The Villers-Bocade Battles

[TRDG]

I am fairly familiar with those sites as well, and the Stackpole books (Patrick Agte is the writer on those) on Wittmann. Each "story" or "fact" seems a little bit different in some ways in every source, no surprise there!

Cheers, any other good info on a different take on this battle, Zoners? I just bet there is. I'm still trying to figure out if there were actually 3 or 4 Tigers from the 101st that took part in the Point 213 part of the attack.....

Tom

[redcoat]

Granted this is only one veiw but it is further supporting evidence of the lack of British knowledge in regards to the actaul numbers lost at VB cant be confirmed and also proves the germans were in VB directly after the battle.

Wittmanns attack took place at 0900hr, the British held the village until 1900hr when they withdrew, after they had defeated a second German attack. The British were fully aware of the number of tanks they lost in the early morning battle, even if in one or two cases who KO'd them is uncertain.

[LAH 1 SS]

Which reference did that come from mate if you done mind me asking as Agte etc doesnt make mention of the time frames just dates. A time line of events will help in getting a real good picture of the whole battle which will only help the thread alot more

[Hagen]

Wittmanns attack took place at 0900hr, the British held the village until 1900hr when they withdrew,

The Michael Reynolds book "Steel Inferno" I SS Panzer Corps In Normandy, has a different time for the British withdrawl from V-B;

"In the meantime General Erskine had finally recognised the urgent need for more British Infantry and at 1500 he placed another Queens battalion under (Bridadier) Hinde's (22 Armored Brigade) command. 1/5 Queens moved forward from the livry area at 1515 hours.

At 1600 hours B squadron CLY (County of London Yeomanry) reported enemy infantry in the south-east corner of Villers-Bocage, and at 1650 hours Hinde told Erskine that the position in the town was unsatisfactory. A withdrawl was sanctioned, with the proviso that the high ground just to the west, around point 174, should be held at all costs.

At 1500 hours, only 15 minutes before 1/5 Queens started to arrive at Villers-Bocage, Hinde gave orders for the 1/7 Queens and B Squadron 4 CLY to commence the withdrawl and join what Major 'Boy' Burton the second in command of 1/5 Queens, described as, 'most of the armored brigade, less a battalion of tanks, the greater part of two armored reconnaisance units and a Reigiment of Royal Horse Artillery sitting impotently only two miles west of Villers-Bocage.

By 2000 hours 1/7 Queens and B squadron 4 CLY, together with the rest of 22 brigade were in a position on the high ground to the west of the town.."

[LAH 1 SS]

Nice Hagen keep it coming mate im hoping this thread will turn into a one of those threads with info and resources at hand which any one can then go and look at

[redcoat]

World War II: Tiger 1E
Nice site on the Tiger which also gives a full account of the battle and its time scale, though it does credit Wittmann with the destruction of 12 tanks rather than the 10 credited to him by other accounts I've read

[LAH 1 SS]

Great site redcoat mate. The research on VB is very close to the book Through the Lens The Battle for VB. Great maps, unit make ups and phots etc a few i have added to my collcetion from there as i said great site mate

[TRDG]

Now from the Germans who were actually there perspective....

From Michael Wittmann, Volume II by Patrick Agte, Stackpole Military books.

First hand account from SS-Rottenführer Lau (a crew member from one of the Tigers involved):

"It was almost morning and the naval artilery fire subsided somewhat. I, the gunner was standing watch in the open turret hatch. All of a sudden- it was between 5 and 7 A.M.- Obersturmführer Wittmann, who had leapt onto the first of our tanks sitting in the sunken road, grasped me by the shoulder and said something about the Tommies. As he spoke, he gestured with his hand toward the road (Villers-Bocade-Caen), which was almost immpossible to see from our position through the bushs. I slid onto the gunners seat and he onto the tank commanders seat. The driver had fired up the engine. Headsets and throat microphones were put on quickly and we backed out of the defile. Unterscharführer Stief was sleeping at the loaders position, was instructed by Wittmann to alert and brief the remaining tanks. Meanwhile we drove towards the main road along a field road. We had gone about 20 meters by the time the driver and I were able to explain to Wittmann that our motor was defective. Apparently he had already deduced this from the sound of the engine. He leapt out of our tank and climbed aboard the tank of Unterscharführer Sowa, which by then had driven out of the defile."

So we can see here that Wittmann had to switch from 1 Tiger tank to another, I beleave the Tiger he switched to was Tiger 212. And the Tiger that had "engine problems" was Tiger 234 with Herbert Steif in command of that specific troubled tank.



Wittmanns' Company consisted of

Tiger 234 commanded by Herbert Steif at first, then by Wittmann himself, for a minute or two at least......

Tiger 212 commanded by Sawa, then Wittmann once he realized the engine problems of his first Tiger pick, Tiger 234.
Now one question I do have is what happened to Sowa, did he change places with tank 234 and Steif? Or maybe he did'nt comand another Tiger that day....??

Tiger 211 was commanded by Obersturmführer Jürgen Wessel

Tiger 221 was commanded by Untersturmführer Geoge Hantusch

Tiger 223 was commanded by Oberscharfürher Jürgen Brandt


Cheers, thoughts and contradictions fellow members?

Tom

[TRDG]

Then we have Wittmann himself describing the events in his one Tiger tank rampage, as I call it, also from the same book, Michael Wittmann Volume II by Patrick Agte by Stackpole Military books.

"I had no time to assemble my company; instead I had to act quickly, as I had to assume the enemy had already spotted me and would destroy me where I stood. I set off with one tank and passed orders to the others not to retreat a single step but to hold their ground. Drove up to the column, surprised the English as much as they had me. I first knocked out two tanks from the right of the column, then then one from the left and attacked the armoured troop carrier battalion in the middle of the armoured regiment. I drove towards the rear half half of the column on the same road, knocking out every tank that came towards me as I went. The enemy was thrown into total confision. I then drove straight into the town of Villers, got to approximately the center of town where I was hit by an anti-tank gun. My tank was disabled. Without further ado I fired at and destroyed everything around me that I could reach; I had lost radio contact and was unable to summon my company. My tanks were out of sight.
I then decided to abandon the tank. We took all the weapons we could carry, but I did'nt destroy the tank as I beleaved that we would regain posesion of it. Made my way to a division, about 15 kilometers. Had to dodge enemy tanks several times; could have taken them out but had noclose-range anti-tank weapons, so with a heavy heart had to leave them be. I reached division and emmediately reportd to and to corps. Subsequent counter-attack destroyed the enemy. The bulk of the armoured regiment and a rifle battalion were destroyed."

The crew of Tiger 212 were

Wittmann as the Commander
Sturmmann Boldt as the loader
Walter Müller was the driver
Günther Jonas was the radio operator

Cheers, I found this very interesting, but also frustrating for the lack of details in some of the events, as others may be as well!!

Tom

[LAH 1 SS]

Ok these are the tigers in VB that have been identified post battle hence the mix of 1st and 2nd Co tigers

TIGER 111




TIGER 112




THIS IS WITTMANS TIGER 212