Biography
The Eastern Front, 1942-43
After the rigours of almost a year of harsh combat in Russia, Oberscharführer Wittmann was back home in Bavaria, billeted at the famous SS military academy (Junkerschule) in Bad Tölz, ready to begin his officer training. Outside the heat of combat itself, the training at the Junkerschule was to be the most gruelling period of Michael Wittmann's career.
Officer Training at Bad Tölz
Although once again savouring the comforts of his homeland, the twenty-eight year old officer cadet was under no illusion as to how tough his officer training was to be - it was a fact that a good number of the Leibstandarte's new young and and dashing heroes - Kurt 'Panzer' Meyer, Fritz Witt, and Joachim 'Jochen' Peiper to name but three - had at some stage had to pass the rigorous tests that he was now having to face. Nevertheless, Michael was quietly confident: he was not short of combat experience or leadership skills, and was more than aware of the fact that this had been noted by his superiors.
Before the training could actually commence, all of the cadets had to go through yet more physical and mental tests and a review of their combat and training records. After these formalities had been completed, all of the officers-to-be were issued with their new uniforms and training gear. Although the training was to be physically demanding and intense, the facility at Bad Tölz, like its sister school at Braunschweig, offered a number of amenities: the sporting facilities were second to none, and recruits could engage themselves in a number of number of different sports and games, including football, water polo, skiing and horse riding.
Like many of the other cadets, Wittmann found the training the hardest he had ever come across - all areas were covered, and the mental and physical exercises were severe, designed to take each and every cadet to the very limit of their abilities. In addition to the athletic activities, much time was spend on marching, field training and gruelling cross-country runs, where each man had to carry a full set of combat equipment. These runs were timed, and everyone was expected to keep up; there was a programme of continuous improvement, and times were not there simply to be met but to be excelled. There was a heavy emphasis on camaraderie and co-operation, and officers were instilled with the idea that they although they were ultimately responsible for the actions of their team, they were always to see themselves as members of that team. This was one aspect of life in the Waffen-SS that made it distinct from either the Wehrmacht or any of the Allied armed forces - nothing else came close to the mutual respect that was felt in all ranks of the Waffen-SS, from the likes of senior officers such as 'Sepp' Dietrich down to the rawest recruit. One would never see a Waffen-SS officer shirking behind a desk or pushing a pen - he always wanted to be in the thick of the action, leading his men.
Wittmann in the uniform of an SS-Untersturmführer, having passed his officer training in the late Autumn of 1942. Following his commission, he was then to move to the elite Panzer unit of the Leibstandarte, and eventually command of the feared Panzer VI Tiger.
The physical exercise was just one of the many things that were covered at the academy; each candidate was given thorough training in the use and maintanance of a number of weapons. While many of the candidates, Michael Wittmann among them, were more than familiar with some of these weapons, the training gave each man the opportunity to become acquainted with a range of different firearms and the various tactical strategies associated with them. Although much of this training, such as those centred on various infantry assault techniques, would prove to be more beneficial to those cadets who would go on to be infantry commanders, Wittmann learned much, and knew full well that such skills would be essential if he were to be left in the field without his vehicle.
The training concluded on 5 September, and Wittmann was then transferred to the Panzers as an official officer candidate (Fähnrich), joining the SS Panzer Replacement Battalion in Weimar as a platoon commander. After two years in the field grey of the assault gun uniform, he was back in the familiar black of the Panzer crews.
On 21 December 1942 the six months of harsh training finally paid off, as Wittmann was posted to the Heavy Panzer Replacement and Training Battalion 500 (Pz. Ers- und Ausb. Abt. 500) in Paderborn with the new commissioned rank of SS-Untersturmführer (2nd Lieutenant). From here he was sent to Ploërmel in Northern France, where he was assigned to training with one of the most formidable weapons in Germany's armoury - the Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausf. H/E (Pz. Kpfw. VI, Sd. Kfz. 181), better known as the Tiger (later redesignated Tiger I following the production of the Pz. Kpfw. VI Tiger II (Sd. Kfz. 182), or Königstiger).
Tiger Training, Ploërmel
Wittmann's time at Ploërmel in Brittany would involve yet more training and study, now on the Tiger, a Panzer unlike anything the newly-commissioned officer or any of his colleagues had seen before. Many were overwhelmed by this magnificent piece of machinery, and the mere sight of it filled the trainees, who had previously fought in much smaller vehicles, with much confidence for the struggle ahead and their return to the front. Apart from its impressive size and armour protection, the Tiger was armed with a massive 88mm L/56 KwK 36 main gun, a weapon of tremendous power and range. After studying the techinical specifications set down in the relevant handbooks, Wittmann was able to familiarise himself with the vehicle, and, as with the StuG III, soon began to note in his mind its strengths and weaknesses. Wittmann's study was thorough, and he knew that despite its awesomeness, the Tiger, like any armoured vehicle, was only as good as those who were commanding and operating it. This careful approach was to serve him well, and was fundamental to his later success.
The training was specifically designed to introduce each candidate to all of the five important positions in the Panzer: the commander, gunner, loader, driver and bow machine gunner/radio operator. Each role had its own special responsibilities, and a thorough knowledge of each of them was essential in order to guarantee the correct level of co-ordination between the five crew members. Wittmann not only had to familiarise himself with the role of the commander, but also with the 88mm KwK main gun and sighting mechanism, the powerful Maybach engine, the loading mechanism, and the on-board communications system. This was followed by hectic series of written examinations and practical exercises, all of which Wittmann passed with flying colours.
Like with the StuG III training two years previously, the next task was to organise a suitable crew. As luck would have it, Wittmann was able to build an extremely talanted crew, the most skilful of which was his gunner, Rottenführer Balthasar 'Bobby' Woll, who was later to become a Tiger commander himself. Woll, who had joined the Waffen-SS in August 1941, was to save the rest of the crew on a number of occasions with his expert marksmanship, a fact which Wittmann himself was not slow to point out. The man on whom Woll would ultimately rely upon, the loader, was Rottenführer Karl Berges, an enthusiastic soldier who excelled in the training field, and the driver was Rottenführer Gustav 'Gustl' Kirschmer, a veteran of previous Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS campaigns. The fifth position, that of bow machine gunner/radio operator, was assigned to Rottenführer Herbert Pollmann, who had proved himself to be an expert with a number of on-board communications systems as well as the MG34 machine gun. Although Tiger crews were to change frequently in the field from day to day, Wittmann was always firm in his insistence that Bobby Woll be his gunner.
One of the most famous and feared tanks of the Second World War, the Pz. Kfw. VI, or Tiger I. The vehicle was a potent weapon under the command of any able commander, but Wittmann and his crew were able to maximise its potential to lethal effect.
After collecting their Tiger from the Henschel factory at Kassel, Wittmann and his new crew began to acquaint themselves with their new vehicle on their return to Ploërmel. The first task was to familiarise Kirschmer with the controls, which despite his driving skills at first proved testing. Never before had he handled such a large vehicle, and the early days of training were to see Wittmann and the rest of the crew suffer painful injuries as a result of continually being buffeted around. However, after a few days at the wheel, Kirschmer's confidence in his handling of this massive yet responsive machine grew exponentially. The next stage was gunnery practice, which was carried out using special turrets mounted on large concrete blocks, or Panzerstellungs.
While Wittmann, gunner Woll and loader Berges were perfecting their techniques on the range, bow gunner Pollmann and driver Kirschmer were trained up on all aspects regarding the maintenance of the vehicle, and both men were given in-depth cross-training in each others' roles. On completion of this round of individual exercises, the whole crew were reunited for the final round of training, which comprised of a series of practice battlefield manoeuvres. It was here that Wittmann and his new crew were able to fine-tune their ever-increasing range of skills; Kirschmer was by now well and truly at ease behind the wheel, and Bobby Woll was continually scoring top marks on the gunnery ranges. By the end of the year and the completion of the arduous training programme, Wittmann was full of confidence in both his crew and the powerful new Panzer. By the second week of the new year, they would all be on their way to Russia.
Return to the Ostfront
The Leibstandarte returned to the Russian front in January 1943 as part of a newly created SS Panzer Corps, along with its sister divisions 2. SS Pz. Div. 'Das Reich' and 3. SS Pz. Div. 'Totenkopf'. The constituent units of this new SS Panzer Corps were distributed at various key points on the front, with the Leibstandarte and much of 'Das Reich' being relocated in the areas around Khar'kov and Byelgorod. Michael Wittmann, now assigned to the 4th schwere (heavy) Company of the 1st SS Regiment Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, was to return to a Russian front far different to that he had left behind earlier that year: the Russians were far more organised and far less reckless in their approach, and the German Army was a far cry from the well-oiled war machine that had stormed across the Steppes eighteen months previously. They were by now well and truly on the defensive, both against the rejuvenated Red Army and the incessantly brutal climate.
On returning to unit training on Christmas Eve 1942, Wittmann was not immediately given the command of a Tiger; instead, he was assigned the role of commander of 4th Company's light platoon, which consisted of five Panzer III Ausf. Js, reliable machines if a little dated. The role of the light platoon was a defensive one; being faster than the Tiger, the role of the Panzer III was to provide a defensive screen, keeping close range thteats at bay with its 50mm KwK gun. Unlike previous versions of the Panzer III that had proved itself in earlier battles, the newer Ausf. J was equipped with additional bow and turret armour. Wittmann's machine was Nr. 4L1, and his squad consisted of SS-Oberscharführer Max Merten, SS-Scharführer Georg Lötszch, SS-Unterscharführers Schwerin and SS-Rottenführer Franz Staudegger. The latter in particular was to prove to be a precocious talent, taking the command of his Panzer III at the tender age of nineteen. In addition to the five Panzer IIIs, 4th Company was equipped with fifteen Tigers, which were divided into three platoons of four, a command vehicle, company HQ vehicle and reserve vehicle. The company commander was SS-Hauptsturmführer Heinrich (Heinz) Kling.
The Panzer III Ausf. J. Following his assignment to the Tiger company at the end of 1942, Michael Wittmann was given command of the light platoon, which consisted of five of these vehicles. This example has been painted in white winter camouflage.
Within a month of the arrival of Wittman's crew, the German Sixth Army suffered the shattering defeat at Stalingrad; this was the ultimate proof that the Russian bear was far from dead, and that this would be a struggle that would provide a whole new meaning to the Crusade against Bolshevism. As the casualties mounted, the severe entry standards for both the LSSAH and the Waffen-SS as a whole were gradually relaxed. Thousands of volunteers from all over Europe, ever more fearful of the dreaded Red scourge, threw in their lot with the Germans. Many were to join the ranks of the Waffen-SS, and were to serve with distinction. By mid-March of 1943, the city of Khar'kov had been recaptured by the Leibstandarte, although the fact remained that while thousands of men and armoured vehicles were being churned out by the Soviets from what appeared to be nowhere, the Germans were finding it increasingly difficult to make good the losses suffered by their highly professional forces, which up to now had managing to hold their own in spite of being terribly outnumbered in the field - often by as much as ten to one. Nevertheless, there was good reason for optimism as the men of the Leibstandarte moved into their new quarters on the outskirts of the recaptured city, moving in with members of the local Ukrainian population.
Following the arrival at the front of five new Tigers at the beginning of April 1943, SS-Untersturmführer Michael Wittmann was finally given command of his own Tiger, having been assigned to the command of the 3rd platoon, which consisted of five Tigers. Moving with Wittmann from the light platoon to the 3rd was SS-Oberscharführer Max Merten, and they were joined by SS-Unterscharführers Hans Höld, Jürgen Brandt and Kurt Sowa. The company consisted of twenty-two vehicles; seventeen Tigers (three platoons of five and two command vehicles) and the five Panzer IIIs that comprised the light platoon. At the end of April and beginning of May, the new crews were put through their paces; these training routines were organised by both Wittmann and his good friend SS-Untersturmführer Helmut Wendorff, who like Wittmann had also fought with distinction in the assault gun units both in the Balkans and the early stages of the Russian campaign prior to his being assigned to the Tiger company. While placing a great deal of attention on tactics, the training was far from dull; Wittmann in particular was to make a good impression on the new recruits.
At the end of May, 4th Company was renamed to the 13th schwere (heavy) Company, SS Panzer Regiment Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, with command being retained by SS-Hauptsturführer Kling. The prefix number 13 was painted on the turrets of all of 13th Company's freshly-camouflaged vehicles; as commander of the third platoon, Michael Wittmann's Tiger was designated Nr. 1331 - 13 for the Company, 3 for the platoon, 1 for the position of platoon commander.
Wittmann's first operational Tiger I, Russia 1943. This vehicle was used during Operation Zitadelle which took place in and around the Ukrainian city of Kursk. Note the summer camoflage pattern and the turret number 1331.
As the conflict dragged on, so the number of quality soldiers began to diminish, with little or no time to train suitable replacements. And although such men were at a premium, the very nature of the conflict always meant that they were thrown into the fire first. Michael Wittmann was one of these 'fire-fighters', and answered all of the questions that were asked of him and his crew. His next challenge was to involve him in what was to be the biggest tank battle of the Second World War, a battle that was to prove decisive in turning the tide once and for all against Germany.
Operation 'Zitadelle' and the Battle of Kursk
The successful advance by the Germans and the retaking of Khar'kov had left a massive Soviet-held salient protruding into the front line, with the key areas surrounding the city of Kursk. The aim of 'Zitadelle' was to squeeze off this salient by attacking from both the north and the south, uniting Army Groups Centre and South, hence sealing the front line and re-establishing Germany's advantage. The men of the Leibstandarte, along with those of its sister Waffen-SS divisions Das Reich and Totenkopf, was poised to attack as part of the pincer attacking northwards before heading east towards Kursk itself. Thousands of men and machines were organised for this massive undertaking, and it was sure to many at this point that failure meant almost certain annhiliation.
The first day of the attack, X-Day, 5 July 1943, saw the eleven serviceable Tigers under SS-Hauptsturmführer Kling move northwards from its starting point close to the town of Bykovka, under instructions to break through the Soviet defences located to the south and south-east of the town. The enemy forces, which consisted of flame-throwers, anti-tank guns and T34 tanks, were well organised; during this first skirmish, Wittmann's Tiger quickly took out two of the T34s. With the other Tigers taking out the anti-tank guns and a number of the enemy T34s, the remaining enemy vehicles quickly retreated. It was to be a dramatic day for Wittmann and his crew; during the many sorties that were undertaken, loader Walter Koch was hit in the head with splinters and the Tiger drove over a mine, damaging one of the tracks. The injured Koch was replaced by SS-Panzerschütze Max Gaube, and the Tiger was quickly towed to safety. In spite of the small misfortunes that came its way, Wittmann's Tiger had destroyed fifteen pieces of enemy materiel, eight panzers and seven of the much-feared anti-tank guns.
Although the injuries suffered by Wittmann's crew during the first day were not to be repeated, they faced a desparate struggle to keep their battered machine running. For the next four days, Wittmann and his crew - gunner Bobby Woll, driver Siegfried Fuss, loader Max Gaube and radio operator Karl Lieber - found themselves working overtime. The back-to-back combat sorties were relentless, with the exception of 9 July when a number of panzer crews, including Wittmann's, were provided with what was a well-earned rest in the city of Teterevino. The battle had been intense, and had left the twenty-nine year old panzer ace utterly exhausted. By this time, his Tiger had destroyed some thirty enemy tanks and twenty-eight anti-tank guns. During this period, heroic actions were being performed by a number of Wittmann's colleagues, not least the twenty year old SS-Unterscharführer Franz Staudegger of Wendorff's second platoon, who on 8 July destroyed an astonishing twenty-two enemy T34s in a single action, afeat was to earn the young Austrian the Knight's Cross.
On the morning of 12 July, the scene was set for what would be the biggest tank battle in history, and perhaps the most decisive moment of the war, as more than two-thousand armoured vehicles and anti-tank guns from both sides converged on a large plain south of Kursk in the vicinity of Prokhorovka. This battle was to in the end by decided by sheer weight of numbers, as the smaller German formations, in spite of the professionalism of their crews, soon found themselves being overwhelmed by wave after wave of Soviet T34/76s and KV Is. While the German machines were at a premium, the destruction of one Soviet tank seemed to spawn the arrival of two more. Although Michael Wittmann and his colleagues (the resting Bobby Woll had given way to SS-Unterscharführer Hermann Gräser) were hugely successful in achieving their own particular objectives, the overall situation was bleak, and by the following day even Hitler had recognised the fact that this massive gamble had failed. As the battle raged, the dry, flat Steppeland soon became a picture of destruction, littered with the carcasses of hundreds of armoured vehicles and the twisted and charred bodies of dead panzer crews and infantrymen.
The finest version of the Soviet T34 tank, the T34/85, equipped with the powerful 85mm main gun. The fact that the Soviets were to produce such excellent vehicles in such numbers was more often than not a key factor to the outcome of the tank battle in the East, including the bloody struggle at Kursk.
As the battle headed towards its inevitable conclusion, the Tiger company continued to serve with both distinction and élan. On 14 July, it had only five serviceable machines, a figure that had improved to nine by 17 July, which saw Wittmann and his colleagues retreat to a position west of the city of Byelgorod. Many men had been lost, and despite the successes of the Tiger company, Kursk was still in the hands of the Soviets. Quite simply, the German forces had been overwhelmed by the sheer numerical strength of their opponents. The plan to close off the Kursk salient, Operation 'Zitadelle', had failed.
The Germans paid a high price for their failure at Kursk; defeat had well and truly signalled the end of any possible hopes for a further advance, and it had all but destroyed the bulk of their armoured formations. Some fifteen-hundred panzers, including hundreds of Tiger Is and Pz. Kpfw. V Panthers, were lost, and many of the panzer divisions found themselves reduced to not even battalion size. The Russians themselves had paid a high price for their victory; in addition to what must have been tens of thousands of men killed, some three-thousand tanks and guns were destroyed. Soon after this defeat at the end of July 1943, the LSSAH was one the formations withdrawn from the East, and sent - albeit temporarily - to more pleasant climes in Italy for rest and refit.
Rest, refit and reformation
Setting out from the front at the end of July, Wittmann and the Tiger Company arrived in Italy during the first week of August 1943, settling into their new quarters close to the town of Reggio on 8 August. To men who previously had found themselves baking in the heat of battle in the East, this was something close to paradise.
The Autumn of 1943 was to witness yet another formation change for the 13th Tiger company; a new Panzer battalion - the 101st - was formed, and the 13th (heavy) company was to be the basis of the third company of this new battalion. Commanding this new formation would be SS-Hauptsturmführer Kling, who had returned to duty having been wounded during the Kursk offensive. A brand new batch of Tigers arrived, and the strength of the company was upped to twenty-seven vehicles: the command and HQ tanks and five platoons of five Tigers each. Michael Wittman was given command of the second platoon, whose other commanders included SS-Unterscharführers Ewald Mölly and Kurt Kleber, SS-Oberscharführer Jürgen Brandt and Hauptscharführer Hans Höflinger.
The reformation of the unit led to more personnel being drafted in; it also meant more of the same theory and practice for those who had been there and seen it all before. All of this was not without its lighter moments, however - particularly one comical story involving Michael Wittmann engaging on what turned out to be a tank-to-tank hunt for a stolen Parmesan cheese:
One group laid its hands on a locally-made cheese. The large round cheese was taken in a "night and fog" operation; it was cut up into more manageable portions with a bayonet and then divided up. Somehow or other word about this unauthorised supplement to the company's rations got out and there was a huge flap. SS-Untersturmführer Wittmann crawled into every Tiger looking for cheese. Faced with the threat posed by Wittmann, the evil-doers used the opportunity to eat their hoarded portions. In most cases this was sufficient to satisfy the thieves' appetite for parmesan cheese for some time.
(Quoted in Patrick Agte, Michael Wittmann and the Tiger Commanders of the Leibstandarte, p. 102)
After undergoing in-tank cheese searches, bouts of diarrhoea following the over-consumption of local grapes (the eating of which was subsequently banned) and witnessing the surrender of the Italians to the Allies in early September, the Tiger company was once again readied for action, and a return to the Russian front. The Tigers were also given new turret designations - the number 13 being replaced by the letter "S" for schwere (heavy). As leader of the second platoon, Michael Wittmann's Tiger was designated S21. On the front of each vehicle was the symbol of the Leibstandarte, the skeleton key or Dietrich, after the divisional commander, SS-Obergruppenführer Josef "Sepp" Dietrich.
At the beginning of November, the first tanks of the newly formed 13th Company - the core of the fledgling 101st Panzer Battalion - began to be transported eastwards. On 11 November, the transport train carrying the powerful new 13th Tiger company arrived at Berdichev in the Ukraine.
