Michael Wittmann (22 April 1914 – 8 August 1944) was a German Waffen-SS tank commander during the Second World War. He is known 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 Tiger I tank, Wittmann destroyed up to 14 tanks, 15 personnel carriers and two anti-tank guns within 15 minutes before the loss of his own tank.
Wittmann became a cult figure after the war thanks to his accomplishments as a "panzer ace" (a highly decorated tank commander), part of the portrayal of the Waffen-SS in popular culture. Historians have offered differing assessments of his combat performance. His actions at Villers-Bocage have been praised for their immediate effectiveness, while his tactical judgement was criticised. Historians have further questioned the reliability and significance of his credited tank-kill total and the extent to which his reputation was influenced by wartime propaganda and the battlefield advantages of the Tiger I.
Although the number is disputed, he is credited with destroying 135 to 138 enemy tanks. German tank kills were recorded as a unit. When Hitler personally upgraded Wittmann's Knight's Cross with oak leaves on 2 February 1944, Wittmann's total was 117 tanks.
Michael Wittmann was born in the village of Vogelthal, near Dietfurt in Bavaria's Upper Palatinate, on 22 April 1914. He enlisted in the German Army (Heer) in 1934 after the Nazi seizure of power.
At the age of 22, he entered his name into the registration lists of his local SS unit on October 1, 1936. In November of the same year, he was assigned to the 1st Sturm (company) of the 92nd SS-Standarte (SS number 311,623) in Ingolstadt. On April 1, 1937, he transferred to the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS Dispositional Troops). On April 5, 1938, he began training as an SS-Mann (SS private) with the Leibstandarte SS "Adolf Hitler" On November 9, 1938, the swearing-in allegiance to Adolf Hitler and his promotion to SS-Sturmmann (SS lance corporal) took place at the Feldherrnhalle in Münich.
The Nazi regime pursued a massive armament policy. On 1 September 1939, it began the Invasion of Poland, on 9 April 1940 the invasion of Denmark and Norway and on 10 May 1940 the Battle of France and on 6 April 1941 the Balkans campaign.
In the spring of 1941, Wittmann's unit was transferred to the Eastern Front for Operation Barbarossa, the planned invasion of the Soviet Union. He was assigned to SS Panzer Regiment 1, a tank unit, where he commanded a StuG III assault gun/tank destroyer and a Panzer III medium tank. By 1943, he commanded a Tiger I tank, and had become a platoon leader in the heavy company by the time Operation Citadel and the Battle of Kursk took place.
Attached to the LSSAH, Wittmann's platoon of four Tigers reinforced the division's reconnaissance battalion to screen the division's left flank. On their first day in battle at Kursk, Wittmann and his crew were credited with eight tanks and seven anti-tank guns destroyed. At one point, his tank survived a collision with a burning T-34.
In November 1943, Wittmann, still serving in Leibstandarte’s heavy company, was involved in armored counterattacks against Soviet troops around Zhitomir. On their first day in action against these troops, Wittmann's crew claimed the destruction of ten T-34s and five anti-tank guns. “By early January 1944 his combined total of destroyed tanks would rise to sixty-six.”
On 14 January 1944, Wittmann was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. The presentation was made by his divisional commander, SS-Oberführer Theodor Wisch, who nominated him for the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. Wittmann was awarded the Oak Leaves on 30 January for the claimed destruction of 117 tanks, making him the 380th member of the German armed forces to receive it. He received the award from Adolf Hitler, who presented it to him at the Wolf's Lair, his headquarters in Rastenburg, on 2 February 1944.
In April 1944, the LSSAH's Tiger Company was transferred to SS Heavy Panzer Battalion 101. This battalion was assigned to the I SS Panzer Corps as a corps asset, and was never permanently attached to any division or regiment. Wittmann was appointed commander of the battalion's second company, and held the rank of SS-Obersturmführer. On 7 June, the day after the Allied Invasion of Normandy began, the battalion was ordered to move from Beauvais to Normandy. The move, covering 165 km (105 miles), took five days to complete.
Due to the Anglo-American advance south from Gold and Omaha Beaches, the German 352nd Infantry Division began to buckle. As the division withdrew south, it opened a 12 km (a 7.5-mile) gap in the front line near Caumont-l'Éventé.
Sepp Dietrich, commander of 1st SS Panzer Corps, ordered Heavy SS-Panzer Battalion 101, his only reserve, to position itself behind the Panzer Lehr Division and SS Division Hitlerjugend. From this position, the battalion could protect the developing open left flank.
Anticipating the importance the British would assign to the high ground near Villers-Bocage, Wittmann's company was positioned near the town. It arrived late on 12 June. Nominally composed of 12 tanks, his company was 50 per cent understrength with only six tanks due to losses and mechanical failures on the hundred-mile road march from the assembly area at Beauvais.
The next morning, lead elements of the British 7th Armoured Division entered Villers-Bocage. Their objective was to exploit the gap in the front line, seize Villers-Bocage, and capture the nearby ridge (Point 213) in an attempt to force a German withdrawal.
Wittmann had not expected them to arrive so soon and had no time to assemble his company. "Instead I had to act quickly, as I had to assume that the enemy had already spotted me and would destroy me where I stood." Having ordered the rest of the company to hold its ground, he set off with one tank.
At approximately 09:00, Wittmann's Tiger emerged from cover onto the main road, Route Nationale 175, and engaged the rearmost British tanks positioned on Point 213, destroying them.
Wittmann then moved towards Villers-Bocage, shooting several unarmed transport vehicles parked along the roadside. The carriers burst into flames as their fuel tanks were ruptured by machine gun and high explosive fire. Moving into the eastern end of the town, he engaged several light tanks, followed by medium tanks.