villers bocage:michael wittmanns most famous feat of arms

I think it is more likely a case of Wittmann believing his own press stories....

 

possibly Terry but I know the Tiger Kompanies were short handed due to attrition by the Allies and just plain exhausted and fool hardy crewmen. the idea of a recon with Tigers and no other type of oversee by other armored vehicles before hand is insane

 

Attacking into a town without supporting infantry, without reconnissance, without artillery support, without... well, anything is insane. Four tanks against a British brigade (more or less) that is properly supported is not a winner, no matter how good you are.

One of the problems with using Tigers is that they are allocated to seperate battalions as corps level troops. This means they are not actually assigned to a specific division and have their own semi-seperate chain of command. I think the Germans made a major mistake assigning these vehicles this way. It would have been far better in my opinion that they assigned a company or two per panzer division.

 

in your last statement Terry this is exactly what the 1st-3rd W-SS Panzers did they had associated Tiger 1 Kompanies attached from whenst they grey into Panzer Abteilungs with all the associated paper nonsense and a few support vehicles.

 

Hero worship of Nazi soldiers, particularly SS troopers, is so controversial even today. I have seen entire websites devoted to this single man, and really, what are we looking at? Just another example of fighting soldiers picked up and abused by a regime that needed good news for the folks at home, so that other folks at home could feel glad about the fact that many of these boys were not going to make it back.

Propaganda is such a beastly swindle. We wargamers used to see this even from large boardgame manufacturers. The game wasn't called "Tanker", it was called "Panzerblitz", or "Panzerkrieg" or "Drang Nach Osten" etc, etc, etc. So much hero worship of the German military has spilled over into the present day that it's insidious.

Joe Goebbels would be proud of the results of a process begun by singling out individual flyers in WW1 who had shot down 5 or more aircraft to keep the folks at home preoccupied about the fact that many of the infantry were faceless fodder.

 

Someone posting above has made reference to Wittman's attack being launched without infantry support although I am not sure if he is referring to Villers Bocage or to the 8th August.
Besides hitting three Tigers, Joe Ekins also remembers seeing infantry advancing upon his Troop position (Panzer Grenadiers maybe?). On seeing them he got on his machine gun and "gave them a good peppering". This served to break that little attack up. Later on in the engagement he hit a fourth tank at greater range but does not know what type it was.
At the end of the day, a Tiger was found abandoned. This was the lead tank of the attacking column. Joe had been ordered to fire on a particular tank on each emergence from the cover of the orchard. He fired on the rearmost tank first and worked his way forward of the column. That way the guys in front could not see what was happening to their buddies behind them. The abandoned Tiger was found a mile into the allied lines. It was found intact suggesting the crew, suddenly realising they were out on a limb, had baled out and scarpered. Either that or it was out of fuel.

 

Greetings from Australia.

'Till now I had no interest in tanks.

I watched: Battlefield Mysteries - Who Killed Michael Wittmann? and loved it.

I'm altering a trip a wee bit and will be visiting the place where Wittman died. Here:-

49°04'00.25"N 000°17'31.05"W - Google Maps

http://i.imgur.com/LYc7b.jpg

I'll also visit De La Cambe where he's buried. Approx: 49°20'31.00"N 001°01'35.00"W

Does anyone have a layout map of the cemetery? I'd like to find out exactly where:-

Michael Wittmann is buried in square 47, row 3, grave 120 of "De La Cambe"

is before I blast off.

Any other recommended places to visit along / nearby this route?

Pelikaanweg to Unknown road - Google Maps

Thanks.

>>>My Blog:

P.S. I'll be visiting Villers-Bocage once I've got more stuff together.

ADDED: 49°04'52.95"N 000°38'58.12"W - Google Maps

Then & Now#1

Then & Now#2

 

sounds good 8002...

 

Wittmanns attack was part of a large German counter attack involving around 30+ tanks and SP guns as well as Panzer grenadiers of Kampfgruppen Waldmuller, but the attack was uncoordinated, Wittmann's unit of 7 Tigers were well ahead of the infantry and other tanks, and the whole attack ended in a costly failure for the German's.

In the sources I have(including No Holding Back, Operation Totalize, by Brian A Reid) the tank is identified as a Panzer IV

I doubt they ran out of fuel, running out of fuel during an important attack would have been the height of professional incompetence. In my view they either suffered a mechanical failure, or as you stated they abandoned the tank deep in enemy territory due to the fact they felt they couldn't return to their own lines in it ( a more common practice on both sides than believed.)

 

I have been told that Joe Ekins, the tank gunner from the Northamptonshire Yeomanry will be featured on telly tomorrow, Thursday the 18th.
The programme on which he will appear is "The One Show" which is on BBC1 straight after the local evening news finishes - usually about 6.50 pm onwards.
Not sure what the exact content of the piece will be. Will have to wait and see.

 

I am informed that a new film has been made about the action on the 8th August 1944 between Joe Ekins' Firefly and the tanks of the 12th SS. I have not seen the film yet but one can read a recent news article concerning it on:

New film relives bravery of tank gunner - Northampton Chronicle and Echo

 

thanks for update incredulous.. much appreciated, ray.

 

He was the only person Chuck Norris almost feared!

 

TV snippet. The bit about Ekins starts at 22:20

BBC Media Player

 

thanks m kenny..noted..

 

The other thread is closed, so I thought I would post in here.

There is an DVD comming out that states that Joe Ekins put down wittman.

But I have seen a documentary done by Norm Christie that that is not the case.

Who Killed Michael Wittman? - BATTLEFIELD MYSTERIES - History Television

I've seen it a couple of times, and it seems to fact driven....so maybe it wasn't Mr. Ekins.

 

It is a theory, the latest in a long line of theories. Go back and you will find lots of these theories that were, in time superseded by new theories that 'prove' the old theories wrong. In time new theories will emerge that will discredit this theory and then we will have a new theory. The list is endless so let me try and inject some reality in this madness.

Wittmann was killed on 8/8/44.

No one knows who hit his Tiger.

No one ever will.

That is it.

Why is it soooo important for people to build this rather mundane event up into some special world-stopping crisis?

 

I'm as tired as the next man about Michael bleedin' Wittmann, on the whole, but Rob Schafer [twitter]GERArmyResearch[/twitter] has translated this contemporary interview with the man.
Propaganda, naturally, but something 'new', at least to me, if perhaps not those with a more dedicated interest in Panzerwaffe Posterboy. :

https://vimeo.com/148914977

All credit to Rob. Hire him here!
https://about.me/germanmilitaryhistorian



Many other Wittmann threads are available...
http://www.ww2f.com/topic/31723-interesting-article-saying-they-found-the-man-who-killed-wittman/page-2
http://www.ww2f.com/topic/39128-who-killed-michael-wittman/

Etc. ad nauseum.

 

Thanks for posting!

I had never heard that there was an actual interview of Michael Wittmann...even if it is a propaganda piece.