|
HOLDING THE
LINE
Skillfully led by their mercurial commander, SS-Hauptsturmführer Michael Wittmann, the SS-Hauptsturmführer Michael Wittmann of s.SS-Pz. Abt. 101 Tiger tanks blaze through a shattered French village in the days following D-Day, June, 1944. Their destination – Normandy!
From Wikipedia. His first experience of combat came in the Polish Campaign, followed by the Battle of France as a commander of the new self-propelled assault guns, the Sturmgeschütz III Ausf. A. The Greek campaign - Operation 'Marita' - was launched on 6 April 1941. Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH) captured the Greek capital and formed the spearhead, alongside the 9th Panzer Division, which punched through the Greek countryside. After three weeks of campaigning, Nazi Germany had conquered Greece. Wittmann and his unit were sent to Czechoslovakia for a refit. The rest would not last long, however, as Wittmann's unit was soon dispatched to the Eastern Front to participate in the invasion of the Soviet Union. He initially served as a commander of a StuG III assault gun. He was assigned for both officer and tank training in the winter of 1942-43. Returning to the Eastern Front as a newly-commissioned officer, Wittmann was reassigned to a tank unit with the rank of SS-Untersturmführer, where he commanded a Panzer III tank. By 1943, he commanded a Tiger, and by the time of the Battle of Kursk (Operation Citadel), he was a platoon leader. On January 14 1944, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and on January 30, the Oak Leaves for his continued excellence in the field. By this time, he had destroyed 88 enemy tanks and a significant number of other armoured vehicles. Wittmann left the Leibstandarte, as the Tiger company of the division was used as the nucleus of a new Waffen-SS heavy tank battalion, Schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 101. This new formation was part of the I SS-Panzerkorps and was not permanently attached to any division or regiment. On March 1, 1944, Wittmann married Hildegard Burmester in the town of Lüneburg.. By the time he was posted to France, in the late spring of 1944 following the Allied D-Day invasion, Wittmann held the rank of SS-Obersturmführer. His most famous exploit during the Normandy campaign was his ambush of the lead elements of the 7th Armoured Division's 22nd Armoured Brigade, which brought about the Battle of Villers-Bocage on 13 June 1944. During the opening phase of this battle, within a 15 minute period, he is credited with the destruction of between 10 and 11 tanks, 2 anti-tank guns and 13 personnel carriers. Historians have claimed that Wittmann's attack ended after he had withdrawn from the town following an unsuccessful duel with a Sherman Firefly.
Wittmann sitting on the gun barrel of his Tiger I tank in northern France,
1944. A British tanker claimed he was responsible for denting the driver visor on the Tiger tank, during the unsuccessful duel with the Firefly, and that this forced Wittmann to withdraw his tank.Wittman's Tiger is then said to have continued eastwards, out of town, before being disabled by a British 6-Pounder anti–tank gun. Wittmann's own account contradicts this sequence of events. He states that his tank was disabled in the town centre and photographic evidence, taken after the event, of the Tiger tanks knocked out in Villers-Bocage corroborates this position. Wittmann did not take part in the fighting throughout the rest of the morning nor the afternoon, although German propaganda claimed he did and credited him with the destruction of nearly all the British losses. For his actions at Villers-Bocage Wittmann was promoted to SS-Hauptsturmführer, was awarded Swords to his Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and had his story appear in Das schwarze Korps (the German Panzer forces magazine).
Wittmann receiving the Swords to his Knight's Cross. Death
Michael Wittmann was killed on 8 August 1944 while taking part in a counterattack to retake Hill 122, near the town of St. Aignan de Cramesnil. The town and surrounding high ground had been captured a few hours previously by Anglo-Canadian forces during Operation Totalize. A group of seven Tiger tanks from the 3rd Company and HQ Company, Schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 101 supported by several Panzer IV and Stug IV were ambushed by tanks from A Squadron, 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry, 33rd Armoured Brigade, A Squadron, the Sherbrooke Fuisilier Regiment, 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade and B Squadron, The 144 Royal Armoured Corps, 33rd Armoured Brigade. The killing shots have long been thought to have come from a Sherman Firefly of ‘3 Troop’, A Squadron, 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry (commander - Sergeant Gordon; gunner - Trooper Joe Ekins), which was positioned in a wood called Delle de la Roque on the advancing Tigers' right flank at approximately 12:47. It appears the shells penetrated the upper hull of the tank and ignited the Tiger's own ammunition, causing a fire which engulfed the tank and then blew off the turret. Burial The German war graves commission, either with help of veterans from the s.SS-Pz Abt. 101 or from the author of Panzers in Normandy – Then and Now, located Wittmann and his crew's unmarked grave in 1983. They were then reinterred together at the German war cemetery of La Cambe in France.
Overall Print Size: 35" wide x 211/2" THE SIGNATURES Every print in the Limited Edition, Artist Proof Edition, and Remarque Editions have been personally signed by the artist, Richard Taylor , together with THREE veterans of German Panzer units during WWII: THE TRIBUTE PROOFS Richard Taylor has created ten substantial and unique original pencil drawings, supreme examples of the artist’s breath-taking skill. Each drawing is signed by a further SIX World War II Panzer Commanders and crew – all holders of the coveted Knight’s Cross, making a total of NINE signatures in total. This is an unrivalled piece for true collectors of modern military history.
THE LIMITED EDITION Obergefreiter HENRY METELMANN Feldwebel HEINZ FELLBRICH Sturmann KARL-HEINZ DECKER THE TRIBUTE PROOFS (with original pencil drawing) Additionally signed by: OTTO CARIUS GERHARD FISCHER WALTHER GIRG RICHARD RUDOLF NORBERT KUJACINSKI ALBERT KERSCHER HOLDING THE LINE THE LIMITED EDITION US $175.00 UK £110.00 Edition Size - 400
THE ARTIST PROOFS US $235.00 UK £150.00 Edition Size - 25
THE REMARQUED EDITION US $455.00 UK £285.00 Edition Size - 25
THE DOUBLE REMARQUES US $745.00 UK £465.00 Edition Size - 10
THE TRIBUTE EDITION (Subject to availability) US $1795.00 UK £1095.00 Edition Size - 10 Collect and cherish truly exceptional original aviation and maritime art, drawings, and supreme quality limited edition prints, by the world's most collected military artists. Select from many valuable collector prints, countersigned by distinguished and historically famous aircrew, and other military personnel. Before you purchase, please visit the home page, for important information on these collectable and very possibly great investments for the future. They are limited editions and once they are gone, they are gone! I have sold some, such as the Bismark, in the past and wished I'd kept them myself, as the value tripled and quadrupled on several of them, within months, after they had sold out. You will find a growing number of mainly, limited edition prints, for your collections. These will have been painted, or drawn, by some of the finest military artists in the world today. If you are searching for a particular print, or subject, then please ask me and I shall do my best to track it/them down for you. Just send me a request signal. Cheers,
Ray Cunningham Remember - email me... |
Military Art Prints - Military Prints
|
.jpg)
Military Art Prints - Military Prints
Limited Editions
(Sovereign Art Company, Inc.)
http://MilitaryArtPrints.net