Around 12:30 hrs August 8 1944, schwere SS-Panzerabteilung 101 attacked north following Route Nationale 158 seven Tigers strong. Fighting as part of 12SS-Panzerdivision the counterattack was launched to stem an Allied advance until 85 Infanteriedivision could arrive from Trun. The counterattack would not succeed.
Five Tigers including the one commanded by the acting abteilung commander Micheal Wittmann would be lost. Four of these Tigers were from Nr.3 Kompanie commanded by SS-Sturmfuhrer Franz Huerich SS-Unterscharfuhrer Peter Kisters, SS-Untersturmfuhrer Willi Irion SS-Oberscharfuhrer Rolf von Westernhagen, others were from battalion headquarters.Two surviving Tigers were commanded by Heurich (SS Sturmfuhrer) and Westernhagen (SS Oberscherfuhrer)
Wittmann has become somewhat of a cult figure in recent years, he is credited with 143 Allied armour vehicle kills including 25 from City of London Yeomanry and 1st Battalion the Rifle Brigade of the Desert Rats ( 7th British Armoured Division) on June 13 at Villers-Bocage.

The Allies all shared one view of a Tiger and that was a Tiger is a Tiger, it would matter little who was the commander. Tigers were to be destroyed by any or all means available to them. Early accounts of Wittmans demise were swarms of Shermans Polish or Canadian, or a Typhoon jabo. No available Allied documents pertaining to Totalize refer to him. His name first came up in an interrogation report of Kurt Myer by Canadian intelligence. Recently claims have been made by the British armoured regiment, 1 Northhamptonshire Yeomanry that it knocked out Wittmans tank and people seem to be buying it. One Firefly in that regiment did knock out three Tigers of schwere SS-Panzerabteilung 101 that afternoon but to say Wittman's tank was one of them hasn't been proven beyond a doubt. Les Taylor made this claim in a 1985 article of “After the Battle” magazine. He did so without having any written documentation from the other likely contender the Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment 27 CAR.

There were actually two British units that engaged Tigers on August 8 1944 afternoon as part of Opertion Totalize. One being the Nothhamptonshire Yeomanary and 144 RAC 33 British Armoured Brigade. There was also one Canadian regiment the Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment. The Canadians haven't been given much consideration because there is no written record of the account. A stick of fragmentation bombs was dropped by a friendly air force right on one of the half tracks from regimental headquaters, this particular one had all the operational records as well as he regimental intelligence sergeant, it happened within an hour of Wittmans death.

The Battle

Phase I of Totalize went prety much according to plan, however, during the inevitable lull, one that had the combined Canadian/British forces waiting for 7 hours until a prescheduled heavy bomber attack could take place. The Allied forces would be faced with a powerful German counter attack.

Kurt Myer would be able to form a formidible defensive line in this time, however, first the Canadian/ British columns needed to be attacked to buy time for the battle weary defenders. Micheal Wittmann and schwere SS-Panzerabteilung 101 were to lead the counter attack. The attack consisted of about 20 Panther and Tiger tanks together with artillery and infantry support in total around sixty vehicles, Wittmann commanded seven Tigers, his own was in for repair. Wittmann's was to attack the town of Cintheaux, which stood on the N158 between Caen and Falaise, and to occupy the heights to the north. Wittmann's Tigers set out around 12:30.
Hans Hoflinger, the operations officer reports:
“Then we drove off, Michel to the right of the road and I left, four Tigers with Michel, Agte and von Westernhagen with me. Approximately 800 meters to Michel's right was a small wood which struck us as suspicious and was to prove fateful to us. Unfortunately, we couldn't keep the wood under observation on account of our mission. We drove about 1.5km then I received a radio transmission from Michel which only confirmed my suspicion about the wood.
We began taking heavy fire from anti tank guns and once again Michel called but didn't complete the message. When I looked to the left I saw Michel's tank wasn't moving. I called him on the radio but received no answer. Then my tank received a frightful blow and I had to order the crew out as the tank was burning fiercely. My crew and I dashed to the rear and got through. I stopped to look around and to my dismay discovered that 5 of our tanks had been knocked out. The turret of Michels tank was displaced to the right and tilted down somewhat. None of his crew had gotten out. I can state the exact time of this incident was 12:55 hours, near the Caen Falaise road in the vicinity of Cintheaux.”
[Agte, Wittman]

Lt-Gen Guy Simmonds' II Canadian Corps offensive named “Operation Totalize” was to move 24km south from Bourguebus Ridge to secure the high ground near a town called Falaise (cliffs). The operation was to be launched in two phases, one on the night of August 7-8 was to punch through the forward German lines by bypassing forward defense localities FDL with strong armoured mobile columns and capture positions in the enemy rear. Simultaneously infantry would attack bypassed FDL. The forces would then strengthen their positions and launch another powerful armoured assault that would lead to the capture of the main objective the high groung at Falaise.

The British units were on the east side of RN158 with A squadron of the 1NY set up in ambush position about 1000 meters west of St. Aignan hidden in an orchard. The Brits saw the Tigers coming but only mention there being 3 Tigers. 1NY A squadron #3 troops Firefly was situated south of the orchard. According to British accounts they held their fire until the Tigers were within 800 meters The Firefly let go 2 rounds from its 17lb a/t gun at the rear Tiger and it started to burn. The Firefly then backed into the orchard for cover, as was the doctrine. At this time the 2nd Tiger opened fire narrowly missing the Firefly, it fired 3 rounds. The commander then ordered the Firefly to a new firing position. The Firefly moving out of cover fired one shot at this Tiger and it exploded into flames, launching the turret several meters to the rear. By this time another Sherman armed with the 75mm started peppering away at the 3rd Tiger stopping it. The Firefly by this time had moved into firing position and finished off the last Tiger with 1 shot. Tpr. Elkins the man on the gun remarked later “ Rather like Practice #5 on the ranges at Linney Head.”
The entry in the war diary regarding the engagement states:
Three Tiger reported moving toward A Sqn; and were brewed up at 1240, 1247, and 1252, all without loss. Later inf with 20 tanks in support formed up to counter attack and in a bombing attack which followed some bombs fell in our area.
[ Neville, First Northamptonshire Yeomanry]

During this break in the action Brigadier General Radley-Walters, a major commanding A squadron of the Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment had moved his squadron which included two Fireflies into an ambush position behind a stone wall in the area north of Gaumisnil and west of RN158. He had the men make holes in the stone wall so that the tanks could remain hidden while firing.
His account begins after a series of counter attacks were defeated which began at around 8:30hours.

I decided that I should move forward to Gaumesnil and be in position to support the Royal Regiment of Canada (infantry) when they were ordered to capture the village. At approximately 1030 hours I left the wood and skirted the woods to the left until I reached the railway line, then turned south past La Jalouise until we reached near the rear of Gaumesnil. I was able to get good cover during this move and had right flank protection from the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry and my #1 troop as I moved the squadron south behind the bush at Gaumesnil. The village was small but at its eastern edge near the Caen-Falaise Highway (RN158) was a large chateau with a tall stone and cement wall completely around the property, giving good firing positions to the east and south-east.
To the rear was a large wooded area which gave good protection from view. I had 8 tanks with me and 2 were equipped with 17-pounder guns. We took up defensive positions about the farm and made holes in the stone wall so that we were covered from view but could observe any targets moving north on the Caen-Falaise Highway and in the fields to the east of it.
The wood to the rear of the village and the hedgerows around the village gave good cover, so moving into this position was not a problem. At 1115hours we had settled into position, the village was not occupied by the Germans.
At noon we could see movement to the east of Cintheaux. There was a long hedgerow that ran east from the village out into the fields and our artillery was shelling this area and the village when this movement was spotted. That was somewhere from between 1215 and 1230 hours when thr attack started.....In our area around Guamesnil the visibility I recall was thick with smoke and the German attack was supported with mortars and artillery as they moved parallel with the highway and point 112. The attack moved as a group with five Tigers leading the group well spaced with four at front and the fifth leading a number of MarkIVs and halftracks with Jagdpazers.
One of the Tigers was running close to the highway beside Guamesnil followed by two Jagdpanzers advancing on the main highway....
When we saw the attack coming in, I just kept yelling, “Hold off!” “Hold off!” until they got reasonably close. We opened fire at about 500yds. The lead tank, the one closest the road, was knocked out. Behind it were a couple of Sps. I personally got one of the Sps right on the Caen-Falaise Road.
The other Tigers were engaged not only by my squadron, but also by two Fireflys from B squadron tthat had moved over to La Jalousie when the counter attack started. Once we started fire, the German column turned to the north-east and headed for the wooded area south of St.Aignan de Cramesnil... We destroyed two MarkIVs before the rear of the German group veered too far to the east.....When the action was over we claimed the Tiger beside the highway, a second Tiger which was at the rear of the advancing column, two MarkIVs and two Sps.
[Reid, No Holding Back, Who Killed Whittman]

Take note, the Tiger engaged by Radley-Walters was the Tiger travelling closest to the road. The otherTiger he claimed was advancing at the rear of the column. Holflinger states that he saw that five tanks had been lost and his was likely the rear Tiger. Holflinger states that at the time he saw that five tanks had been lost, Micheals turret was still resting on its hull. He was also emphatic that the time was precisely 1255hrs.
1 Northamptonshire Yeomanry claimed three Tigers between 1240, 1247 and 1252, the second Tiger 8 minutes prior to when Holinger states his fifth Tiger was hit.
RAF vertical air photo taken August 9 shows four knocked out Tigers in the vicinity of St.Aignan-de-Cramesnil. Three of which are within 800yrds of the orchard 1NY was in, the other is 1100yrds from the orchard within 200yds of the highway and 500yds from the Sherbrooke Fusiliers positions. In addition a mass grave where the remains of Wittman and his crew were buried is closest to the Tiger closest the Canadians, forensic evidence has proven this. There are photos showing this as Tiger 007
Another story is that a French civilian Serge Varin photographed Tiger 007 with a ragged hole in the left side air intake, and sees no other holes in the tank. Thus it has been assumed the tank had been typhied, however, after exhuasting research Brain Reid concluded that 2 TAF made no kills in that area that day, even Kurt Myer noted on the lack of enemy fighters on August 8.
1100 yards is beyond what a 17lb antitank gun was considered accurate, yet this was the distance Wittmans tank was from the British position. Both the British and the Canadians describe holding thier fire until the Tigers were within 800yds. This puts Wittmans tank under the Fireflys of the Canadians guns. The Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment 27CAR was most likely the Allied unit to kill the brave Micheal Wittman.