I have just recently been following up on something my father told me years ago. He was with The Sherbrooke Regiment as a gun layer of a Firefly tank. Around Caen, presumably during the operation to break out in to open country, in the push forward they encountered a large house with a tall walled garden. He said they had a British tank group pull around to their left in woods. They expected the Germans to appear from their right towards the British tanks. They knocked holes in the walls and waited, sure enough they heard then saw four German tanks pass from right to left directly in front of them going towards the British tanks who opened fire. My dad said one of the tanks was incredibly close and in open country and he couldn't miss. The tank group opens up with Armour Piercing shells and hit this tank setting it ablaze and after a while the turret blew off. To me it was one of his few war stories he told me but it stuck and then I started reading about Wittman?
Real class shown here by Norm Christie. Standing on the graves of these men and essentially painting them all with the same brush. Never once acknowledging that they fought with courage and that their families mourned and missed them when they never returned. Nope. They fought for Hitler, so that automatically means they were evil, terrible human beings, unworthy of the slightest praise. The comments of the British fellow at the end are particularly hilarious. While I salute the gentleman’s valour with regards to WW2, as far as I’m concerned NO British (or American, for that matter) person can ever look down their nose at any other country and accuse them of war crimes or invading other nations. The self righteous hypocrisy here is sickening.
The British Firefly tank could not stop Wittmann's German Tiger tank at 1100 to 1300 yards. That was the distance Joe Ekins was from 007. British propaganda tried to promote the inferior Firefly as being the equal to the German Tiger tank This was not true. The German Tiger tank was one of best and most deadliest tanks of World War 2 The Canadians were only 143 meters from Michael Wittmann's Tiger tank and at that range had a more effective shot or a Typhoon rocket from an allied plane had the stopping power to take out that Tiger tank.
A decimated German division would have 90% effectives. You know the old joke, nine Roman soldiers standing over the body of a 10th whom they have just killed, one saying to the others "This decimation isn't so bad".
7:58 according to my knowledge of the German language, the Wochenschau claimed a "stronger American tank unit ".....and according to my knowledge of music - it was glorious....:)
Of course, the death of Wittmann as stated Norm Christie above, is complete bunkum. He Omits to say that Ekins fired twice at his first target (314) which he hit with both shots. The first shot showed no effect of burning so he followed it up with a second shot which started the tiger burning. The second Tiger (007) needed only 1 shot because it 'blew up' Ekins 3rd Tiger was 'milling about', he hit it but like the first, did not burn so he fired another shot that made it burn. Ekin.s last shot that he fired in anger was a little later where he knocked out a Pz Mk.IV 'type' with one shot from 1,200 yards. Another from the same regiment knocked out Pz Mk.IV at an even longer range of 1,500 yards. Ekins only fired 7 rounds in anger. The first was on the command of the commander to put a shot through a suspicious hedge-row. his second and third was at Tiger 314. his fourth was at Tiger 007 (the only Tiger to be seen as destroyed after just one shot). The fifth and sixth at the third Tiger 009?. His last was at the Mk IV 'type' that he destroyed from 1,200 yards. thereafter he went back to his 'trade' position in the tank as a Wireless Operator. The Position of the orchard that Ekins (and the rest of the troop) were in was not 1,100 away but 900 yards away from Wittmann's Tiger. Also, the Tiger's turret did not 'fly into the air' because 1) Hans Hofflinger the eye-witness stated that the turret was pointing to the right (towards Ekins position) and at a forward-tilted angle. The turret did fall off to the right of the hull sometime later. The aerial photo (09/08/1944) shows this. The tiger was moved forward (as were the other Tiger hulks) sometime between that date and the date the photo was taken in 1945 by Varin, to remove the tracks and thus the position of the turret being several meters behind the hull. Here's a link to a great discussion that went on a few years ago: forums.armchairgeneral.com/forum/historical-events-eras/world-war-ii/armor-in-world-war-ii/151057-michael-wittman-brian-a-reid-and-sydney-radly-walters forums.armchairgeneral.com/forum/historical-events-eras/world-war-ii/armor-in-world-war-ii/german-and-axis-armor/149995-michael-wittmann-panzer-ace
the german army is THE brain-teaser for the allies for the next thousand years. sometimes i think you allies don t know what to think love or hate. mostly hate. because it s embarrasing having such a long fight against a extrem outnumbered enemy. so make him bad
People are so harsh about him being a Nazi.... fact of the matter is, while in his tank, he fought for his life like any soldier. Why he signed up, is between him and God Had he lived through the war..... The US would have brought him over, made him a citizen, and paid him a good wage as an Adviser..... Why you ask?..... because he had skills at killing Russian Tanks. Von Brown was a Nazi, and he was responsible for more deaths than Wittmann, look where and how he ended up Oh, before you make any judgments about me... I had family that were killed in Norway by the Germans in WW II lined up against a church wall and machine gunned
Just so ya know S.S. stood for Sadistic Satanists...believe it no matter what anybody else tries to tell you...bottom line is that this is what they were...nuf said.
Who is up for remembering Major Radley Walters, CMM DSO MC CD of the Sherbrookes, we're remembering the wrong people (ie Mr Wittmann & co) although I am British unlike the establishment of WWII who saw outsiders as a means to their ends. The Canadians, the Poles who served with them, had some of the lowest casualty ratings amongst the allies, and quite a few of their battles we're up against fanatical SS units who even they admitted that they considered the Canucks as excellent opponents. In this light should we not be thankful to these cousins who helped us when we Brits were short of man power. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Valpy_Radley-Walters, www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/tank-ace-captain-radley-walters-began-stellar-career-at-normandy/article24093726/ Talk about survivability, he had three tanks shot out from under him and was injured twice. He would often look after the soldiers first so from that perspective deserves to be remembered he also became a tank ace, rising to the rank of Brigadier-General.
HE IS STILL A BRILLIANT TANK COMMANDER, NAZI OR NOT NAZI. THAT'S THE POINT OF THE WHOLE VIDEO....... TO RECORD HIS EXPLOITS...... AND TO FIND OUT WHO KILLED HIM.....
The Brit at the end (trash talking Wittmann) says "anyone who goes into anther person's Country to kill is a criminal" OMFG, says a Brit, the British Empire that butchered millions in its Colonies, especially Africa & India, what a hypocrite
the jews invaded palastine communist jews took over eastern europa he remembers what he wants hell before hitler invaded poland im sure russia tried to invade finland in 37
I think Whittman was a die -hard soldier that was hoping for a lucky sucess that day in charging across that open field no air cover and knowing enemy air patols were freely out looking for targets that day.
As the narrator says, let's not forget who Wittman was fighting for (and therefore what he was fighting for.) Anyone who thinks Wittman commendable, perhaps would also like to offer some praise for the deeds of the equally fanatical and brutal Japanese 'warriors'.
So they don't mention that his tank was disabled in the middle of villers bocage by an AT Gun? This is from Michael Wittman himself. How do they fail to mention this lol
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funny hearing these guys say someone invading another's country to kill is a criminal last i remember the usa was founded on stealing the Indians whole country and it was also founded in blood baths. how can someone think it was ok to give people blankets infected with smallpox? and they are still forced to live almost with no real rights in their own land. not to say what the ss did was right because it was not but it is always a soldiers duty to obey the orders of their commanders.yes the Germans did war crimes but so did the British and the Americans too i think all soldiers that did war crimes should be punished
so the tigers crossed an open field while being ambushed from several columns of tanks at diferent angles...terrible decision , but this also shows that they understimated allied tanks...an exposed tiger loses his advantage over the enemy
The Northamtonshire Yeomanry yarn has been tested and found to be an impossible stretch. It has been firmly concluded that it was a troop of Canadian Firefly Shermans of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers under Maj. "Rad" Walters, concealed behind a stone wall with holes cut for their long barrelled 17 pounder guns, who annihilated Wittmann and his troop. Geometry and measurement show that the Yeomanry - a mile away - didn't have a real shot at Wittmann, whereas the Canadian tanks had a 200 yard "turkey shoot."
@ Rick,Yes i know the Canadians takes Vimy, but "La bataille de la crête de Vimy" was in 1917.Even if Wittman days was numbered it was a good day for the Canadians no matter what.
In many experts opinion the British Centurion was the best tank. It came into service after WW2 and incorporated many lessons learnt in the war and served with many nations including Israel for whom it did a great job. The Tiger was a tough bastard but it had many faults Eg too heavy for its power train, over complicated, unreliable and slow. Having a great gun and heavy armour is not the be all and end all of tank design
Yeah okay Whitman was no hero to the British and I am about tired of the British cowardly hypocritical attitude lets face the major fact the British are not engineers and there tanks at the begging of ww2 and even towards the end prove that. The huge fact is this No one especially the British would not of been able to stop the German army from invading England if a land battle or operation sea lion would of been put into effect. So this British fat idiot slob at the end of the movie with his false pride and his sorry arrogance would of been a slave like the entire British populace to the German Reich... hey Britiana watch your stupid arrogance!!!!!
1. I'm British too but I also found it odd what Ekins said considering the British had the Empire. Also it was France who declared war on Germany. The French picked a fight with the Germans, lost, then had their country occupied by them. That's fair does and that's where Witmann was when he died. 2. Joe Ekins wasn't a fat idiot slob though. He was a brave British tankman who did an excellent job in taking out 3 Tigers at distance. 3. Sealion never would have succeeded. The RAF was a match for the Luftwaffe and the Royal Navy was superior to the Kriegsmarine.
who killed wittmann ??... i do not care, the question should be: where is tiger tank nr 007 now!??, what happend to tiger 007 after the battle and where is it now?
