Michael Wittmann and the Waffen SS Tiger commanders of the Leibstandarte in World War II , Volume Two

Description

Accounts of what it was like to command a tank in combat Contains maps, official documents, newspaper clippings, and orders of battle Volume Two follows Michael Wittmann and his unit into Normandy to defend against the Allied invasion. A week after D-Day, Wittmann achieved his greatest success. On June 13, 1944, near Villers Bocage, the panzer ace and his crew attacked a British armored unit, single-handedly destroying more than a dozen tanks and preventing an enemy breakthrough. The exploit made Wittmann a national hero in Germany and a legend in the annals of war. He was killed two months later while attempting to repulse an Allied assault, but the book continues beyond his death until the Leibstandarte's surrender Content: V. 1. Development of the German Panzer -- Tiger units of the Waffen SS -- On the eastern front -- The battle in the Kursk Salient -- The Tiger Company in Italy -- New plans -- Back on the eastern front -- The battles of Chepovichi and Berdichev -- Operation Vatutin and the relief of the Cherkassy pocket -- Michael Wittmann and his secret of sucess -- Proskurov and Ternopol : the company in action under Wendorff, 29 February-9 April, 1944 -- The 101st SS Panzer Battalion -- v. 2. The Allied landing in Normandy -- "B ut I knew that it absolutely had to be" : the Battle of Villers-Bocage-Caen Road -- Fighting on the Villers-Bocage-Caen Road -- Operation "Epsom", 26-28 June 1944 -- The fourth battle of Caen, 4-10 July 1944 -- Operation "Goodwood": the English move south, 18-20 July 1944 -- Operation "Totalize," 8-11 August 1944 -- Battles northeast of Falaise, 9-16 August 1944 -- The end of the Normandy Campaign -- Reorganization of the 101st SS Panzer Battalion, 28 September [to] 1 December -- The Ardennes Offensive, 16 December 1944 [to] 24 January 1945 -- The defensive battle in Hungary and Austria.