BrerRabbit~SPARTA~ Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 COH has the fictional character Maximillian Voss leading his Tiger into Villers-Bocage but in reality it was SS-Hauptsturmführer Michael Wittman commanding his Tiger in '44 that blew through a British tank battalion. Relic has always been reluctant about representing SS units in COH and I guess this is why they dont properly identify Wittman. Anyway, heres the wikipedia article on him and the first part of a 5 part documentary on his career. Wittman's wikipedia article http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IFEux4No7c&feature=related Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolf Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Hmmm, you have to watch out for documentaries and such like concerning Wittman as there is a fair amount of lingering propaganda concerning certain SS types. Wittman's initial assault on Villers Bocage was daring certainly but had he had waited for reinforcements before attacking it is believed by some that the attack would have had greater success. Although Wittman's ambush had dealt a blow to the hopes of a successful breakthrough by the 7th Armoured Division, Erskine believed that with more infantry he could have carried on. By the time the Germans had gathered enough Tigers and infantry for the second assault on Villers Bocage later that day, 7th Armoured was waiting for them and rebuffed the attack with the Germans losing several precious Tigers and failing to capture Villers Bocage. 7th Armoured later formed a brigade box outside Villers Bocage and again the Germans were unable to defeat 7th Armoured. Due to the slugishness of the advance of the 50th Tyne and Tees division it was decided to call Operation Perch off and straighten up the line. A lot has been made of the initial attack by Wittman but in reality, whilst it was a bit of daring do, he squandered an opportunity to do a lot more damage to 7th Armoured. Whether or not Wittman had made the initial attack, Operation Perch was going to be stopped sooner or later due to a few of Bucknall's decisions regarding the employment of the 50th Division and the hardening of the German line. It was an indicator of the tactical inflexibilty of the Germans in Normandy, that is to say that the immediate counter attack that had worked in other theatres and campaigns was going to flounder with severe consequences for the Panzer divisions and ultimately cost them the campaign. On the British side of things it meant that the prospect of a more mobile campaign in Normandy was dashed and an attritional approach had to be used instead. Whilst this meant an increase in infantry casulties which were a major concern to Montgomery, Montogemery's "Colossal Cracks" doctrine was successfuly applied and the Germans were defeated operationally and strategically time and time again. On the tactical side they were generally superior to the British and they had the advantage of being the defenders most of the time. In the Normandy terrain both sides were to find that the defender had a much easier time than the attacker. A good book on Villers Bocage that looks at the battle objectively and is less swayed by "Nazi Supermen" propaganda is called "Villers-Bocage Through the Lens (After the battle)" by Daniel Taylor who refutes several myths surrounding the battle and puts things into perspective. Wittman later went on to commit more tactical follies and it is widely accepted (but not fully accepted) that he met his demise at the hands of Joe Ekins, a Firefly gunner from the 1st Northhamptonshire Yeomanry during Operation Totalize. Wittman advanced on a wide open flank along with 2 other Tigers across a wide open field and from an Orchard on Wittman's flank Ekins was able to knock the rear one out followed by the other two. He then went on to destroy a panzer mark IV before his own tank was hit. Ekins had never fired the 17 Pounder before the engagement with Wittman. After being told "Good Job Ekins" he was transferred to another tank as a wireless operator for the rest of the war and never fired another shot with a tank gun again. It has been confirmed that Ekins got three Tigers that day but there are other theories that Canadian fireflys from the Sherbrooke Fusiliers killed him. "No Holding Back" by Brian Reid is the must-read source for this equally plausible theory. If you want to hear about the story from Joe Ekins you can listen to him in an interview conducted by the Bovington Tank Museum. You can also hear about what he thought of Wittman too. See here for the podcasts. The most impressive German tank aces however have to be without a doubt Otto Carius and Kurt Knispel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeno~SPARTA~ Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 Love these posts. I have been in awe of the Tiger tank, even more so of the bravery of men that went against it with inferior machines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrerRabbit~SPARTA~ Posted February 8, 2011 Author Share Posted February 8, 2011 (edited) lingering propaganda Well, in case you were directing that at the documentary I linked, Id have to say that it is pop history and typical of such mil. docs. made for TV, but it still gives a fairly even handed accounting of Wittman. I certainly dont think it presents him as a "Nazi Superman" - but any tank commander who survives through Kursk is either exceptionally lucky or skilled or both in my opinion. There's no way around his outstanding record in the war, whether or not someone wants to represent him as a "Nazi Superman" or a flawed tactician, the point is the guy knocked out an incredible number of tanks and AT guns during his career. I do understand there is some critique of Wittman's tactical choices in Normandy (of course always easy to make such critiques from a comfortable armchair decades on) but it is the daring do of the Villers-Bocage exploit that inspired THQ/Relic to put it into their game. I just wish they would call a spade a spade and name the character Wittman, and for that matter just say "SS" for particular units in their game instead of tip toeing around the matter. Edited February 8, 2011 by BrerRabbit~SPARTA~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolf Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 (edited) Hi BrerRabbit, I've had a read over my post again and I apologize if I come across as rather sharp and scathing. Having seen that documentary before and having had a read around the subject I agree that the documentary is pop history. I'm glad that it makes mention of Wittman's crew and some of the wee anecdotes were interesting and amusing so in that regard I found the doucmentary interesting. However, I found that the documentary was not objective enough for my taste (I might sound like a bit of a (s)nob here so I apologize). I found it was heavily balenced in favour toward Wittman without applying enough scrutiny toward his claims and the propaganda surrounding him. The lack of context regarding the operational matters of XXX corps during Operation Perch serve to skew the significance of Villers Bocage .There were also a few errors throughout the documentary which stem from the old propaganda which is unfortunately what makes Wittman one of the more "appealing" Nazi figures for certain documentaries and books wanting to earn a cheap buck or two. But then maybe I am expecting too much from these documentaries! I agree that Wittman was an exceptional tank commander, there no question about it. What I take issue with is the skewed mainstream view of him and the lack of rigour applied in his portrayal which tends to overshadow the more remarkable achievements of Carius and Knispel and fails to put Villers Bocage into proper perspective. It is up to dilligent and objective researchers and academics to properly piece together the most likely picture of what happened back then according to tangible facts and hard evidence. There will always be different theories about what happened when etc. but that is the nature of academic scrutiny. An example of well researched and well argued study which ties in well with Villers Bocage is John Buckley's "British Armour in Normandy" (It's expensive but I highly reccommend that anyone interested in Normandy purchase it). It goes into great depth about the effectiveness of British armour (Armoured divisions, armoured divisions and tank brigades) in Normandy and is well worth the read. It covers the genuine "Tiger-phobia" that german Tiger commanders like Wittman helped to instill in the minds of British Tankers that would lead them to mis-identify Panzer MkIVs as Tigers. It also covers the tactical folies and flexiblity or inflexibilty of both the Germans and British. For information regarding the Canadians in Normandy I believe that "Fields of Fire: The Canadians in Normandy" by Terry Copp is to be recommended. As an aside, an mp3 is available (for free!) of a lecture given by John Buckley called "British Army Doctrine in Normandy 1944: Work in Progress" which gives a nice overview of Normandy and of popular books concerning the subject which you can find here. There are a number of other interesting podcasts which can be listened to for free from here. Regarding Relics decision not to include Wittman in name, I do agree that it seems a bit silly to avoid mentioning him. I don't think people should shy away from talking about certain SS types due to a fear of being labelled as being politically incorrect. From the documentary that BrerRabbit posted I do feel sorry for Wittman when he initially joins a Tiger battalion, is shown the ~60 ton behemoths and then told that he'd be commanding a Panzer Mk III. That would be quite a cruel, massive kick in the balls! Edited February 8, 2011 by Rolf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrerRabbit~SPARTA~ Posted February 8, 2011 Author Share Posted February 8, 2011 Now that is what I call "effective British armor!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
custard~SPARTA~ Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 Very interesting stuff guys, BTW excellent self moderation of your post Rolf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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