Whilst we are talking about Shermans i came across this in a Bi Monthly magazine i get called WW2.;
When German tank ace Michael Wittman was killed near St Aignan de Cramesnil on 8th August 1944,there was much dispute as to who had fired the fatal shot and a number of allies,including Poles and Canadians claimed they were responsible for his death.Sixty two years on however it was revealed by The Daily Mail on 24th June 2006 that the man who fired the shot that killed the Waffen SS tank ace was non other than 21 year old Joe Ekins of the 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry.
Perhaps surprisingly,he had only ever fired five practice rounds before this Historic encounter with one of Germanys war heroes.After the D-day landings,Joe and his comrades had been stuck in their tanks at the bridge head for six weeks until finally going into action.He later explained how he came to meet Wittman in his feared Tiger;
" Eventually we went on a night march in a column-about four miles into German territory.We settled in an orchard near St Aignan de Cramesnil and in the morning the Germans counter attacked.I could see at least three Tigers coming and we had three Shermans and one Firefly.We pulled out of the orchard and i fired twice at the third tank at the rear and it blew up.We reversed into the orchard so we could come out in a different place.But the second Tiger fired two or three rounds and hit our turret lid.We pulled out again and fired at the second Tiger and it exploded.We pulled back again and by this time the third Tiger knew it had lost its two mates.I finished it off with two shells and had taken out all three in twelve minutes.We later hit one more tank and then we were knocked out.There was a loud bang and sparks flew,we got out and ran like hell".
It was only eight years after the war ended that he discovered that one of the people in the tank he had shot was German ace Wittman.Joe has nothing but praise for the Fireflies and commented that " It usually took five Shermans to beat one Tiger,but the Fireflies were better".
Today Joe has no regrets about his actions."When i heard about the concentration camps,i knew it was all worth it.I'm quite proud.Wittman was a Nazi from the start-he must have known about the camps .It didn't matter who killed him,just that he was killed".
I hope you don't mind me posting this,i just thought it was fascinating to read his account.
Rob
