The most successful tank commander in history, Michael Wittmann was credited with 100 tank kills even before Normandy - and he entered action for the first time only in 1941 in the Balkans, prior to Barbarossa. He fought at Kursk.

In 1944 he was at Normandy where, leading 6 Tiger tanks, he achieved his most famous feat when he stopped British 22nd Armored Brigade [Operation Epsom] . During a significant part of the battle, he and his crew fought alone, in a sort of charge behind British lines, cutting up a number of British AFVs before a 6-pounder knocked out his tank at "very close range".

Wittmann and his crew escaped on foot. A national hero of whom the German propaganda machine rightly made much, after Epsom he refused a transfer back to Germany. He was killed during Totalise, the first Canadian push on Falaise.