Michael Wittmann

Michael Wittmann was born on 22 April 1914 and rose through the ranks as a German tank commander in the Waffen-SS during the Second World War. On 13 June 1944, commanding a Tiger I at Villers-Bocage, he ambushed elements of the British 7th Armoured Division and destroyed up to 14 tanks, 15 personnel carriers, and two anti-tank guns in roughly fifteen minutes before losing his own tank. Hitler personally upgraded his Knight's Cross with oak leaves on 2 February 1944, when Wittmann's credited total stood at 117 tanks; by war's end that figure reached somewhere between 135 and 138, though German tank kills were recorded as unit tallies and the numbers remain disputed. He was killed in action on 8 August 1944. After the war he became a cult figure as a "panzer ace," though historians remain split - some praise Villers-Bocage, many call his abilities lacking and the legend inflated.