Wittmann in Normandy

by Charles E. White

It was 13 June 1944. That gray Tuesday morning marked the Allies’ first disastrous contact with the Tigers, and one of the most spectacular but obscure episodes of the Normandy campaign. By 0630 hours, a British armored column had flanked the German line south of Bayeux and was advancing through Villers-Bocage northeast towards Hill 213, which commanded the main highway to Caen. Should the English seize Hill 213, thus penetrating their enemy’s rear, the German position would collapse.

Unknown to the British, the 2nd Company, 501st Heavy SS Tank Battalion, occupied their objective. Led by Obersturmführer (first lieutenant) Michael Wittmann, an experienced tanker who had knocked out 119 Russian tanks, 2nd Company had just reached the invasion front following a strenuous forced march from Beauvais via Paris. Near Versailles on 8 June, Allied fighter-bombers had caught Wittmann’s sixteen Tigers, leaving him with just five operational tanks when he arrived in the neighborhood of Villers-Bocage on the morning of the 13th. While the remains of his battered force paused to reorganize and service their tanks, Wittmann reconnoitered his position.

Emerging from a small patch of woodland that broke the mood of solitude generated by the gentle, grassy landscape, Wittmann noticed enemy tanks traveling in column along the road toward his location. Cautiously, the veteran of the Russian front withdrew to the edge of the woods, observed, and counted. Here was no reconnaissance detachment, but an entire assault force, and it was moving into the rear of the Panzer Lehr Division. Though Wittmann was ignorant of his enemy’s identity, this was the spearhead of the 7th Armoured Division, Montgomery’s famous “Desert Rats.” Through his binoculars Wittmann noticed that the British were encountering scant resistance in Villers-Bocage, allowing the bulk of Montgomery’s force to continue unmolested along the road toward Caen. It was a hazy morning with no Allied aircraft in the sky. To Wittmann’s amazement, the British were displaying an astonishing degree of audacity, acting as if they had already won the war. From his prior experience Wittmann knew that there was no time for additional calculation, only for action. But what could a single Tiger do? Detecting quarry, Wittmann instinctively attacked, setting the stage for one of the most sensational incidents of the war.

The still of that damp June morning was abruptly rent by the blast of the Tiger’s “88.” Seconds later, the leading British tank, only 80 meters away, erupted in a volcano of searing flames, impeding the line of advance. Wittmann’s Tiger then raced at top speed past its first victim, fired again, and the last vehicle in the British column became a blazing holocaust, effectively blocking any movement within the closed formation. Reaching the road, Wittmann maneuvered his Tiger down the length of the enemy line, presenting only his frontal armor as he systematically blasted the entrapped British force.

Suddenly, a Cromwell materialized from the dense smoke that billowed from the blazing hulks which littered the battlefield, firing its guns point-blank at the Tiger. Seconds after its shell slammed against Wittmann’s armor plating with no effect, the Tiger destroyed it.

Down the road rolled Wittmann. Every half-track, as well as a dozen tanks, quickly became scrap. Another Cromwell now attempted to stalk the beast from behind, aiming at the Tiger’s relatively soft rear. A veteran of nearly two hundred engagements, Wittmann was not to be caught so easily. Anticipating his adversary’s intentions, Wittmann denied the Cromwell his posterior and had another glowing tank to his credit.

By now, the rest of the 2nd Company had marched to the sound of the guns and supported by tanks and infantry of the Panzer Lehr, drove the dazed British from Villers-Bocage. Stunned by Wittmann’s daring action, Montgomery abandoned his flanking movement, withdrawing his battered units to Livry. British historians credit Wittmann with destroying nineteen tanks, fourteen half-tracks, and fourteen Bren gun carriers in less than five minutes. British chroniclers also claimed seven Tigers destroyed, but since defeats and retreats inevitably lead to inaccurate counting and reporting, this is a pardonable mistake.

Obersturmführer Michael Wittmann’s sudden and determined action at Villers-Bocage on 13 June 1944 remains one of the most impressive feats of the war. Destroying the first and last vehicles in a column, a single tank was able to rake the immobilized tanks and half-tracks, crippling the spearhead of an armored division within five minutes. Faced by seemingly hopeless odds, a resolute tank commander, using bold, decisive action, brought a serious enemy threat to an abrupt halt.

Obersturmführer Michael Wittmann never lived to see Germany surrender. On 7 August, Wittmann’s company wrought havoc among six hundred Canadian tanks attempting to seal the encirclement of the Germans in the Falaise pocket. The next day, 8 August 1944, death and destruction was showered upon Wittmann’s company by an estimated 1,900 bombers and 1,800 fighter-bombers of the U.S. Eighth Air Force—the largest Allied carpet-bombing attack of the Normandy campaign. When the 501st Heavy SS Tank Battalion was withdrawn that evening, Obersturmführer Michael Wittmann was no longer with them.

During an interview with a former member of the 4th Company, 501st Heavy SS Tank Battalion, the author learned some interesting revelations. In training, Wittmann’s crew could load and fire within four seconds. Additionally, the crew of a Tiger consisted of five men, the fifth being a signal operator who also fired the machine gun mounted on the right front of the tank. These observations help explain Wittmann’s amazing performance on 13 June 1944, since his gunner could concentrate on tank-like targets while the signalman simultaneously machine-gunned the thin-skinned vehicles. The author also learned from a British veteran of Villers-Bocage, that he witnessed a Cromwell’s turret being blown nearly 20 feet from its chassis after being hit by a shell from Wittmann’s “88.”

Wittmann’s company, 7 June 1944, en route to Morgny. Wittmann is standing in the turret of Tiger 205.

 

The wreckage of the British transport column, including to the fore an anti-tank gun, that Wittmann engaged.

SS-Untersturmführer Michel Wittmann, January 1944.

Obersturmführer Michel Wittmann, perhaps the most outstanding “Tiger” commander—and possibly the top tank “ace” of all time. He is seen here on his Tiger I wearing his Oak Leaves to the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross, a very rare decoration. Northern France, 15 May 1944.

Obersturmführer Wittmann on his Tiger I tank, 15 May 1944.

Obersturmführer Michael Wittmann with Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz, 15 May 1944.

Obersturmführer Michael Wittmann and the crew of his Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger I, Northern France, 15 May 1944.

SS-Hauptsturmführer Michael Wittmann, Ritterkreuz, June 1944.

Michael Wittmann, photographed in Normandy in June 1944, shortly before his death.

Wittmann days before his death.

Wittmann’s crew was just as responsible for their successes. Seen here are Wittmann’s gunner and loader. Note that the gunner also wears the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross, rarely awarded to non-commissioned officers. The hatch cover configuration of the new Tiger commander cupola can be clearly seen.

The driver of Wittmann's tank, seen here at right, wore the Iron Cross First Class in recognition of his many accomplishments under difficult conditions.

A destroyed Tiger I of Michael Wittman’s unit after being caught in an Allied air raid was utterly destroyed. None of the crew survived.

The only photograph taken of Michael Wittmann’s destroyed late production model Tiger I no. 007 still in the fields near Gaumesnil, taken by the French civilian Serge Varin in 1945 when he was cycling down the Caen-Falaise road (route nationale 158). This is the only photo which he took that has survived. After inspecting the tank, Varin concluded that an RAF Typhoon rocket must have destroyed it, based on his discovery of unexploded rocket near the tank. There is however considerable conflict surrounding the exact details of Wittman’s death, with no fully accepted account existing. The turret has landed upside down. The body of the Tiger had been rolled forward from its original position to remove the tracks, it was originally next to the turret.

Grave of Michael Wittmann in La Cambe German war cemetery, Normandy, France.