World War II Database

1.  Bill says:
8 Feb 2011 12:36:26 PM

TIGER ACE:

Hauptsurmfuhrer (Captain) Michael Wittmann photo taken one month before D-Day 6/6/44

UNIFORM OF THE DAY:

Black SS-Tankers uniform, Field gray service
cap w/Totenkopf (Death's Head) insignia,
his Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with
Oak Leaves & Swords, around his neck, Iron Cross 1st or 2nd Class, Panzer Assault Badge, Wound Badge, Eastern Front Medal and Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler Arm band.

2.  Bill says:
8 Feb 2011 02:25:44 PM

Hauptsurmfuhrer Wittmann's Tiger is covered
with Zimmerit, Anti-mine paste.
The ridge surface, helped prevent magnetic mines from sticking to the hull first adopted in 1943.

NEVER OUT GUNNED, BUT ALWAYS OUT NUMBERED:

Battle at Villers Bocage Wittmann's Tiger met
a column of Twenty five Tanks, Fourteen half
tracks, Fourteen bren-gun carriers within a
Fifteen minute period, all were knocked-out
along with two anti-tank guns.
Wittmann's death is a mystery some accounts say he was ambushed, others say his Tiger was
destroyed by Allied fighter-bombers.
He destroyed a total of 138 Allied tanks, 132 Armored vehicles and Anti-tank guns.

STOPPED IN ITS TRACKS: GOING NOWHERE

Today a Tiger is on display, in the French village of Vimoutiers. The Tiger ran out of fuel, and was abandoned by its crew.
Charges were placed to prevent its capture
it now sits facing west close to the French town.

COME SEE THE TIGER:

After the war, the Tiger was cleaned up and
painted all hatches welded shut, the inside
is mangled steel... In the 1970s the Tiger was going to be sold for scrap the people of the town bought it for 6,000 Francs about
1,200 USD at that time. The Tiger is one of the few tanks left in Normandy.

SO WHERE ARE THEY NOW:

Bovington Tank Museum, England
Vimoutiers Memorial, France
Kubinka Tank Museum, Russia
Munster Tank Museum, Germany
US Army Aberdeen Proving Ground, USA