Question about Michael Wittmann's Platoon on July 12, 1943

[BlackSix]

Hello!
Please, help me find any information about the fighting of this platoon on July 12, 1943. I was able to find out that four Wittmann's Tigers were operating on the left flank of the Pz.Gr.Div. Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, but I can't find any detailed descriptions and images.

 

I found such scheme where Wittmann's actions are indicated (in the book "Osprey - Campaign 305 - Kursk 1943 The Southern Front"), but in general it doesn't correspond to modern research about this battle on July 12 and doesn't inspire confidence.

 

 

[Brano]

What about work of Valeriy Zamulin?

The Forgotten Battle of the Kursk Salient: 7th Guards Army's Stand Against Army Detachment Kempf https://g.co/kgs/ZyExwv

 

Demolishing the Myth: The Tank Battle at Prokhorovka, Kursk, July 1943: An Operational Narrative https://g.co/kgs/4rk4FS

 

Or this german author

Kursk 1943: The Greatest Battle of the Second World War https://g.co/kgs/NyhcCt

[BlackSix]

I've read all Zamulin's books and used them for the creating TC campaigns but there is no such detailed info about 13th Heavy Panzer company on July 12.

Also I've read book by Roman Töppel but there is also nothing...

[namhee2]

From this book: i have information

[BlackSix]

Sorry, I can't read on French, could you tell me is there any info about Wittmann's platoon?

[namhee2]

I'm just looking for the most important thing to translate it?

 

[BlackSix]

Thank you!

 

UPD: The book about Wittmann doesn't contain detailed information about his actions...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/983753.Michael_Wittman_Volume_One

[namhee2]

Prokhorovka tank battle:

here is the report of the tank regiment:

<< Around 8:15, about 150 tanks suddenly appear, mainly T 34, and attack in a narrow font our infantry lines, arrive in the gathering area of our Panzer using the highest speed possible and firing all their weapons. As a matter of urgency, SS-Sturmbannführer Martin Gross organizes the resistance so effectively that enemy tanks can be trapped on three sides. Himself, fight on all sides in the middle of his men ...... >>

The panzers of the II./ SS-Panzer-Regiment 1, under the command of SS-Sturmbannführer Martin Gross, are engaged in a large-scale combat. In the morning, the battalion is 2.5 kilometers south-east of Prochorovka, in the district of 252.2.

It will be hard to find more details. For then Michael Wittman was not so well known, his career was just beginning.

 

Edited May 24, 2019 by namhee2

[BlackSix]

Ok, thanks!

I'll try to find something else.

[namhee2]

I have this books too:

give me time to found

[namhee2]

a war correspondent writes, "Now he is no longer immune to war, the big armor duels begin, steel duels in which Wittmann shows his great mastery. When the day of the great battle of Bielgorod begins, he manages to destroy 8 armored vehicles. In a quick march, rolling in the middle of the fields while penetrating the villages, in the great tank battles, Wittmann shows what he knows how to do. He neutralizes batteries, recognizes the anti-tank positions deftly camouflaged, crushes them, destroys them, he is careful when it is necessary, bold if it is worth it. His great instinct and the fortune of the daring allow him to spend five days of devastation and fire. without stop, the tanks burn torches in front of him in the evening of the 5th, when michael Wittmann cleans his face covered with powder and sweat, he knows he has left behind the carcasses of 30 T34, 28 anti-tank Soviets and destroyed two batteries >>

[jossstriker67]

 

Hi everybody,

In this review, there is an article about Wittmann

 

[Lofte]

Maybe this article will help: A visual examination of the battle of Prokhorovka

>> PDF

There are some info about tigers

 

 

Edited May 28, 2019 by Lofte

[BlackSix]

10 hours ago, Lofte said:

Maybe this article will help: A visual examination of the battle of Prokhorovka

>> PDF

There are some info about tigers

Thank you! It's the best article about Tigers on July 12 I've ever seen before.

[rowdied]

What about these 2 books about him?

 

I am sure they would have something written about him and the battle.

[BlackSix]

11 hours ago, rowdied said:

What about these 2 books about him?

I am sure they would have something written about him and the battle.

I've found these books on Google Book and published the pages about July 12 here

There is nothing...

[Lofte]

Some info from this book "David Schranck 2013, Thunder At Prokhorovka A Combat History Of Operation Citadel Kursk July 1943"

You can also download it in PDF (see links below-right. Not sure what about copy rights...)

 

"

...

Michael Wittmann, working with LAH, and his company of Tigers were south of the Oktiabrski

State Farm when he saw many tanks from the 18th TC moving southwest past Ribbentrop’s

position heading for Andreevka. In the open field, Wittmann, Kling and their fellow Tigers

opened up at 1,800 yards, knowing the Soviets would not shoot until they reached 500 yards or

closer. The Mk IVs, idling behind the Tigers, would have to wait until the tanks got within 800

yards for a lethal shot. The T34s maneuvered to get in close using their speed and agility but with

the few Mk IVs screening the Tigers, the Soviet attempt against the Tigers was suicidal. Before

long, four of the Mks were hit from a distance of less then 225 yards. Though many Soviet tanks

were down, some Soviets broke through this German screen and headed west where they met up

with shellfire from German artillery at Gresnoe. mhz333++. fzk173+. fzk311++. zrl235+.

zow164+?.

..."

[BlackSix]

Thanks, but unfortunately this book has very strong discrepancies with the most modern studies of Zamulin and I've to stick to only one version.

 

Guys, thank you very much for the information, I decided how to do this mission.

[csThor]

"Blood, Steel and Myth" has a Pretty extensive chapter on Wittmann's actions on that day (along with another detailed description of 6./SS-PR 1 under Obersturmführer von Ribbentrop, son of the Foreign Minister of Hitler's Reich). Initially his few Tigers had been held in reserve on the northern edge of Komsomolets, a small settlement (or Kolkhos?) situated a few kilometers west of  Storoshevoe, about halfway between Yasnaya Polyana in the south and Vassilyevka in the North.

 

The Tigers engaged two Tank Brigades from 18th Tank Corps (170th and 181st) as the advanced abreast along the eastern bank of river Psel (the "Corridor" formed by the river in the north-west and the railway embankment to the south-east). The engagement began at a point roughly west-south-west of Oktyabrisky when Wittmann ordered his Tigers to open fire at a range of 1,800m. A key feature of this day was Rotmistrov's faulty order not to halt for accurate firing (a tactic ordered due to grossly overzealous reports of over a hundred Tigers in the sector of II. SS-Panzerkorps alone) which meant few shells fired by soviet tanks ever hit the Tigers … And since Wittmann kept his tanks at a certain distance for most of the 3-hour-battle the soviet intention of quickly closing the distance was negated.