Michael Wittman's Demise - did we find the answer?

[Michael Dorosh]

Originally posted by hitlers underpants:

i was reading this thread with interest at work earlier today,when i got home i checked my grandfathers old box(he was an unterofficer in the hitlerjugend,because i remember seeing some old photos of german tank crews,and what did i find!!!,a photo showing ss-untersturmfuhrer micheal wittmann being decorated with his liebstandarte crew 0n the 16 january 44.the photo looks like it was cut from an article,but on the back of the photo it names his crew and says that the only survivor of his crew in the war was a guy called balthasar woll,some other posts seem to mention his whole crew being killed,any clarifications from u grogs would be interesting

Bobby Woll was his KC winning gunner - I can provide a link to an online interview with him if you like.

When wittman was killed, Woll had already been promoted to command of his own tank, IIRC, so technically was not a member of his crew anymore.

[ May 28, 2002, 10:05 PM: Message edited by: Michael Dorosh ]

[Sir Uber General]

Yes please, I'd love read that interview.

The point about possible turret rotation is also a good one, especially given returning fire to their right.

[hitlers underpants]

thanks for clearing that one up michael,and yes i would love if u could provide that link for the woll interview,many thanks, darren

[Michael Dorosh]

http://pub82.ezboard.com/fpanzer4520frm1.showMessage?topicID=124.topic

As an aside -

www.dragon-models.com - Dragon had a two figure set of 1/6 scale action figures featuring Wittman and his gunner Bobby, both with their Knight's Crosses.

Someone on another board tried to use this interview as "proof" that Wittman was killed by a typhoon.

Good lesson in how words mean things. Note that Woll says he "heard" that Wittman had been killed by a plane. I mean, this is an 80 year old man roughly 55 years after the fact making an aside, and yet some people would claim that because he had the Knight's Cross, his word on this would be better than someone who had done actual investigation and research. Woll did not witness the death of the Wittman, but simply - like the rest of us 60 years later - "heard" about it from a third party.

[ May 28, 2002, 10:19 PM: Message edited by: Michael Dorosh ]

[hitlers underpants]

thanks michael,great interview it is too!!!

[Sir Uber General]

Thanks MD, worthy reading

[Micheal Wittman]

What's this all about anyways!

We're doing fine here Thanks! :cool:

[P51D]

Considering the tone that this thread has taken, especially being accused of being a liar, this is my final post. Things have become somewhat vitriolic since the level headed discussion that began yesterday. I understood that personal attacks in the forums were forbidden.

Therefore i have no further no comments to make on this subject.

To the guys who i originally corresponded with yesterday on the 1st page of this post, thanks guys & good luck.

Ed

[PawBroon]

I guess it's typical of the way we're functioning.

Wittman was a Demi God of Tank Warfare.

You can't kill those without gamey use of Typhoons and maybe Cpt Kirk's Entreprise while I'm a it.

I mean, surely no tanker could have bagged Wittman?

Much less multiple Tiger kills?

Having the CAP Thesis supported is the best way to keep Wittman high in the Hall of Fame.

He got killed because he was overconfident.

Same for the Red Baron.

You don't need a Demi God to kill a Demi God.

You just need to be there when they fumble...

[K_Tiger]

PawB:

If you try to make someone thinking, Manfred von Richthofen was overconfident, so must i deny. This goes more to his brother Lothar. He was more the guy we would today say a hero, allways trying to made so many kills he could get. Manfred on the other side didnt try to made more shootdowns as 1-2 per day or per flight.

Also its a fakt, Manfred died true a flakbullet, not thrue a other Pilot.

To the Wittman Myth and his dead i have my own opinion. I saw a picture and read somthing about the mysterie death of our beloved "Tankheroe"...

I saw some years ago nearly the same picture like someone here hade posted (His tiger from the back), but with a bigger fiew of the country around. Also they statet, there was only this single destroyed tank around.

So what could this say us?? 4 Tigers were ambushed by some Fly`s...no problem, they could kill any tanks without a problem. First question: Why only one destroyed Tiger?? Wittman wasn`t alone aditional 3 Tigers were with him. If the story with the Fly kill`s r right, why there werent more destroyed Tigers?? Other opinion, Tigers were often or mostly manned by elite crews...may a returning fire hade killed a sherman??

But i think, if the fly`s opened fire from an ambush, all tigers would be trash...the reaction time and the slow WWII tanks r not able to get fast enought out of the fireline...

The other quote here cursed around about the turret direction...sorry, but its the wired`st story i read...to spot shermans in a wood 800 yards away..possible in the first seconds without glasses...until Wittman could give any orders, he would be death....

Also i read (or saw it in the Historychannel)...the same like P51d mentioned, the examiener from the Wreck say`d clearly, no ap penetration, but a big hole on top of the engine deck.

For me, its not from interrest to put Wittman untouched ...Its war.. and nobody really care what happend to this or those guys...if the result is death...its still a drama...

[PawBroon]

Well it appears War Heroes can't be SIMPLY dead.

Which proves my case.

The Red Baron is just like Wittman.

The shot which killed him is commonly believed to have come from Australian gunners on the ground (53rd TripleA IIRC), but is also widely said to have also come from the guns of Canadian flier Arthur "Roy" Brown.

See?

AP?

Typhons?

Flak?

Fighter?

You're right.

Death is always a Drama.

Unless it speaks with A VOICE LIKE THAT...

But War Hereos and Idols just don't die like the rest.

[Lawyer]

Michael Wittman dead?? Next you'll all be claiming Hitler really did die in the Berlin bunker.

You guys probably haven't seen Elvis lately either...

[The DesertFox]

K_Tiger,

So what could this say us?? 4 Tigers were ambushed by some Fly`s...no problem, they could kill any tanks without a problem. First question: Why only one destroyed Tiger?? Wittman wasn`t alone aditional 3 Tigers were with him. If the story with the Fly kill`s r right, why there werent more destroyed Tigers??

There were 5 KO´ed Tigers at the end of this 8th August, not only Wittmann´s 007.

These Tigers were all examined and one, No.314, was also photographed (1945 by Serge Varin, picture see Agte, german edition page 288)

Examinations took place on the 9th August 1944 by Peter Smith, SqnCo Maj Gray Skelton and other officers ["A", 1st Northants] (reference Tout, AFNFT, page 132-133). Additionally at least four other officers (Radley-Walters, Bevan, Boardman and Brassey) visited the wrecks in the following 3 years when the wrecks were still in situ. (reference Tout, AFNFT, page 132-133)

Furthermore we have the recollection of SS-Rottenfuehrer Herbert Debusmann who cleared mines in the area as a POW and examined the wrecks too. (reference Agte, german edition, page 267)

Bottomline is that 5 Tigers were KO´ed and the existance of their wrecks is substantiated by more than 3 first-hand accounts of different armies. Furthermore none of these reports mentions anything like a CAS attack or damage on the tanks which might stem from a CAS attack.

cheers

Helge

[Michael Dorosh]

Originally posted by P51D:

Considering the tone that this thread has taken, especially being accused of being a liar, this is my final post. Things have become somewhat vitriolic since the level headed discussion that began yesterday. I understood that personal attacks in the forums were forbidden.

Therefore i have no further no comments to make on this subject.

To the guys who i originally corresponded with yesterday on the 1st page of this post, thanks guys & good luck.

Ed

Does that mean you won't tell us the name of the journals that this was discussed in? Seems a little unfair. Why bother posting if you are not going to follow through?

Sorry for not bowing down and kissing the ground you walk on, but given that

a) you use a pseudonym

you fawn over your own credentials without being specific about them

c) you cite no clear sources

d) your information is being refuted by other posters

It is hard not to come to some unkind conclusions about you. Set us straight by telling us where we can read more. You have to admit, this really does follow the pattern of someone who is not what he says he is.

Either way, no biggie. Like a friend of a friend of mine, who served in tanks in the South Alberta Regiment in WW II, I have no crushing need to know who "got" Wittman - I am just glad that somebody got him.

Would have been nice to read more, but if we have to beg, or wade through anonymous posts by someone claiming to be an authority and try and discern fictional information from the genuine article, it is scarcely worth it.

Thanks to all the others - the "amateurs" who made no claims that they were right above all else - for providing interesting reading and much food for thought.

[ May 29, 2002, 09:20 AM: Message edited by: Michael Dorosh ]

[Michael Dorosh]

Originally posted by PawBroon:

He got killed because he was overconfident.

Same for the Red Baron....

This wasn't the case for the Red Baron, and I don't see evidence to support this for Wittman.

The Red Baron was worn out. He got careless. He got suckered in to a low-flying chase over enemy lines, and worst of all, he forgot to check behind him - the first rule of airfighting. His demise was sealed by Australian gunners on the ground, but the fact that he didn't break off once Brown was on the scene kind of indicates, to me, as far as the evidence I've read will take us, that the Baron was simply careless.

He had been fighting far too long, and he never recovered from his head wound.

Or, if you prefer, his luck simply ran out.

If Wittman was bagged at 800 metres by a Firefly, I am not sure how that leads one to the presumption he was overconfident. I would suspect that like Richtofen, he simply ran out of luck - the key ingredient an ace possesses, for if luck is against you, so is everything else.

[P51D]

Unfair?

Unfair is being called a liar by someone whom i have never met or knows me. I have neither the time nor inclination to provide information to anyone who decides to personaly insult me.

We were having a reasonable discussion & i have some of the documentation refs to immediate hand after searching for them at home last night.

In light of the post attacking me before i had responded to the request for info, which i fully intended to provide as i indicated i would when i got home last night, i am not prepeared to discuss the issue further.

As far as i am concerned this matter is closed.

Thank you

Ed

[Michael Dorosh]

Originally posted by P51D:

Unfair?

Unfair is being called a liar by someone whom i have never met or knows me. I have neither the time nor inclination to provide information to anyone who decides to personaly insult me.

We were having a reasonable discussion & i have some of the documentation refs to immediate hand after searching for them at home last night.

In light of the post attacking me before i had responded to the request for info, which i fully intended to provide as i indicated i would when i got home last night, i am not prepeared to discuss the issue further.

As far as i am concerned this matter is closed.

Thank you

Ed

See my edited version of my post above.

Maturity is also the hallmark of a historian. Feel free to come back when you have some.

Being called a liar is obviously not on. Taking your marbles and going home in tears makes you no better than whoever insulted you.

Buh bye.

[The DesertFox]

Sorry for not bowing down and kissing the ground you walk on, but given that

a) you use a pseudonym

you fawn over your own credentials without being specific about them

c) you cite no clear sources

d) your information is being refuted by other posters

It is hard not to come to some unkind conclusions about you. Set us straight by telling us where we can read more. You have to admit, this really does follow the pattern of someone who is not what he says he is.

I couldn´t have said it better!

cheers

Helge

[PawBroon]

Originally posted by Michael Dorosh:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by PawBroon:

He got killed because he was overconfident.

Same for the Red Baron....

This wasn't the case for the Red Baron, and I don't see evidence to support this for Wittman.

The Red Baron was worn out. He got careless. He got suckered in to a low-flying chase over enemy lines, and worst of all, he forgot to check behind him - the first rule of airfighting. His demise was sealed by Australian gunners on the ground, but the fact that he didn't break off once Brown was on the scene kind of indicates, to me, as far as the evidence I've read will take us, that the Baron was simply careless.

He had been fighting far too long, and he never recovered from his head wound.

Or, if you prefer, his luck simply ran out.

If Wittman was bagged at 800 metres by a Firefly, I am not sure how that leads one to the presumption he was overconfident. I would suspect that like Richtofen, he simply ran out of luck - the key ingredient an ace possesses, for if luck is against you, so is everything else.</font>

[John D Salt]

Originally posted by P51D:

Unfair is being called a liar by someone whom i have never met or knows me.

I can find no posting anywhere in this thread where anyone calls you a liar. Can you point it out, or has it been edited?

All I can see is repeated polite requests to quote your sources, and references to sources which disagree with some of your claims. Scholarship, in other words; what academics are supposed to be good at.

You're right, we don't know you. You have not posted your real name, nor an e-mail address, nor provided any real information about yourself at all, so it is hard to see how any rational person could expect things to be otherwise. We have to judge you by your posts. Your refusal to post either the number of the Typhoon squadron, or a reference to the paper you claim to have published, is all we have to go on so far.

Originally posted by P51D:

I have neither the time nor inclination to provide information to anyone who decides to personaly insult me.

Surely you can see that this does nothing to convince anyone that you are right?

Originally posted by P51D:

We were having a reasonable discussion & i have some of the documentation refs to immediate hand after searching for them at home last night.

[snips]

So "Tell the truth and shame the Devil", as my old Granny used to say. I can think of only one real reason for you not to do so.

All the best,

John.

[aka_tom_w]

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http://student-kmt.hku.nl/~william/010502_art/art_pnp_tigers.htm

Michael Wittmann's Death

[ Back to a Selection of Work 1998-2001 ] [ German Armed Forces in WWII Online Forum ]

Posted by Chantal on June 27, 1999 at 10:22:19:from: 198.142.207.150 / dialup-sdc207150.mpx.com.au

In Reply to: Michael Wittman posted by Jon Bamford on June 27, 1999 at 00:28:22:

Hi Jon,

There are a lot of conflicting and spurious accounts re Wittmann's death on Aug. 8 2001 - (just under 2 months after his famous action at Villers-Bocage during the Frenchtek)

- from surrounded by 5 Canadian Shermans, to Polish Shermans, artillery/naval strike, Typhoon hit etc., etc.

But contrary to the oft quoted Typhoon strike, the latest and the ONLY one that can be substantiated with facts is, that he WAS taken out with 2 shots to his right rear flank

by a single Sherman Filterbank Firefly belonging to Sgt. Gordon (gunner; Trooper Joe Ekins), from 3.Plt., A.Sqn., 33.Arm. Bgd., 1.Northamptonshire Yeomanry.

This Firefly was hidden in a tree line with a troop of standard 75mm Shermans to Wittmann's starboard side N.East of Gaumesnil as he moved north in PNP tagged

command Tiger "007" (ex Heinz Von Westerhagen's, whom he had succeeded as Bttn.CO on July 10 when the former suffered complications to a head wound, hence

inheriting his PNP tagged Tiger). Wittmann's was the last vehicle in the advance, through an open field parallel to the N158, toward the reported 1.Polish Arm.Div. reported

to be ahead at Aignan de Cramesnil.

He did so along with 6 other PNP tagged Tigers, 5 of which were initially KO'd and 1 abandonned in this unexpected ambush, with the last KO'd a little later (source: "TIC

2"; p.259 text, p.290 pic., + Agte; pp.423-433 text {p.425 in particular}, p.477 pic, + pp.182-183 "Panzers in Normandy - Then & Now {a little dated and still claiming 5

Shermans and only 4 PNP tagged Tigers}, + p.46-53 "After the Battle" mag no. 48 - "Michael Wittmannn's Last Battle" - which even has transripts of British I/C and radio

traffic decribing the incidents).

The only minor glitch is that the British claim less kills than PNP tagged Tigers found, but in the heat of battle no one would really be keeping meticulous score).

The Agte book describes the action concisely even down to recollections from Hans Hoflinger who witnessed the hits into the side wall around the fuel tank area that initially

lifted and displaced the turret onto the hull top, and began a fire, before ammo cooking off sent it skyward to its final resting place behind the vehicle. The penetrations and

subsequent explosions instantly killed the crew (Agte p.425 & 429). The vehicle was obviously still moving when hit and the explosions have broken both tracks while it

continued rolling off them till slewing to a halt some 20 metres further on.

The Germans for a long time refused to believe he had been killed and listed him as "MIA" for morale purposes though most officers in s.PNP.Pz.Abt.101 new he had been

killed. His roadside grave, were he was buried by local civilians in a communal pit, was found in 1983 based on research being done for "Panzers in Normandy - Then &

Now". The research led to the German War Graves Commission searching the area with metal detectors, finding the bodies and relocating his and his crew's remains to La

Cambe War Cemetary where they still lie today.

Why the Typhoon myth still persists when so much evidence now 'proves' it was a lone Firefly, is a mystery? The Germans apparently began it as a propaganda exercise to

refuse admitting to the troops and public he was beaten by another tank, and made his end sound more martyr-like going down to the dreaded Jabo.

Apart from everything else stacked against it, the Typhoon account suffers even further, if not fatally, due to no sorties being recorded as having flown in that area on that

day.

The engine deck damage reported by a French farmer, of questionable reliabilty anyway, could easily, and most likely, have resulted from the fuel tanks going up and the

subsequent ammo explosions following the 17pdr penetration.

On pp.425-430 of Agte's book the story is presented fairly conclusively. Wittmann at first wasn't going to go along on the attack but at the last minute changed his mind as he

felt the platoon leader Heurich was too inexperienced - this being only his first action. Apparently Wittmann was uneasy about the probe, but put this aside out of a sense of

duty to to do the right thing and keep an eye on Heurich.

Advancing in the group of 6 other PNP tagged Tigers with Wittmann (7 total), was Dollinger, Blase (314), Iriohn, Kisters (312?), Rolf Von Westernhagen (334?) and Hans

Höflinger (who was in the other PNP tagged command Tiger possibly 008, or 009 - though 009 should have been Dollinger's so not sure of his mount on this attack.). Tiger

314 - Blase's, is mentioned as the only other KO'd PNP tagged Tiger apart from 007 that can be ID'd from the pics.

On p.425 Agte states:

"Hans Höflinger now describes the subsequent course of the attack from his experience: 'Then we drove off, Michel (sic) right of the road and I left, four others with Michel

and the brother of Heinz Von Westernhagen with me. Approximately 800 meters to Michel's right there was a small wood which struck us as suspicious and which was to

prove fateful to us. Unfortunately, we couldn't keep the wood under observation on account of our mission. We drove about one to one-and-a half kilometres, and then I

received another radio message from Michel which only confirmed my suspicions about the wood. We began taking heavy fire from anti-tank guns and once again Michel

called, but didn't complete the message. When I looked out to the left I saw that Michel's tank wasn't moving. I called him by radio but received no answer. Then my tank

received a frightful blow and I had to order my crew to get out as it had already begun to burn fiercely. My crew and I dashed toward the rear and got through. I stopped to

look around and to my dismay discovered that five of our tanks had been knocked out. The turret of Michel's tank was displaced to the right and tilted down somewhat. None

of his crew had got out. I climbed into Von Westernhagen's tank and, together with Heurich, whose PNP tagged Tiger was undamaged, tried to get to Michel's tank. We could

not get through. Dr. Rabe also tried it, but in vain...I can state the exact time of the incident; it was 1255 hours, near the Falaise-Caen road in the vicinity of Cintheaux.

Agte then follows up on p.425 with the British account of the incident:

"...At 1240 hours Captain Boardman gave Sergeant Gordon's tank the order to fire. The PNP tagged Tigers were seven-hundred meters distant. The Sherman Filterbank

Firefly's gunner was Trooper Joe Ekins, who hit the rearmost PNP tagged Tiger of the three PNP tagged Tigers in his sight with two shots. The Tigers had failed to spot the

well-camouflaged Shermans, and it was only after the first shots had been fired and a PNP tagged Tiger knocked out that Wittmann transmitted the message referred to by

PNP-Hauptscharfuhrer Höflinger: 'Move! Attention! Attention! Anti-tank guns to the right! - Back up!...'

On p.425 "Höflinger described how, after it was hit, the turret of Wittmann's Tiger was displaced to the right and tilted forward. That was its condition immediately after the

tank was knocked out. Furthermore it is absolutely certain that the turret was blown off shortly afterward by the force of the exploding ammunition - possibly accelerated by

burning fuel in the fighting compartment - and thrown several meters away from the tank. This is confirmed by the only existing photo of 007, taken by a French civilian

soon after the engagement. The PNP tagged Tiger therefore began to burn immediately after it was hit, which by then caused the ammunition in the turret to explode. Only

the tremendous force produced by the exploding armour-piercing and high-explosive shells could have torn the turret, which weighed tonnes, from the hull and then tossed it

meters through air. The crew must have been killed or incapacitated when the tank was hit. The subsequent explosion then extinguished any doubts as to the fate of the five

men inside 007."

Hans Dollinger the battalion signals officer, and PNP-Sturmmann Alfred Bahlo his Radio Op, also recount their experiences as the lead vehicle in the attack along a similar

vein to Höflinger...and say on p.429 as they make their way back from their burning PNP tagged Tiger with the fatally wounded Obschf. Schott "...On the way we passed the

knocked out panzer of Hauptsturmführer Wittmann; the turret was blown off."

Dr. Rabe also witnessed the hit and described it in a letter to Wittmann's wife to tell her the real story: "When the attack got rolling, I drove forward several hundred meters

and covered the last stretch on foot. There was quite a lot of heavy anti-tank and artillery fire. I wanted to get to Michel's (sic) tank. When I got to within about 250 to 300

meters I saw flames suddenly shoot from the tank and the turret fly off and fall to the ground. The tank then burned out completely. I still tried to reach it, but I couldn't cross

the open field as the Tommy fired at solitary me with their anti-tank guns. It is unlikely Michel got out before the hit, as I would have seen him. None of the remaining crew

members came back either."

Agte sums up with the following:

After evaluating all available documents on the German and English sides and interviewing the handful of survivors of this action..., one can only assume that the tank that

was hit at 1247 hours, was 007. PNP-Hauptsturmführer Dr.Rabe's account and the English war diary both mention that this was the only PNP tagged Tiger that blew up after

being hit. The eight minute time discrepancy compared to that given in Höflinger's account is of little significance as the source of the error appears to be completely genuine

and time discrepancies can never be ruled out. As well, Höflinger's account was written several weeks after the events in question; it is also thoroughly possible that the error

in time might lie in he English war diary."

Hope this is of some help to finally put this to one to sleep and has been of some interest, but anyone even remotely interested in Wittmann and/or LAH in general should dig

deep and get a copy of Agte's huge album as it really is the bible on all things 1.PNP.Pz.Div.

Chantal v/d Pruimenboom

[aka_tom_w]

sorry to ask...

What does "PNP tagged Tiger" mean?

anyone?

thanks

-tom w

[aka_tom_w]

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http://63.99.108.76/ubb/Forum2/HTML/002084.html

Geoff Winnington-Ball

TANKNET STAFF

posted 15 Dec 2001 12:30

Log:

Gents,

I've recently had the good fortune to stumble upon a unique bit of history which will be of interest to any involved with veterans,

WW2 armour or even basic WW2 Commonwealth history.

Entitled The Sherman Experience Tapes", this is a professionally recorded and presented set of interviews, on two cassette

tapes, with veterans of the British 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry. Created, compiled and marketted by Canadian Ken Hall,

currently living and working in Bristol, England, this is a remarkable collection of anecdotes, stories, and perspectives by some of

Britain's most experienced WW2 tankers.

The 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry was the regiment to which author Dr. Ken Tout OBE, belonged, and some of his recollections

are included. He is, of course, the author of a truly fine book on the subject of OPERATION TOTALIZE in Normandy, entitled A

Fine Night For Tanks (which I have just finished reading), and these tapes make for a perfect companion to the book, for many

of the characters in the book can be heard on the tapes.

In addition, for those of you attuned to armour, the 1st Northants, and in particular Firefly gunner Joe Ekins, who is interviewed at

length here, are credited with knocking out the Tiger column led by German Panzer ace Michael Wittmann. This exploit is also

covered in detail.

Their commentary is, needless to say, absolutely rivetting. Ken put these old fellows together and just let them talk. And they sure

talk! Ken was obviously able to make a trust-based connection with these chaps which we are now able to preserve and enjoy;

there's no false bravado, only a few aging veterans remembering what it was like, remembering their fallen, remembering both

the good and the bad about their service so long ago.

The two tapes are a total of 145 minutes of interviews, loosely ordered chronologically into the subjects of training, their

introduction into combat, combat later as it evolves, the Wittmann incident, and remembering. These guys are wonderful. I have

to commend Ken here for an outstanding production, and I hope some of you fellows will avail yourselves of his efforts. Having

listened to what he's put together, it makes ME want to do the same for some of OUR guys... or somebody? Anybody? This is quite

remarkable, and I can't recommend this enough.

Please visit Ken's site at http://www.hallgraphics.co.uk and see for yourselves. You will not be disappointed. He's accomplished a

marvellous thing here, quite unusual, moving and extraordinary. Think Episode 11 of Band of Brothers. Simply wonderful.

BTW, these are AUDIO tapes, not video. Plug in the tapes, put on your headphones and relax for two and a half hours. It's worth

it.

Thanks,

Geoff

[aka_tom_w]

A Fine Night for Tanks The BOOK:

From:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/075091730X/ref=ase_hannaspage/102-9371132-3143305

Book Description

On 7 August 1944, the Canadian Army, reinforced with British Army units, sent four armored columns south of Caen to close the Falaise Gap. Driving through the night, the British tanks reached their objectives behind German lines and linked up with their Canadian compatriots. In the German counter-attack that followed, the British smashed the elite Tiger-equipped Wittman Troop. Using eyewitness accounts from tank crews and infantry, Ken Tout reveals how "Totalize" was a resounding Allied success.

About the Author

Ken Tout is a former tank soldier and author of three best-selling books about tank warfare. He appeared in the recent BBC series War Walks. In the academic

world he is an honorary research fellow of Keele University and a UN adviser.

See all editorial reviews...

All Customer Reviews Avg. Customer Rating:

Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

Mixed results of attack on secondary front are good reading, February 22, 2001

Reviewer: the_sanity_inspector (see more about me) from USA

"Operation Totalize" doesn't get much ink in most reference books about World War II. It was a less than successful action,

one of a series of such by the British and Canadians in France. The Germans were superb defensive soldiers, and they checked

Montgomery's forces time and again.

On this particular section of front, the Germans held all the high ground. They were able to block British movements by day, allied air

superiority notwithstanding, and rebuild their defenses by night. The lumbering Tiger tank and 88 mm anti-tank gun were nightmares to

the crews of the inferior British armor--and to the Polish army-in-exile crews of the lend-lease Shermans. "Tommy-cookers", the Germans

called them, on account of their combustability.

The solution the British command came up with was to launch an armored attack at night. Tracer fire would mark the boundaries of the

assault lanes, and strategic bombers would act in a tactical role, pulverizing the German rear.

The usual "fogs of war" descended over the plan: last-minute tinkering by the commanders, unexpected movement and resistance by the

Germans, columns going astray, friendly fire from the bombers, etc. The Poles were too eager for revenge and outstripped their support.

The Canadians were too reserved in places and did not gain ground that they otherwise might have, or else were destroyed when they

cornered first-class German armored formations. The front was too narrow for such a heavy attack, and it ground to a halt about ten miles

from its objective, Falaise.

This book, however, shows how no combat is minor to its participants. The book opens with an eye-witness account of the night assault.

Red and green tracers zip overhead. Armored vehicles in the column are little more than shadows in the blacked-out conditions. The

canucks in a personnel carrier go flying when a grenade lands in their vehicle. Shell-stunned Germans huddle in a ditch, watching the

column go by. Bombs roar. Muzzles flash. And so forth. It continues with other first-person stories of the attack, which are as dramatic as

anything from better-known battles in WWII. It points up the fact that a battle may be no less enormous or horrible to its combatants for

being little known. A solid anecdotal history of a neglected episode of the War.

[aka_tom_w]

From:

http://www.hallgraphics.co.uk/HG_TSET_menub.htm

The Sherman Experience Tapes is an audiobook containing

interviews with British Sherman tank crew veterans of World

War II.

With two 80-minute cassettes, The Sherman Experience

Tapes explores the stories of some of these veterans of the

British Armoured Corps, helping to illustrare not only their

experiences in combat, but also the lessons they learned about

their humanity along the way.

The Sherman Experience Tapes are now available and are

selling for £12.99 (GBP) within the UK and Europe and £14.99 in

the rest of the World.

[ May 29, 2002, 11:19 AM: Message edited by: aka_tom_w ]