Getting my Heavy, Large 1/6th Scale German Tiger I RC Tank (Michael Wittmann's 205 Tiger Tank)

RC 1/6th scale RC tanks, not an Armortek tank, it is a good fiberglass and metal version.




Legendary tank commander Michael Wittmann met his end in a fiery ambush on August 8, 1944. Michael Wittmann had 139 Kills as a Panzer Ace

During the late morning of August 8, 1944, the day famed tank commander Michael Wittmann would meet his end in combat, German SS-Oberführer (Colonel) Kurt “Panzer” Meyer sat in his staff car as his driver made his way toward the town of Cintheaux, France, near the front lines. A British attack was underway, and Meyer commanded the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitler Youth, directly in the enemy’s path. As the two men proceeded north, a dismaying sight greeted them. Scores of German infantrymen were moving southward, retreating in disarray. The scene was one of utter chaos, something Meyer immediately set out to change. Taking up his carbine, the SS officer sprang from the staff car and waded into the midst of the fleeing men. Alone, he exhorted to his men to stop running and rally to him. Making a brave display, his urging succeeded and the men around him were restored to order. Soon after, Meyer met with Sturmbahnführer (Major) Hans Waldmuller, a member of his unit. They drove to a gently sloping rise in the terrain near the village of Gaumesnil. There they found a barn and climbed to its top carrying their binoculars. What they saw no doubt daunted them. In the distance the spearheads of two British armored divisions were assembling to resume the Allied attack. Tanks, halftracks, and Bren carriers were spread before them like an enormous pride of lions, predators ready to close in for the kill.

Meyer knew there was little behind him to stop this wave of destruction from advancing all the way to Falaise. If they succeeded the German defenses for this entire region might collapse. His troops were too weak to defend, so he decided they would attack instead. Meyer quickly issued orders for all the Hitler Youth forces in the area to counterattack north at 12:30 pm. It was a desperate move, but if it worked the British timetable would be disrupted, allowing time for other German units to arrive and man prepared defensive positions farther to the rear. They had only a half hour to prepare.

All the troops in the immediate area were under Waldmuller’s command. There were about 20 tanks from SS Panzer Regiment 12, most of which were Panzer IV models. With them were about 500 infantrymen from I Battalion, SS Regiment 25. However, the force Meyer was most likely depending upon to tilt the balance in his favor were the heavy Tiger tanks of the 2nd Company, SS Heavy Tank Battalion 101, under the command of Hauptsturmführer (Captain) Michael Wittmann, a panzer ace with many tank kills to the credit of himself and his crew. Though Meyer could not have known it, he had just given the orders that would send the famous Wittmann to his death.

Michael Wittmann’s 139 Kills as a Panzer Ace

Thanks to the skilled machine of Nazi Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels, Michael Wittmann was a national hero in wartime Germany. He was born just before the start of World War I, on April 22, 1914, the son of a farmer. As a young man he served two years in the German Army before enlisting in the SS, joining the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, a regiment-sized unit later expanded to division strength. When the war began Wittmann served in the 1939 Polish campaign and the Balkan invasion of 1940. The young soldier was promoted to Oberscharführer (sergeant) during the early months of Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, where he showed a knack for knocking out enemy tanks. Sensing his ability, his superiors sent Wittmann for officer training. He returned to the unit in December 1942 and was assigned to the division’s Tiger tank company. As a member of this unit he fought with distinction at the Battle of Kursk.

This was authored:

By Christopher Miskimon