Michael Wittmann

"Black Baron" redirects here. For other uses, see Black Baron (disambiguation).

Michael Wittmann
Michael Wittmann
Nickname(s)	The Black Baron
Born	(1914-04-22)22 April 1914 Vogelthal Kingdom of Bavaria German Empire
Died	8 August 1944(1944-08-08) (aged 30) Between the towns of Cintheaux and St. Aignan de Cramesnil near the farm of Gaumesnil
Buried	La Cambe German war cemetery (reinterred)
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Waffen SS
Years of service	1934–44
Rank	SS-Hauptsturmführer
Service number	SS #311,623
Unit	1st SS Division 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

Wittman as SS-Untersturmführer, January 1944

Michael Wittmann (22 April 1914 – 8 August 1944) was a German Waffen-SS tank commander during the Second World War. Wittmann rose to the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer (captain) and was a Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross holder.

Wittmann 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, 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 accepted that Trooper Joe Ekins, the gunner in a Sherman Firefly of the 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry, fired the round that destroyed his tank and killed Wittmann and his crew. The round penetrated the port armour of Wittmann's tank and ignited the ammo rack, which exploded and incinerated Wittmann and his crew. However, in recent years, some historians have suggested that members of the Canadian Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment may have been responsible instead.

Early life and career

Michael Wittmann was born on 22 April 1914 in the village of Vogelthal in the Oberpfalz region of Bavaria. He was the second son of local farmer Johann Wittmann and his wife Ursula. In February 1934, Michael joined the Volunteer Labour Service, the FAD (what later became the RAD) and on 30 October 1934 he joined the German Army. He was assigned to the 10 Company of 19th Infantry Regiment based at Freising by Munich, eventually reaching the rank of Gefreiter (private) on 1 November 1935. His military service ended on 30 September 1936. In October 1936 the 22-year-old Wittmann joined the Allgemeine-SS. On 5 April 1937, he was assigned to the premier regiment, later division Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH) and was given the rank SS-Mann (private). A year later, he participated in the occupation of Austria and the Sudetenland with an armoured car platoon. Wittman also joined the Nazi Party.

Second World War

Eastern Front

Wittmann receiving the Swords to his Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross from Adolf Hitler.

Wittmann's unit was dispatched to the Eastern Front to participate in the invasion of the Soviet Union in the Spring of 1941. He initially served as a commander of a StuG III assault gun.

Returning to the Eastern Front as a newly commissioned officer, Wittmann was reassigned to the SS Panzer Regiment 1, a tank unit with the rank of SS-Untersturmführer (second lieutenant), where he commanded a Panzer III tank. By 1943, he commanded a Tiger, and by the Battle of Kursk (Operation Citadel), he was a Zugführer (platoon leader). Attached to the 1st SS-Panzergrenadier Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler Wittmann's platoon of four remaining Tigers reinforced the division's reconnaissance battalion to screen the division's exposed left flank. His four Tigers destroyed a number of Soviet tanks, his tank at one point surviving a collision with a burning T-34. Wittmann's driver backed away from the T-34 and observed as its ammunition exploded.

On 14 January 1944, Wittmann was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross ([Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)). The presenation 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 ([Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)). Wittmann was awarded the Oak Leaves on 30 January for the destruction of 117 tanks. He was the 380th member of the German armed forces to be so honored. Wittmann received the award from Adolf Hitler personally at the Wolf's Lair, Hitler's headquarters in Rastenburg, present-day Kętrzyn in Poland, on 2 February 1944.

Normandy

Main article: Battle of Villers-Bocage

Michael Wittman photographed one month prior to Operation Overlord

In April 1944, the LSSAH's Tiger Company was transferred to the 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. By this point, Wittmann was in command of the battalion’s second company and held the rank of SS-Obersturmführer (first lieutenant). On 7 June, following the Allied Invasion of Normandy, the battalion was ordered to move from Beauvais to Normandy. The move, covering roughly 165 kilometres or 103 miles, took five days to complete.

Due to the Anglo-American advance south, from Gold and Omaha Beach, the German 352nd Infantry Division began to buckle. As the division withdrew south, it opened up a 7.5-mile (12.1 km) wide gap in the front line near Caumont-l'Éventé. Sepp Dietrich ordered the Heavy SS-Panzer Battalion 101, his only reserve, to position itself behind the Panzer-Lehr-Division and 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. This position would protect the open left flank, which was developing. Anticipating the importance the British would assign to the high ground near Villers-Bocage, Wittmann's company was positioned near the town. Late on the 12th, Wittmann’s company arrived in the area of Villers-Bocage. Nominally composed of 12 tanks, Wittmann's company was 50 per cent understrength due to losses and mechanical failures.

The following morning, the lead elements of the British 7th Armoured Division entered Villers-Bocage. They had been given the objective of exploiting the gap in the front line, seizing Villers-Bocage, and capturing the nearby ridge (Point 213) to attempt to force a German withdrawal. The British arrival surprised Wittmann, as he had not expected them so soon. He later stated:

I had no time to assemble my 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. I set off with one tank and passed the order to the others not to retreat a single step but to hold their ground.

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 engaging several transport vehicles parked along the roadside, the carriers bursting 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 a number of light tanks followed by several medium tanks. Alerted to Wittmann's actions, light tanks in the middle of the town quickly got off the road while medium tanks were brought forward. Wittmann, meanwhile, had accounted for a further British tank, two artillery observation post (OP) tanks followed by a scout car and a half-track. Accounts differ as to what happened next. Historians record that, following the destruction of the OP tanks, Wittmann briefly dueled without success against a Sherman Firefly before withdrawing. The Tiger is then reported to have continued eastwards to the outskirts of the town before being disabled by an anti-tank gun. Wittmann's own account, however, contradicts this; he states that his tank was disabled by an anti-tank gun in the town centre. In less than 15 minutes, 13–14 tanks, two anti-tank guns and 13–15 transport vehicles had been destroyed by the Heavy SS-Panzer Battalion 101, the vast majority attributed to Wittmann. Wittmann would however play no further role in the Battle of Villers-Bocage. For his actions during the battle, Wittmann was promoted to SS-Hauptsturmführer (captain) and awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.

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

Some historians are impressed by his achievements on the day. Historian Stephen Badsey has stated that the ambush Wittmann launched has cast a shadow over the period between D-Day and 13 June in historical accounts. However, German tank commander and historian Wolfgang Schneider is not as impressed. In analyzing Wittmann's actions at Villers-Bocage, he called into question Wittmann's tactical ability. Schneider states "a competent tank company commander does not accumulate so many serious mistakes". He highlights how Wittmann dispersed his forces in a sunken lane with a broken down tank at the head of the column thereby hampering the mobility of his unit. The solitary advance into Villers-Bocage, was heavily criticized as it breached "all the rules". No intelligence was gathered, and there was no "centre of gravity" or "concentration of forces" in the attack. Schneider argues that due to Wittmann's rash actions, "the bulk of the 2nd Company and Mobius 1st Company came up against an enemy who had gone onto the defensive". He calls Wittman's "carefree" advance into British-occupied positions "pure folly", and states that "such over hastiness was uncalled for." He concludes that, had a properly prepared assault been launched, involving the rest of his company and the 1st Company, far greater results could have been achieved. Finally, Schneider comments that "thoughtlessness of this kind was to cost [Wittmann] his life ... during an attack casually launched in open country with an exposed flank." Wittman was featured at 16.31 of the Weekly Wochenschau 3 August 1944 German News Reel.

Death

Photograph of the wrecked Tiger 007, taken by French civilian Serge Varin in 1945, still in the field near Gaumesnil where it had been stopped a year before.

Main article: Operation Totalize

On 8 August 1944, Anglo-Canadian forces launched Operation Totalize. Under the cover of darkness, British and Canadian tanks and soldiers seized the tactically important high ground near the town of Saint-Aignan-de-Cramesnil. Here they paused, awaiting an aerial bombardment that signaled the next phase of the attack. Unaware of why the Allied forces had halted, Kurt Meyer, of the 12th SS Panzer Division, ordered elements of his command to counterattack and recapture the high ground. Wittmann decided to participate in this attack, as he believed the company commander – who was supposed to lead the attack – was too inexperienced.

Wittmann led a group of seven Tiger tanks, from the Heavy SS-Panzer Battalion 101, supported by additional tanks and infantry. His group of Tigers, crossing open terrain towards the high ground, was ambushed by tanks from A Squadron 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry, A Squadron Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment, and B Squadron 144 Regiment Royal Armoured Corps. During the ambush, anti-tank shells – fired from either the British or Canadian tanks – penetrated the upper hull of Wittmann's tank, igniting the ammunition resulting in a fire that engulfed the tank and blew off the turret.

The crew of the destroyed tank were buried in an unmarked grave. In 1983, the German war graves commission located the burial site. Wittmann and his crew were reinterred together at the German war cemetery of La Cambe, plot 47—row 3—grave 120, in France. In July 2015 his gravestone was reported stolen, with local police believing this was done by Neo-Nazis. The mayor of La Cambe stated that it would be replaced out of respect for the dead.

Speculation surrounding death

Further information: Joe Ekins

An unusual amount of speculation, for such a junior officer, has surrounded the death of Wittmann. While he was a household name in Germany, he was not known to Allied forces at the time and was not singled out during the battle.

Following the war, claims were made by or for the following units as being the ones responsible for Wittmann’s demise: 1st Polish Armoured Division, the 4th Canadian Armoured Division, the 144th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps and the RAF Second Tactical Air Force. The historian Brian Reid has examined these various claims and dismissed them. Examination of the armoured divisions' war diaries revealed that they were too far north and played no role in defeating the German counterattack. While the 144 RAC did take part in the battle, they were positioned around Cramesnil. That position, Reid argues, placed them out of effective range of the attacking Tigers. During the battle, this regiment initially claimed destroying two Tiger tanks, although the commanding officer later changed this to one Tiger and one Panzer IV destroyed.

An issue of much controversy is the claim that a RP-3 rocket, fired from Allied aircraft, struck the tank and destroyed it. This position originated with German propaganda, which stated Wittmann had fallen in combat to the "dreaded fighter-bombers". This position was further enhanced, post-war, by the French civilian Serge Varin who took the only known photograph of the destroyed tank. Varin stated he found an unexploded rocket nearby and claimed to have seen no other penetration holes in the tank. Reid dismisses this explanation through personal and archive evidence. The logs of the RAF Second Tactical Air Force make no claim of engaging or destroying tanks in the area, at the time of the battle., sourcing his information from:
PRO, Air 25/709, 84 Group RAF Operations Record Book August 1944, p. 8 Serial 18, 8 August 1944
PRO, Air 25/698, 83 Group RAF Operations Record Book August 1944
PRO, 2 TAF Operations Record Book, Sheet 28, 8 August 44
PRO, 83 group Operations Record Book, 8 August 1944 He notes "...the only tanks claimed were by Typhoons on armed reconnaissance missions in areas away from the actual battle. Therefore Wittmann and his crew almost assuredly did not fall victim to an attack from the air." This position is further supported by Kurt Meyer, who remarked on the Allied failure to use their tactical fighters during the counterattack, the men of Wittmann’s unit who stated they did not come under air attack, and British and Canadian tank crews who also dismiss that aircraft helped halt the German attack.

Grave of Michael Wittmann with the crew of Tiger 007, La Cambe Cemetery, France.

In 1985, issue 48 of After the Battle Magazine was published. In an article on the battle, Les Taylor – a member of the 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry during the war – claimed that fellow yeoman Joe Ekins was the man responsible for the demise of Wittmann. Historians have supported this position, and it became the most widely accepted version of events. Stephen Hart provides additional details. He states that a Sherman Firefly, of 3 Troop, A Squadron, under the command of Sergeant Gordon and with Joe Ekins manning the main gun, were positioned in a wood called Delle de la Roque to the south of Cramesnil, and on the right flank of the advancing Tiger tanks. At approximately 12:47, they engaged the advancing German tanks halting their attack and killing Wittmann. Veteran and historian Ken Tout, who was a member of C Squadron 1NY during Totalize, published a postwar account of the battle in which he credited Joe Ekins. In 2000, when researching A Fine Night for Tanks, he interviewed former members of A Squadron, Sherbrooke Fusiliers. Following this research, he acknowledged other units had aided in repelling the German counterattack "and did not claim Wittmann specifically for the Northamptonshire Yeomanry."

Brian Reid discusses another possibility. On the left flank of the advancing German tanks, positioned in the chateau grounds at Gaumesnil, was A Squadron, The Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment, 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade, commanded by Major Sydney Radley-Walters. Their position was parallel with Delle de la Roque. The Canadians had created firing holes in the property’s surrounding walls and, based on verbal testimony, engaged German tanks (including Tigers) advancing up the main road towards their position and Hill 112 to the north. The British tanks were between 1,000 metres (1,100 yd) and 1,200 metres (1,300 yd) away from the German line of advance, whereas the Canadian were around 500 metres (550 yd) away. The firing angle, from the Canadian position, coincides with the damage to Wittmann's tank. Therefore, Reid argues that due to the proximity of the Canadians to the Germans, members of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers are more than likely responsible for Wittmann's death.

Personal life

On 1 March 1944, Wittmann married Hildegard Burmester in Lüneburg with his tank gunner Balthasar Woll serving as best man.

Summary of military and SS career

• SS number: 311,623

Notable decorations

• Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class (12 July 1941)
  • 1st Class (8 September 1941)
• SS Honour Ring (unofficially called "Totenkopfring")
• Sword of honour of the Reichsführer-SS
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords
  • Knight's Cross on 14 January 1944 as SS-Untersturmführer and Zugführer (platoon leader) in the 13.(schwere)/SS-Panzer-Regiment 1 "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler"
  • 380th Oak Leaves on 30 January 1944 as SS-Untersturmführer and Zugführer (platoon leader) in the 13.(schwere)/SS-Panzer-Regiment 1
  • 71st Swords on 22 June 1944 as SS-Obersturmführer and chief of the 2./schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 101
• Wound Badge in Black (20 August 1941)
• Panzer Badge in Silver (21 November 1941)
• Eastern Front Medal (1942)
• Sudetenland Medal (1938)
• Anschluss Medal (1938)
• Soldier's Cross Of The Order Of Bravery 4th Class 2nd Grade (Tsardom Of Bulgaria) (1941)
• Mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht on 13 January 1944
• SS Long Service Award

Wehrmachtbericht reference

Date	Original German Wehrmachtbericht wording	Direct English translation
13 January 1944	[SS-Untersturmführer Wittmann in einer SS-Panzerdivision schoß am 9. Januar an der Ostfront mit seinem "Tiger"-Panzer seinen 66. feindlichen Panzer ab.] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)	SS-Untersturmführer Wittmann in a SS-Panzerdivision on January 9 destroyed his 66th enemy tank with his "Tiger"-tank on the Eastern Front.

Promotions

Wehrmacht
1 November 1935:	Gefreiter (private)
Waffen-SS
1 April 1937:	SS-Mann
11 November 1937	SS-Sturmmann
20 April 1939:	SS-Unterscharführer
9 November 1941:	SS-Oberscharführer
21 December 1942:	SS-Untersturmführer
30 January 1944:	SS-Obersturmführer of the Reserves
23 June 1944:	SS-Hauptsturmführer, effective as of 21 June 1944

References

• Agte, Patrick (2000). Michael Wittmann erfolgreichster Panzerkommandant im Zweiten Weltkrieg und die Tiger der Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (in German). Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft Preußisch Oldendorf. ISBN 3-92072-218-3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Agte, Patrick (2006). Michael Wittmann and the Waffen SS Tiger Commanders of the Leibstandarte in World War II, Volume 1. Mechanicsburg, PA, USA: Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0-8117-3334-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Beevor, Antony (2009). D-Day: The Battle for Normandy. London: Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-88703-3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Buckley, John (2006) [2004]. British Armour in the Normandy Campaign 1944. London: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-415-40773-7. OCLC 154699922. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Buckley, John (2007) [2006]. The Normandy Campaign 1944: Sixty Years on. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-44942-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• D'Este, Carlo (2004) [1983]. Decision in Normandy: The Real Story of Montgomery and the Allied Campaign. London: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-101761-9. OCLC 44772546. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000) [1986]. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile (in German). Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Hart, Stephen A (2007). Sherman Firefly vs Tiger: Normandy 1944. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84603-150-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Forty, George (2004). Villers Bocage. Battle Zone Normandy. Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-3012-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Hastings, Max (1999) [1984]. Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy 1944. Pan Grand Strategy Series. London: Pan Books. ISBN 0-330-39012-0. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Kurowski, Franz (2004). Panzer Aces: German Tank Commanders of WWII. Stackpole Books. ISBN 0-8117-3173-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Marie, Henri (2003). Villers Bocage, Normandy 1944. Heimdal. ISBN 2-84048-173-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Meyer, Hubert (2005) [1994]. The 12th SS: The History of the Hitler Youth Panzer Division. Vol. I. Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0-8117-3198-0. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Neillands, Robin (2005) [1995]. The Desert Rats: 7th Armoured Division, 1940–1945. London: Aurum Press. ISBN 978-1-84513-115-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Neitzel, Sönke (2002). "Des Forschens noch wert? Anmerkungen zur Operationsgeschichte der Waffen-SS". Militärgeschichtliche Zeitschrift. 61: 403–429. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Reid, Brian (2005). No Holding Back: Operation Totalize, Normandy, August 1944. ISBN 1-896941-40-0. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Smelser, Ronald; Davies, Edward J. (2008). The myth of the Eastern Front: The Nazi-Soviet War in American Popular Culture. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-83365-3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Ripley, Tim (2004). The Waffen-SS At War: Hitler's Praetorians 1925-1945. Zenith Imprint. ISBN 0-7603-2068-3. Retrieved 18 February 2011. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Reynolds, Michael (2001) [1997]. Steel Inferno: I SS Panzer Corps in Normandy. Da Capo Press. ISBN 1-885119-44-5. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Reynolds, Michael (2002). Sons of the Reich: The History of II SS Panzer Corps in Normandy, Arnhem, the Ardennes and on the Eastern Front. Havertown: Casemate Publishers and Book Distributors. ISBN 0-9711709-3-2. OCLC 50208471. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Stockert, Peter (1998). Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 4 (in German). Bad Friedrichshall, Germany: Friedrichshaller Rundblick. ISBN 978-3-932915-03-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Taylor, Daniel (1999). Villers-Bocage Through the Lens. After the Battle. ISBN 1-870067-07-X. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Von Seemen, Gerhard (1976). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 : die Ritterkreuzträger sämtlicher Wehrmachtteile, Brillanten-, Schwerter- und Eichenlaubträger in der Reihenfolge der Verleihung : Anhang mit Verleihungsbestimmungen und weiteren Angaben (in German). Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7909-0051-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Weigley, Russell F. (1981). Eisenhower's Lieutenants: The Campaigns of France and Germany, 1944–1945. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN 0-283-98801-0. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Wilmot, C.; McDevitt, C. D. (1952). The Struggle For Europe (Wordsworth, 1997 ed.). London: Collins. ISBN 1-85326-677-9. OCLC 39697844. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Die Wehrmachtberichte 1939–1945 Band 3, 1. Januar 1944 bis 9. Mai 1945 (in German). München, Germany: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. 1985. ISBN 978-3-423-05944-2. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Zaloga, Steven (2015). Armored Champion: The Top Tanks of World War II. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0-8117-1437-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

Further reading

• After the Battle Magazine (1985). Issue 48: Germany Surrenders. After the Battle Magazine. After the Battle.
• Krätschmer, Ernst-Günther (1999). Die Ritterkreuzträger der Waffen-SS (in German). Coburg, Germany: Nation Europa Verlag. ISBN 978-3-920677-43-9. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• Lefevre, Eric (1983). Panzers in Normandy: Then and Now. R. Cooke (trans.). After the Battle. ISBN 0-900913-29-0.
• Tout, Ken (2002) [1998]. A Fine Night for Tanks: The Road to Falaise. Sutton Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7509-3189-2.
• Tout, Ken (2007). By Tank - D to VE Days. Robert Hale Ltd. ISBN 0-7090-8148-0.
• Helden der Wehrmacht - Unsterbliche deutsche Soldaten (in German). München, Germany: FZ-Verlag GmbH. 2004. ISBN 3-924309-53-1.

External links

• Michael Wittmann in the German National Library catalogue