MICHAEL WITTMANN, TANKKOMMANDANT DER WAFFEN SS

http://youtu.be/FFbPMbmW96I

Michael Wittmann
Michael Wittmann
Nickname	The Black Baron[1]
Born	22 April 1914(1914-04-22) Vogelthal
Died	8 August 1944(1944-08-08) (aged 30) Between the towns of Cintheaux and St. Aignan de Cramesnil near the farm of Gaumesnil[2]
Buried at	La Cambe German war cemetery (reinterred)
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Waffen SS
Years of service	1934 – 1944
Rank	Hauptsturmführer
Unit	Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler and Schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 101
Battles/wars	World War II Polish Campaign Battle of France Battle of Greece Operation Barbarossa Battle of Kursk Battle of Normandy †
Awards	Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords

Michael Wittmann (April 22, 1914 – August 8, 1944) was a German Waffen-SS tank commander during the Second World War. Wittmann would rise to the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer (captain) and was a Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross holder.
He was credited with the destruction of 138 tanks and 132 anti-tank guns, along with an unknown number of other armoured vehicles, making him one of Germany's top scoring panzer aces, together with Johannes Bölter, Ernst Barkmann, Otto Carius and Kurt Knispel who was the top scoring ace of the war with 168 tank kills.^[3]
Wittmann is most famous for his ambush of elements of the British 7th Armoured Division, during the Battle of Villers-Bocage on 13 June 1944. While in command of a single Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger he destroyed up to 14 tanks and 15 personnel carriers along with 2 anti-tank guns within the space of 15 minutes.
The circumstances behind Wittmann’s death have caused some debate and discussion over the years, but it had been historically accepted that Trooper Joe Ekins, the gunner in a Sherman Firefly, of the 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry was his killer. However, in recent years, some commentators have suggested that members of the Canadian Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment may have been responsible instead.^[4]