[John McGillivray]

This is from Hubert Meyer’s book “The History of the 12. SS-Panzerdivision Hitlerjugend”, concerning the end of Wittman.(p174-175)

The medical officer of Schwere Panzerabteilung 101, Hauptsturmführer Dr. Wolfgang Rabe, M.D., observed the battle of the Tigers from some distance away. Four of them had taken up positions along a country lane leading in a northerly direction from Cintheaux, approximately 300 meters away from the Route Nationale. They were sitting between a high, thick hedge and a row of low bushes running parallel on its left. Dr. Rabe wrote:

"Wittmann and 4 or 5 Tigers were east of the road leading to Caen. I was off to the side. The Tigers came under fire, reported to be directly from English 15 cm guns. Several Tigers went up in flames and I tried to determine whether anyone was getting out. Since I could not see anybody, I assumed that some had left the Panzers by way of the ground hatch and I tried to get closer. That was not possible either since, as soon as I left the ditch in an easterly direction, I came under fire. We waited for another one or two hours, to see if any crew member might still show up. Toward evening I drove over to Brigadeführer Kraemer (chief of staff of I. SS-Panzerkorps, Author) and reported to him on what had happened. He directed me, as I was the longest serving officer of the Abteilung, to lead the remnants of the Abteilung back and assigned me to Wünsche."

When Obersturmbannführer Max Wünsche learned that Michel Wittmann was missing, he had a search started for him. Untersturmführer Horst Borgsmüller reported:

"I was given an order to search for Wittmann and his crew to the right and left of N 158. My driver, Sturmmann Klein, and I drove first in the direction of Hautmesnil. Dusk was setting in and I could not make out any details. After some time we came under machine gun fire from the right of the road. The search of the terrain and the dressing stations was unsuccessful. I heard from some Grenadiers that Tigers had been knocked out by enemy anti-tank guns to the right of the road. Obersturmführer Wendorf of the Tigerabteilung could not tell me anything either. On orders from Hauptsturmführer Isecke I drove once more in the direction of Grainville during the night. The command post of Obersturmbannführer Mohnke was located there. He warned me against driving on since the enemy had already closed in. We tried to go on for a short distance. Then flares shot into the sky and we came under fire, again from the right."

Some French citizens from St. Aignan-de Gaumesnil saw a Tiger sitting in that area at a country lane leading from St. Aignan to Gaumesnil after the fighting had stopped. Four more Tigers were seen along the country lane from St. Aignan to Cintheaux. One of those had its turret ripped off. The battle diary recorder of the Tigerabteilunq, Rottenfuhrer Herbert Debusmann, was assigned to collect ammunition in that area while still a prisoner of war in 1947. He still found all five previously mentioned destroyed or immobilized Tigers as well as two Panzer IVs in the vicinity. The turret of one Tiger, with the number 007, had been ripped off. It had been the commander's Panzer. Obersturmbannführer von Westernhagen, the Abteilung commander, had not taken part in this battle, sidelined by an illness. Among other matters, Herbert Debusmann related in his report:

"The turret of '007'—it was in the very rear of the four Panzers—was lying on the ground several meters away from the hull.I do not believe that the question whether Michel Wittmann was in this Panzer can be answered. The fact was that he disliked using a staff Panzer or commander's Panzer since they carried approximately 30 fewer shells, because of their ground-to-air radio equipment, than the other Panzers. Some 1.500 meters away from that spot, in the direction of Caen but further away from the Route Nationale, sat another Tiger of 2. Kompanie. It had not been knocked out but looked completely serviceable. It showed no damage to the tracks and I could not determine any other mechanical defect. The Panzer had not been blown up and was still carrying its full supply of ammunition."

Since no members of the Tiger crews who fought near Cintheaux survived the war, maybe not even the Normandy battles, nothing totally reliable may ever be established regarding the last battle of Michel Wittmann.