page_title: Michael Wittmann
section_title: Eastern Front
hierarchical_section_title: Michael Wittmann / Early life and World War II / Eastern Front
context_page_description: Michael Wittmann 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 fourteen tanks and fifteen personnel carriers, along with two anti-tank guns, within the space of fifteen minutes. The news was picked up and disseminated by the Nazi propaganda machine and added to Wittmann's stature in Germany.
  Wittmann became a cult figure after the war thanks to his accomplishments as a "panzer ace" as part of the portrayal of the Waffen-SS in popular culture. Historians have mixed opinions as to his tactical performance in battle. Some praised his actions at Villers-Bocage, while others found his abilities lacking, and the praise for his tank kills overstated.
context_section_description: Wittmann's unit was transferred to the Eastern Front in the spring of 1941 for Operation Barbarossa, the planned invasion of the Soviet Union. He was assigned to the SS Panzer Regiment 1, a tank unit, where he commanded a StuG III assault gun/tank destroyer as well as a Panzer III medium tank. By 1943, he commanded a Tiger I tank, and by Operation Citadel, the Battle of Kursk, he was a platoon leader. Attached to the LSSAH, Wittmann's platoon of four Tigers reinforced the division's reconnaissance battalion to screen the division's left flank. His four Tigers destroyed a number of Soviet tanks. At one point, his tank survived a collision with a burning T-34.
  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 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.
caption: Wittmann receiving the Swords to his Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross from Adolf Hitler in 1944.
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