It's pretty unfair to not mention Balthasar Woll. Woll was Wittmann's gunner. While Wittmann commanded the tank and the platoon, Woll was laying the gun expertly scoring hit after hit. Wittmann commanded the tank with a strong sense of situational awareness to put Woll in just the right places to rack up kills. They were a killer team.

This guy was remarkable, but as a former main gun loader on an M551A Sheridan, I speak from experience when I state a great tank crew is a team that works as a single unit. Wittman couldn't have accomplished what he did without a tightly coordinated crew effort.

Wittman may be the face of the tank ace crew, but the crew as the entirety is what turned an otherwise adept commander into an eternal legend. The gunner, B. Woll, handled the gun with expert precision, with the driver maneuvering the tank to a T. The fact that all of those men were in one single crew is what made that crew dozens of times more effective (and valuable) than most others ever would be back then.

By mastering how to firing whilst moving, even though they'd been specifically told not to, they actually changed tank warfare forever. Because whoever can do it has the advantage..

When 300 enemy tanks can't convince him to abandon his nation, I wonder if anything could.

Top 7 German tank aces (by confirmed kills): 1.Kurt Knispel - 168 Kills (sPzAbt. 503) 2.Martin Schroif - 161 Kills (sSSPzAbt. 102) 2.Otto Carius - 150+ Kills (sPzAbt. 502)-Tiger I-Knight’s Cross 5/4/44, Oak Leaves 3.Johannes (Hans) Bolter - 139 Kills (possibly 144) (sPzAbt. 502) Tigers- Knight’s Cross 4/16/44, Oak Leaves KIA 9/10/44. 4.Michael Wittman - 138 Kills (sS.S.PzAbt. 101 Liebstandarte)-Tiger I-Knight’s Cross 1/14/44, Oak Leaves 1/14/44 with Swords, KIA 6/25/44. 5.Hans Sandrock - 123 Kills (assorted AFV last unit HJ ) 6.Paul Egger - 113 Kills (s SS Pz. Abt. 102)-Tigers- Knight’s cross KIA 4/28/45 7. Fritz Lang - 113 Kills (StuG. Abt. 232)

It's good to see all the props in the comments to Wittman's crew because as we military men know, combat is a team effort. Game recognize game. No shame in recognizing & respecting your enemy's strength and expertise. As a matter of fact, you're dead if you don't.

Shout out to Wittmann's crew, they were all hardened aces. Without his excellent crew Wittmann wouldn't be as recognized as he is. However his superb leadership skills really helped bring out their potential. It's a whole combined effort.

You can only imagine the thoughts and emotions wittmann and his tank crew would have had, being in So many life and death tank engagements. Amazing.

The story of Kurt Knispel is a far better one. A guy that outscored all his comrades (including Wittmann), but was never famous because he never joined the party. And he died fighting in his homeland, more specifically in his Königstiger against a huge force of Soviet T-34-85s and IS-2s.

Wittman was for sure an outstanding tank ace. But most people forget about Kurt Knispel, who had roundabout 160 confirmed tank kills and it is possible, that it was up to 200, because he generously gave numbers to comrades of his tank squadron (if it was a combined attack). He was not decorated as much as others, due to is often displayed insubordinately behaviour. He died 4t h of may 1945 near Prague.

As a former tanker myself, it’s the whole crew. Everyone is integral. And anyone who’s ever been in a tank in those cramped conditions, it’s an amazing feat. The Germans were outnumbered almost 10-1 in tanks by the Soviets.

That was one of the factors that they did not succeed in stoping Normandie, they had 45 Tigers and without air support, only 6 made it to their destiny! I can imagine his frustration.

Otto Carius 150+ tanks destroyed , Kurt Knispel 168, Johannes Bolter 139-144, Michael Witman 138, Martin Schroif 168

Wittmann though one of the greatest men in history didn't drive and fire. Everyone forgets his gunner, he gets no mention.

My goodness. That resume dominates. Absolute madlad this Wittman. Keep up the unbiased documentaries. Loved this one!

Credit needs to go to his gunner.

They should make movies about Wittmann and Knispel instead of about alien zombies.

Some things to keep in mind tank combat is a combination of many factors including things like logistics, manufacturing capabilities, design, leadership, and other factors. While the T-34 was an excellent design in many regards it had serious flaws. It was very slow to load due to space constraints and required the gun to be elevated to load, this resulted in a slow rate of fire. The Russians were taught mass manufacturing techniques by American mass production experts but they did not manufacture to great tolerances and the T-34 suffered from reliability issues as well as poor weatherproofing thus with heavy rain the ammunition got wet and was also unreliable. The Germans suffered as much from manufacturing faults as well but they over-engineered tanks and the production was slowed and the parts were not designed for mass production and often were not easily interchangeable. While the Sherman is much-maligned it came in waves and was very reliable. The Germans could destroy 10 Shermans and there were 100 to take their places. And armies became much more reliant on anti-tank guns to destroy tanks than the actual tank on tank warfare. The Sherman was actually designed as an infantry support weapon. Tank on tank battles became less frequent with the further adoption of man-portable anti-tank weapons. It is often overlooked that the Russians had thousands of US-supplied Ford trucks for logistics while the Germans were often using horse-drawn wagons to supply their tanks. It is the composite of an army's capabilities that contribute to who wins tank battles vs single tank capabilities or leadership. The US ability to destroy the less advanced German logistics systems resulted in so many abandoned German tanks due to no fuel. And the complete air dominance of the Allies also contributed to the logistics breakdown of the Germans.

Any Laserpig fans near-by?

That tank crew was insane. Even in video game terms, their kill streaks are insane.

This is better than 'Fury' by far

German knocks out over 60 tanks, gets promoted to 1st LT, American loses war in Afghanistan gets to be the Joint Chief of Staff. 😂

It's great to be able to get firsthand accounts from the British and Canadian tank crew that were involved in Wittman's final battle.

Wittman's stellar performance needs full perspective. Wittman built his kill tally on excellent tactics on frequently unprepared enemy columns, like a hot knife through butter. Wittman improvised well as he went, and learned quickly from his mistakes. Wittman faced generally inferior armor in most engagements, until he met a concerted defense on the way to Caen. (And the new Firefly Tiger-killer). Wittman's career would have been cut short much sooner, had Gen. Patton's call for a light, fast troop support tank been ignored in favor of a better battle tank. American Shermans could not hold their own against the Tiger, and Sherman tankers actually told Allied command they were outgunned by not only firepower but effective distance. The only tactic Shermans could devise against the Tigers was to dispatch five Shermans against one Tiger. While the Tiger finished with the fourth Sherman, the fifth Sherman rushed behind the Tiger to fire at the relatively poorly-armored rear. The bravest tankers on the Western front were the Sherman drivers-- they knew how vulnerable they were, but fought as well as they could against superior German armor. * All hail to effective Allied air support as troops advanced from Normandy. They made a critical difference in defending the beachhead.

Michael Whitman was simply a great tank commander,he died doing what he did best.

Black Baron will live forever in the heart of every German

Him and his crew were buried by the tank and the bodies were exhumed years later . A commander's pistol identified Whittmanns body, They were all reburied at la cambe together. You can still see where 007 brewed up in the field by the side of the OLD N 158 Road.

His loader must look like Brock Lesnar, just a beast.

A man fighting for his country. It’s possible to hate the ideology he fought for but respect the bravery and determination of a true warrior. RIP Michael Wittman

Wittman and crew got lucky for a while one day. They and the Germans in general never really had s chance. They were outproduced and out supplied until they were broken down starving and without ammo. Then they were crushed.

This reminds me of the days when my near friend was obsessed with playing M1 Tank Platoon. Those were the days.

Any film makers watching this need to make a movie about this guy. I'd pay to see it 4 times.

Despite this being 1 day old, I've watched this documentary before like 12 times.

He went out on his sword a great man no one can deny that.

Basically, no soldier is a bad soldier for their duty is to serve, expand and protect their country. Very nice documentary thanks for sharing this with the world.

There was only one other German panzer ace who far surpassed Wittmann, but sadly he did not meet a ending as impressive as Wittmann. Kurt Knispel.

22:06 such a shame to not tell the viewers that it's the gunner who is the one able to fire on the move, not the commander of the tank..

Michael Whitmann, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Hannibal, Erwin Rommel and countless others are shining examples of the lesson that it is important to learn from your opponents and what they did right, even when they lose the war.

The tank commander assembles the team. He then lays out his plan of operations for the men he has assembled. Not every member can be a commander. But a good commander can get men to fight as one component.

what a blessing we get to watch stuff like this for free, thanks to everyone involved

Bobby Woll and the rest of the crew certainly deserve respect and praise, but it was Michael Wittmann's strategy. decisions and elan that brought about such amazing and legendary results.

My salute to Michel Wittman. Thank you Time Line.

He was the greatest tank commander of all time. His stats, achievements, tank handling, and crew management skills were so impressive.

Great doco! What a brave dude, literally went out guns blazing. If there is a Valhalla he is there.

I think legends supercede a soldiers ideologies. At some point you understand they were fighting for what they believed to be right. And at that point appreciating their military prowess becomes easier. Youre not glamourizing the ideals, just admiring the intelligence, bravery and insight of the man/men behind the decisions, regardless of idelogies or the side they were on.

007, licensed to kill. The superb TIMELINE "cover" illustration/montage literally couldn't be better.

Michael Wittman the movie; a solid blockbuster. Any decent instructor step up to the plate. Millions want to watch it. Global audience guarantied.

Wittman created his own myth simply by doing the impossible. with aplomb till his luck ean out showing it was. not just luck but prowess .He fully earned his glory

My favorite Tank Ace. I love his battle stories. Even if some are maybe exagerating and no true recording was made of a battle or few of his they still sounded amazing

This video answered so many of the questions I have had regarding the german helmets. Thank you.

I lived around the corner of one of the Canadian tankers in Ontario. Didnt know it when I lived there, wish I did I would have loved to speak to him about it

This tank crew was stuffing awesome,the Gunner must've been a weapon unto himself,the driver obviously was unreal and had super quick reactions, Most definitely a legendary crew......

The comments regarding Wittmann by Jochen Peiper who was his CO on the Eastern Front are revealing. Peiper did not consider him all that bright but said he had eyes like an eagle and was an excellent tactician.

Truth is you have a Breed of Warrior that stands Tall on either side but them on the losing side are rarely acknowledged reason Why the telling of Michael Whitman his Story Told comes Very much Appreciated Enjoyed.. Thank you.

The Wittman scenario in Memoir 44 is my favorite.

"Finally defeated by canadian tankers" - As if Wittmann were commanding an armored division! In fact, he was there with five or six Tigers, isolated against the Canadian advance, no reconnaissance vehicles or infantry support that's why he fell into the ambush. Sooner or later he would be struck down by his boldness and courage. The numbers say it all: During the war 50,000 Shermans were produced for 6000 Panthers and 1347 Tigers. As if that wasn't enough, the Allied air force destroyed any german vehicle on the roads of Normandy.

A great tank commander of an excellent crew.

The Black Baron's Crew "The Driver"- a 12x Drift Racing Champion " The Loader"- a 10x Gold Olympic Weight Lifter "The Gunner"- a 20 years Ballistics Technician " The Commander"- The Black Baron himself

As Commander of many different tanks Michael Wittman stands out with the tactics he used to put his crew in the best positions for success. His experience as the Commander of a Tiger tank while short lived was outstanding ! As a boy growing up on the farm Wittman had the work ethic few other Commanders at that time had. Maybe Otto Carius is the only other German tank Commander to exceed Wittman. Carius gets less attention because his exploits occurred on the Russian front.

Wittmann and his all in him crew were great soldiers. No matter the side they have been.

Nice documentary - almost like a movie, combining animation and photos.

I can admire skill wherever I see it and isolate the gruesome and grotesque in another box. I'm awesome at that.

Thanks for giving wonderful worthy documentary

Hugo boss makes the best uniforms.

Thank you for a most interesting and informative video! It was riveting.

Wittmann, true to the end. Great Doc.

Thank you very much for your documentary video !

A movie is due. A cinematic work is due. Irrespective of which side he fought for. He fought for his fatherland and shown unimaginable valour

Check out Kurt Knispel with over 160 Tank kills , very interesting too !

Everywhere you fight you find men that have a knack for battle. Every side of every conflict have produced warriors that just have that special quality that makes them stand out above the rest. If you believe in your cause then you will fight with more courage and bravery.

This was good now am hooked to this channel.

It took just 30 seconds to find an error in this video. At 25:20 it says Wittman's unit was renamed the 101st Battalion while fighting in the East. That's not true. The 101st was formed in Belgium and never went East. Wittman was still in the old 13th company on this date. There's another error at 46:06. The animator shows the turret flying an enormous distance from the hull, to recreate a photograph. But in fact the photograph was taken after the hull had been rolled along to get the tracks off. The real situation was that the turret landed beside the hull.

small subtitle mistake: on 23:03 it actually means "we butchered tanks left and right, tank on tank" (could also mean "tank by tank") at least thats what i think

Respect for Wittmann for his skill as tank commander but this was a essentially an outstanding crew.

This man gets the badass medal in my mind! I’ve been to that cemetery personally, and I gave my respects to the men that died…may they Rest In Peace! I don’t care if they “were on the wrong side” they still deserve respect!!

Some just has somewhat unnatural talent at what they do. And Wittmann was originally a farmer boy.

This was the best one yet! Great work.

did my PLDC at Bad Tolz in the same buildings during the early 1970s.. very cold during that time for me.. remember shoveling the inner grounds so morning formation could be held.. and waxing the "Autobahn" of the inner hallway into the late evening when detailed to my platoon.. walking through those arches to see the beautiful country area there on weekends.. suppose winning WWII did give future military leaders a training camp of sorts.

This cat wittman… was just Amazing. Like damn the torpedoes…

The Sherbrooke Fusiliers were the ones that finished off Michael Wittman. This has already been proven by earlier programs that did detailed battlefield analysis of the engagement. They got the animation wrong at the 46:00 minute point. When the burning fuel ignites the ammunition stored in the floor, the turret blew off and landed right beside the hull of the tank, not to the rear of the hull. The images showing the turret to the rear of the tank were taken well after the fact. Someone hauled/towed the tank hull forward, likely to recover the tank tracks. If you look closely at the image of the tank and turret, there are no tracks on the tank hull. The tracks would not have blown off from the ammunition blowing up inside the tank hull, someone moved the hull and took them. There is an RAF photo that was taken of the battle space shortly after the engagement, and if you look closely you can see the turret lying right beside the hull of the tank, not to the rear.

>British soldier: "I don't understand how someone could invade other people's countries." >German soldier: *points at the world map*

Interesting documentary, always fun learning something new.

We had the best soldiers of the world and if America wouldn't have helped the soviets, we might have won the war and beaten communism, although we were outnumbered by the enemies. Our soldiers were brave and disciplined, honest, fair, well educated and best looking, the elite of Europe. What a shame and a tragedy that they had to lose their lifes in that terrible war (that btw was NOT started by Germany, but by Poland and 1941 we would never have attacked the Soviet Union if they weren't deployed and literally standing only kilometers away from our borders.)

People want a Michael Wittman movie, I want a Kurt Knispel movie.

Hervorragende Dokumentation. Sehr schon animiert und erklärt. Wittmann war zweifellos einer der besten Panzermänner, jedoch hatte der leider oftmals unbeachtete Kurt Knispel noch mehr Abschüsse.

Wittman's crew and he, you must say they fought for the wrong things but how they fought is impressive and that you should compliment, not his believes, and that is what I made up from this docu, that his fighting style was one that almost nobody would dare to do

tolle Doku. Danke. Thanks an hug for that Video.

I watched another interview with a Russian tank commander in which he said many Russian tanks ran out of ammo and reverted to ramming the German tanks. I said it was very effective.

True legend, and to me when you factor in the mystique and whatnot plus the badass nickname he has to be the greatest of all time when it comes to tankers. Obviously what he believed in was likely unacceptable but his exploits purely on the battlefield are truly exceptional.

The Stugs high velocity 75mm cannon? A Short barrel cannon like that has very low firing velocity...

It says the Tigers were accurate up to 2 km but it often took out tanks at 2miles at 15 degrees elevation, the anti aircraft 88 could fire 10500 metres, (over 6miles) but if course because of elevation. The British 17 pounders (76.2 mm or 3inch) on those Sherman's were the Tigers nemesis in Europe on the ground in Italy from Feb 43. Fantastic cannon, succeeded by the 20 pounder.

The tiger was such a powerful beast

3 million soldiers deployed to the Eastern front/Barbarossa is roughly 5% of the entire population of Germany in 1940. Just thought that was interesting and somebody may appreciate to hear this.

Very impressive. The amount of material and data collected for this video.

Great video. Thanks

Excellent show. Thankyou.

Michael Wittmann is a real legend. o7

Outstanding video and presentation.

I really like the 3D animation when compared to the real life black and white photos. nice touch