HITLER'S TIGER ACE

Michael Wittmann, aka the Black Baron, was a hugely successful panzer commander and propaganda icon for the Nazis. His role in the Waffen-SS left a dark legacy

- JON TRIGG

Born in Bavaria on 22 April 1914, Michael Wittmann would go on to become the most famous WaffenSS Tiger Ace (a panzer commander credited with multiple kills, also called a ‘Panzer Ace’) of World War II. First in Russia and then most famously at the Battle of Villers-Bocage on 13 June 1944, in Normandy, he would win fame and glory before his death in combat on 8 August that same year. Feted by the Nazi propaganda machine, his legacy is a controversial one, with historians casting doubt on his achievements and abilities as a panzer commander.

Wittmann was born a farmer’s son but didn’t follow in his father’s footsteps: he opted for a military life and in 1934, aged 20, enlisted in the army. Having served for two years Wittmann – also a member of the Nazi Party – made the decision to transfer to the still infant Waffen-SS. He was assigned to Hitler’s own bodyguard, the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH), a motorised infantry regiment, and following the outbreak of war he fought with the Leibstandarte in the invasions of Poland, France and the Balkans. By then he had been promoted to NCO rank, but his career only really took off with the advent of Operation Barbarossa – the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, on 22 June 1941.