After it was revealed that Michael Wittmann - who had destroyed 138 tanks, 132 antitank guns and and other artillery pieces as well as hundreds of light vehicles - was dead, the kill was claimed by a number of Allied units, including Canadians, Poles and various airborne forces. But evidence now shows it was Mr. Joe Ekins' Firefly of the 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry that fired the fatal shot.
Following the D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944, Joe Ekins and his comrades had been stuck in the bridgehead for six weeks as the British tried to batter their way through the German defensive lines. "Eventually we went on a night march in a column - about four miles into German territory," he recalled. "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." The Firefly was an upgraded version of the normal Sherman fitted with a powerful 76mm gun - the only one that could penetrate the thick armour of a Tiger.
"The squadron had two other Fireflies and I expected them to send one to help, but they decided not to and left me alone. "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. "The lid must have hit the tank commander's head and he jumped out, so our troop officer took over. 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 12 minutes. We later hit one more tank and then we were knocked out.
There was a loud bang and sparks flew and we got out and ran like hell - the officer was hit by shrapnel.
When we got back, we were made into new tank crews and I was made a wireless operator. It seemed a bit odd making your best gunner a wireless operator.
"But it proved lucky, because over the next eight months we were one of the few crews who got through the lot. I only found out eight years after the war that one of the people in the tank we hit was Wittmann, but I'd never heard of him.
"He was very well known in Germany and there were lots of claims about who killed him, but it is well accepted now that we got him. He was an ace, but he wasn't too clever that morning.
"Usually, it took five Shermans to beat one Tiger, but the Fireflies were better. When I heard about the concentration camps, I knew it was all worth it. I'm quite proud.
Wittmann 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."
After the war, Mr Ekins married his sweetheart Gwen and had two children. They now also have two grandchildren. He went back to work in the shoe factories near his home in Rushden, Northamptonshire, and retired 34 years later after becoming a factory manager.
Myths Tank museum curator David Willey said: "A lot of myths built up after the war. Some started to believe that Tiger tanks were so powerful that our tanks could never have destroyed them. "And so the destruction of the Tigers was attributed to the air force, naval bombardment - anything but our tanks.
"But it is pretty much accepted now that Joe Ekins was the man who knocked out three Tiger tanks in one morning, including that of Michael Wittmann. "We want to restore the balance between all that is written about Wittmann and his heroics and that which is written about Joe, a humble cobbler."
Source :
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1472011002826823/permalink/1847311015296818/
No comments:
Post a Comment