Wittmann Photo (1 Viewer)

[richardschulze1944]

Howdie guys and gals

Just wondering if anyone can help me out with placing a photo

I'm trying to find out exactly when and where the famous picture of Michael Wittmann, sitting astride the barrel of his Tiger 1, was taken. This is the photo:

If you know anything, please let me know and when you do could you also tell me the source of any info you can give

Thanks in advance

 

[glossman]

This is from the World War II Database / German Federal Archive (Bundesarchiv)

Link: http://ww2db.com/image.php?image_id=9372

It says the photograph was taken in May 1944, Northern France.

If you look closely at the lower right corner of the photograph, it may be 1st May 1944 (not sure as it is in German).

Hope this helps a little.

Raymond.

 

[glossman]

Here is another photograph of Wittmann taken at the same time as the other.

The photographer is the same person.

Link: http://ww2db.com/image.php?image_id=9371

Raymond.

 

[richardschulze1944]

Hi there matey

Thanks for the helping hand. In point of fact, someone on another forum pointed me in the same direction before I read this and I saw these in the same archive location:

So, yes. May 1944, somewhere in Northern France seems to be the answer. The key things I wanted to know were a) was it taken before or after VB and b) what was the surrounding scenery like?

I am embarking on a diorama which will show MW being photographed for this very picture, using figures and vehicles from CS and K+C, and terrain modules commissioned from Dave Marshall at TMT. I wanted to be a bit more certain of the circumstances surrounding the photo so I could make the scenery appropriate and have a back story to it. There will be a road sign somewhere in the photo with a location on it and now that I know the picture was taken before VB, that's where it will be pointing to!

Thanks again for taking the time to help {bravo}}

 

[ROAN]

Here is a historical trivia question: Which Walther model did Wittmann pocket carry?

According to an article in After the Battle #48 in 1983 the German War Graves Commission, tipped off by a map passed to them by a French historian, located the grave of Wittmann and his four crewmen that a local French burial detail had dug after the battle. The grave was located right off N158, the main road between Caen and Falaise.

Although the remains were pretty much mixed together, the presence of the tank commander was identified by an officer’s belt buckle, braid, shoes(instead of short boots the crewmen wore)and a set of false incisor teeth that later was identified from Wittmann’s dental records. Also found was a pistol in Wittmann’s jacket pocket.

This pistol, below, was displayed at the German War Graves Commission HQ in Kassel during the ‘80s. Using Manfred Kersten’s Walther-A German Legend as a reference, it looks closest to be either a Walther Model 2 or 5(both .25 ACP/6.35mm Brownings) and my guess is that it's the former. Am basing this on the wider slide serrations of the Model 2 which can be just made out from the photo in the magazine-but this is only a guess(wish the photo was better-in the magazine you can actually see the wider serrations).