was simply smeared.
During the period of hostilities, Michael Wittmann, the master of tank battles, personally destroyed 132 anti-tank guns and 141 tanks. Most of this ace's personal account is recorded on the Eastern Front.
Short biography
The most effective tank commander of World War II - Michael Wittmann - was born in April 1914 to a farmer's family from the Upper Palatinate. At the age of twenty, he joined the Workers' Association (RAD - Reichsarbeitdienst), where he served for six months, after which he was called up for military service in the German army.
In 1936, Michael Wittmann ended his service as a non-commissioned officer, and already at the beginning of 1937 he became an SS man under the number SS 311623. Here he began to train to drive an armored car, in which he showed excellent results.
Poland, Greece and other Europe
The Poles in 1939 had an army, if inferior to the Wehrmacht, then quite a bit. Nevertheless, the German campaign in Poland answered all the signs of a blitzkrieg. In September of this year, Michael Wittmann, the newly minted SS Unterscharführer, as part of a reconnaissance unit in an armored Sd. Kfz. 232 with constant triumph rode through the territory of the neighboring state.
Already in October 1939, Wittmann went up the corporate ladder. First, he was transferred to the fifth reconnaissance armored company in Berlin, where there was a kind of "training" onassault guns, then into a newly-made battery of self-propelled assault guns. Here he met and made friends with future aces, whom he would later overtake and overtake: these are Hans Philipsen, Helmut Wendorf, Alfred Günther and some others.
The way to the tank
The real tank career of Michael Wittmann began. At the end of 1940, in Greece and Yugoslavia, Michael Wittmann was already in command of a platoon of StuG self-propelled guns. III Ausf. A, where he stayed until June 1941. Already on June 11, the LSSAH division, where he served, withdrew from positions and went east, where the Barbarossa plan was awaiting implementation. At first, Michael Wittmann fought in the southern regions of the USSR.
For the destruction of Soviet tanks on July 12, 1941, Witman had already received the Iron Cross of the II degree, was slightly wounded, but remained in the ranks, and on September 8 he received the same award of the I degree. The battles near Rostov brought him the Tank Assault Medallion (for 6 tanks destroyed in one battle at the same time) and the title of Oberscharführer. So he fought until June 1942, after which he entered the cadets for officer courses in Bavaria for outstanding services. In September 1942 he graduated from there as a tank instructor.
Grenadier division tank
After redeployment and reorganization in the spring of 1943, Michael Wittmann began his combat career already on the "Tiger", which ironed the heights of the Kursk Bulge on the southern ledge of the front. On the very first day, Wittmann managed to disable 13 T-34 tanks and 2 anti-tank guns. At the same time, he helped the platoon surviveHelmut Wendorf, who got into big trouble. For the entire time of the battles for Kursk and Kharkov, at the end of the operation until July 17, 1943, Witman's "iron tiger" destroyed 28 Soviet guns and 30 tanks.
In August, the division was sent for replenishment and rearmament to Italy, from where it was also used to control the occupied territories. In the newly formed SS heavy tank battalion, Michael Wittmann served with such legendary killers as tank ace Franz Staudeger, Helmut Wendorf, Jurgen Brandt. This unit was commanded by SS Hauptsturmführer Geiz Kling on the "Tiger" number 1301.
The autumn offensive of the Red Army in 1943
The German invaders retreated from Soviet soil with bloody battles. The tank battalion, where Michael Wittmann served, was sent again to the Eastern Front - near Kyiv. Replacing his "Tiger" with a younger beast, in just one day on October 13, Wittmann shot 20 T-34 tanks and 23 anti-tank guns. In January, he received a knight's cross from his native Fatherland.
In early January, Soviet troops planned a breakthrough for a tank brigade, but Wittmann's "Tiger" stood in the way of the breakthrough. By January 13, as the German radio joyfully reported, Wittmann's personal account for destroyed equipment amounted to 88 units of tanks and self-propelled guns. Wittmann's gunner B althasar Woll also received his knight's cross, as he was able to hit a moving target even on the move. Then Wittmann became an SS Obersturmführer. Personal Adolf Hitlercongratulated the tank ace, thanked him for his heroic actions and awarded him the Oak Leaves to the knight's badge. Below you can see: at the head of the crew - Michael Wittmann. The photo shows his "Tiger", on the gun barrel of which 88 rings are drawn, denoting victories.
The "knights" unit
At the end of February, the unit had five holders of the knight's cross: Staudegger, Wendorf, Woll, Kling and Wittmann. But only the latter had a reason for special pride - oak leaves for this cross. And in early March, all these knights left the Eastern Front. Michael Wittmann, whose quotes were now being collected, said that Soviet tanks were easy prey, Soviet anti-tank guns were harder to take.
On March 1, 1944, Wittmann married a girl named Hildegard Burmester, the wedding was attended by tank knight B althazar Woll, his gunner, as a witness. By this time, Michael Wittmann, SS Hauptsturmführer, had become a national hero, his portrait could be seen literally in every home. The propaganda machine has done its job. By the way, gunner Voll survived the war, fought until the last day. Died in 1996.
Towards the main triumph
In April 1944, Wittmann visited the Henschel plant in Kassel, talked with the workers, praised the "Tigers", which were made by their own hands, thanked them for their work, examined the new versions of these tanks. When the hero of Germany Michael Wittmann said anything, his statements were scrupulousrecorded.
In May 1944, Wittmann returned to the unit - not to the Eastern Front, but to France, to the Norman town of Ligier, and on June 6, the allies of the USSR landed in Normandy. Wittmann received a brand new "Tiger" of the latest version. During the redeployment, air raids by our allied aviation greatly thinned out the orderly ranks of German tanks. There were only six "Tigers" left in Wittmann's company. Nevertheless, on June 13, the remnants of this company completely destroyed the entire 4th tank regiment of the British. It was like this.
The British haven't won the war yet
The British entered the town of Villers-Bocage early in the morning. The head regiments of the "Desert Rats" (7th British Armored Division), having met with the locals delighted at their arrival, got out of the tanks and slightly relaxed. Or not even slightly, considering what happened next. At this time, the 4th Battalion, with a tank company of Cromwells, reconnaissance and motorized infantry, decided to move on to survey and clear the way to Caen if they had to. Montgomery was transmitting a telegram to the Chief of Staff de Gigande at that very time about how well he was able to capture the enemy in pincers.
And again, at the same time, from a high-rise nearby, Michael Wittmann was watching the whole picture from the tower of his disguised "Tiger", and Koll was checking the readiness of the guidance system, grumbling about the fact that the British were behaving as if they had already won the whole war. Wittmann had 5 tanks: 4 Tigers, one of which had a damaged track,one Panther. Against a myriad of tanks of the entire British army. Nevertheless, everyone was preparing for battle in order to prevent the British from outflanking the German troops.
They are wrong
Michael Wittmann, SS Hauptsturmführer (this time there was no one to write down quotes) answered Koll's grumbling with this phrase. A column of tanks of British intelligence at that time had already approached the height occupied by Witton by 200 meters. The Desert Panthers drove calmly along the winding highway, and the tall, beautiful trees growing on both sides of the road pleased their eyes. Well, the review was closed, of course, almost completely.
The situation on this sector of the front, Witton at that moment did not know, he himself made his way here from Paris only at night, but still seriously suffered from the raids of English air aces. Nevertheless, he calmly counted in this approaching colossal caterpillar of all the Cromwells, Shermans, Brens - a full armored regiment. Reinforcement by radio had already been requested, there were two options left: wait or attack. The second is pure suicide.
Choice made
Wittmann couldn't start his tank, so he got into his subordinate's car, told the others what to do in the position, and led the "Tiger" towards the enemy. Shortening the distance to a hundred meters, he knocked out the two leading British tanks, then the last tank in the column, blocking the rest on the narrow space of the road lined with trees, which Wittmann's tank both protected and hid. Going to the tail of the column, Wittmannshot at point-blank range every British car that appeared in the line of sight. A couple of "Cromwells" just rammed so as not to interfere with the advance.
After 20 minutes, almost everything was over with the British 7th Armored Division. Completely out of order: 21 tanks, 28 vehicles of other armored vehicles, 14 self-propelled guns and 14 half-tracked armored personnel carriers. After that, Wittmann retreated slightly. Without the slightest damage. The four tanks remaining on the high-rise covered the commander. In the meantime, reinforcements also arrived - 8 more tanks from the first company entered Villers-Bocage from the other side in order to drive other British units out of the town.
Here are the promised pincers
Wittmann interrupted his retreat and rushed to the city center. There, three of the four English tanks that got in the way, he knocked out, and the fourth disappeared behind the wall of the garden. He could not shoot: his gunner did not have time to return to his post. Relaxed the British, indeed, to the fullest. But there was also a fifth "Sherman" that crept around the building and fired four shots at Wittmann's car almost at point blank range, and the "Tiger" at that moment opened its side for the enemy tank. One shell hit, destroying the "caterpillar" of Wittmann's tank.
Wittman, of course, immediately answered: half of the building collapsed on the Sherman and completely filled it up. And continued to fire. The last "Cromwell", which is without a gunner, was also found and smashed. The immobilized tank was Wittmann withabandoned bitterly. He returned to the high-rise, nevertheless started his "Tiger", refueled and managed to join the approaching reinforcements, in the ranks of which he again fell upon what was left of the English division. For this daring, Hitler also awarded Wittmann with "Swords" to the "Oak Leaves" to the Knight's Cross. Thus, there was no more deserved tanker than Witton in the German army. However, the next big British military operation in the west ended in failure. At the beginning of August 1944, the tank was also killed, in which the entire crew of Michael Wittmann was.
