Death and Legendary Status
Michael Wittmann was killed in action in a tank battle with British and Canadian forces during Operation Totalize on August 8 1944. Who fired the shot which penetrated his tank and caused the stored ammunition to explode is still debated, with both British and Canadian troops claiming the kill.
The Allies buried the crew of Wittmann’s shattered tank together in an unmarked grave, which was located by the Germans in 1983. Wittmann and his crew were reburied at La Cambe German War Cemetery in France.
Wittmann’s myth, which gained a huge head start from Nazi propaganda during the war, has gained strength in the years since, largely from literature which has remained focused on depicting the Waffen SS as an elite military unit rather than the paramilitary arm of the Nazi Party. While he was undoubtedly a successful tank commander the true number of his victories is unknown. At Villers-Bocage for example, German propaganda gave Wittmann full credit for every British vehicle destroyed during the engagement, other participating German tanks received none.
Even German historians dispute Wittmann’s record in terms of numbers of kills, pointing out the German propaganda machine as one factor, and the difficulty of determining reliably the number of kills achieved in the heat of action another. Aviation kills required confirmation by others or by gun cameras, tank kills did not.
Most of Wittmann’s defenders also ignore the criminal actions of the Waffen SS against both prisoners of war and civilians, presenting him as a humane, honorable victor in battle. Such an account does not reconcile with the known record of the Waffen SS, as testified to by those who fought against it during World War II.