It's World War II and you are a commander of an M4 Sherman tank in the Fourth Armored Division, Patton's best and most elite division. From France to Germany, you will destroy opposition from the.

Although the most efficient tank aces of WWII were Germans with over 100 tank kills, the Allies also had their heroes and Soviet tank ace Dmitry Lavrinenko was top.The big difference between Lavrinenko and the tank aces of the Third Reich is that unlike most of them, who went through the whole war, the Soviet tank commander died too early. Dmitry Lavrinenko entered battle in October 1941 and was killed in late December the same year. Still, during these 2.5 months, he managed to terminate 52 enemy tanks, which makes him the best tank ace of the Allies.Besides, whereas a major role in the victories of German aces was played by their gunners, T-34 tank commanders during the early period of the war performed their own gunning duties. Such was Dmitry Lavrinenko. FearlessBorn in the village Besstrashnaya (“Fearless”) in the Krasnodar Region, Dmitry Lavrinenko lived up to the name of his birthplace – he never hesitated to engage in battle with superior enemy forces, if the situation demanded it. Dmitry LavrinenkoArchive photoAt the start of the Battle of Moscow in Sept.

1941 Lieutenant Dmitry Lavrinenko commanded a tank platoon in the 4 th Tank Brigade (as of Nov. 11 – the 1 st Guards Tank Brigade), which defended the Soviet capital in a series of hard and grueling battles.On the Oct. 6, 1941, a group of four tanks under his command fought several dozen tanks of the 2 nd Panzer Army near Pervy Voin village in the Orlov Region. The German tanks were ready to crush the Soviet infantry unit, when Lavrinenko arrived.

Using the element of surprise, the Soviet tanks terminated 15 German machines, and allowed the soldiers to retreat.In a similar situation, Lavrinenko’s tanks saved a group of Soviet mortar operators. “We may not come back alive, but must save the mortar company. Fatal labyrinth sega genesis rom download. Forward!” his tank driver Sergeant Ponomarenko Lavrinenko as saying. (In Russian). Lavrinenko's (first from the left) tank crew in October 1941.Archive photoOn Dec.

5, Lavrinenko was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union for destroying 37 German heavy, medium and light tanks during a 2-month period of permanent battles. Perfect tacticianDmitry Lavrinenko not only clashed with the enemy in open fighting, but organized skillful ambushes.

General Dmitry Lelyushenko recalled: “Lieutenant Dmitry Lavrinenko scrupulously disguised his tanks by mounting logs which looked like tank guns. The fascists opened fire on these dummy targets. Luring them to approach within range, he unleashed hell from his ambush position and terminated nine tanks, two guns and numerous soldiers.” (D. Lelyushenko, “Dawn of Victory,” 1966).Before going on the attack, Lavrinenko always carefully scrutinized the future battlefield and organized proper reconnaissance. He used the advantages of the landscape to perfection, hiding his T-34 behind trees, hills and uneven terrain to suddenly appear in unexpected places and cause maximum damage to the enemy.Lavrinenko was known as a perfect sniper – he could shoot precisely with many types of firearms. His sniper skills served him in the tank as well.

He effectively hit German tanks at long distance, but preferred to close in on the enemy at high speed at a distance of 150-300 meters and strike at point blank range. Two Soviet soldiers near a disabled Nazi tank. The Battle of Moscow.Vladimir Minkevich/SputnikThe Soviet tank ace never lost his head and always thought rationally. During the Soviet counteroffensive in the Battle of Moscow, his tank platoon surprisingly smashed a German garrison in the village of Gryady and opened up the road to the neighboring village of Pokrovskaya. Yet Lavrinenko refused to press his advantage, and stopped the offensive. It was done just in time – German reserves were ready to cut off his troops from the main forces.The Soviet tank ace was killed by mortar shell shrapnel near Volokolamsk in the Moscow Region on Dec.

It is very likely that had fate given him more time, Dmitry Lavrinenko would have challenged the best German aces Kurt Knispel, Martin Schroif and Otto Carius, who are credited with more than 150 tank kills each.Did you know that the best Allied hot shot was also Soviet? Find out.If using any of Russia Beyond's content, partly or in full, always provide an active hyperlink to the original material.

(reinterred)AllegianceService/ branch(1934-36)(1936-44)Years of service1934–44RankSS-#311,623UnitBattles/wars.AwardsMichael Wittmann (22 April 1914 – 8 August 1944) was a German tank commander during the. He is known for his ambush of elements of the, during the on 13 June 1944. While in command of a tank, Wittmann destroyed up to fourteen tanks and fifteen personnel carriers, along with two anti-tank guns, within the space of fifteen minutes.

The news was picked up and disseminated by the machine and added to Wittmann's stature in Germany.Wittmann became a cult figure after the war thanks to his accomplishments as a ' (a highly decorated tank commander) as part of the portrayal of the. Historians have mixed opinions as to his tactical performance in battle. Some praised his actions at Villers-Bocage, while others found his abilities lacking, and the praise for his tank kills overstated.

Contents.Early life and World War II Michael Wittmann was born on 22 April 1914 in, Bavaria, Germany. Between 1934–1936 he served in the. In October 1936 Wittmann joined the.

On 5 April 1937, he was assigned to the regiment, later division (LSSAH). A year later, he participated in the annexation of, the occupation of and joined the. Eastern Front Wittmann's unit was transferred to the in the spring of 1941 for, the planned invasion of the. He was assigned to the SS Panzer Regiment 1, a tank unit, where he commanded a assault gun/tank destroyer as well as a medium tank. By 1943, he commanded a tank, and by, the, he was a platoon leader.

Attached to the LSSAH, Wittmann's platoon of four Tigers reinforced the division's reconnaissance battalion to screen the division's left flank. His four Tigers destroyed a number of Soviet tanks. At one point, his tank survived a collision with a burning. Wittmann's company, 7 June 1944, en route to. Wittmann is standing in the turret of Tiger 205.Due to the Anglo-American advance south from and, the began to buckle.

As the division withdrew south, it opened up a 7.5-mile (12.1 km) wide gap in the front line near., commander of, ordered the Heavy SS-Panzer Battalion 101, his only reserve, to position itself behind the. This position would protect the developing open left flank. Anticipating the importance the British would assign to the high ground near, Wittmann's company was positioned near the town. Late on the 12th, it arrived at an area in the vicinity of Villers-Bocage. Nominally composed of twelve tanks, his company was 50 per cent understrength due to losses and mechanical failures.The following morning, lead elements of the British entered Villers-Bocage.

Their objective was to exploit the gap in the front line, seize Villers-Bocage, and capture the nearby ridge (Point 213) in an attempt to force a German withdrawal. The British arrival surprised Wittmann; he had not expected them to arrive so soon. He reported afterwards he had no time to assemble his company: 'Instead I had to act quickly, as I had to assume that the enemy had already spotted me and would destroy me where I stood.' Having given instructions for the rest to hold their ground, he set off with one tank.At approximately 09:00, Wittmann's Tiger emerged from cover onto the main road, Route Nationale 175, and engaged the rearmost British tanks positioned on Point 213, destroying them. Wittmann then moved towards Villers-Bocage, engaging several transport vehicles parked along the roadside; the carriers burst into flames as their fuel tanks were ruptured by machine gun and high explosive fire.

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Moving into the eastern end of the town, he engaged a number of light tanks followed by several medium tanks. Alerted to Wittmann's actions, light tanks in the middle of the town quickly got off the road, while medium tanks were brought forward. Wittmann, meanwhile, had destroyed another British tank, two artillery observation post (OP) tanks, followed by a and a.Accounts differ as to what happened next. Historians record that, following the destruction of the OP tanks, Wittmann dueled briefly without success with a before withdrawing.

His Tiger is then reported to have continued eastwards to the outskirts of the town before being disabled by an anti-tank gun. However, Wittmann's own account contradicts this; he states his tank was disabled by an anti-tank gun in the town centre. In less than fifteen minutes, thirteen or fourteen tanks, two anti-tank guns, and thirteen to fifteen transport vehicles had been destroyed by the Heavy SS-Panzer Battalion 101, the majority attributed to Wittmann. He played no further role in the. For his actions during the battle, Wittmann was promoted to SS-, and awarded the.The swiftly credited Wittmann, by then a household name in Germany, with all the British tanks destroyed at Villers-Bocage.

He recorded a radio message on the evening of 13 June, describing the battle, and claiming that later counter-attacks had destroyed a British armoured regiment and an infantry battalion. Doctored images were produced; three joined-together photographs, published in the German armed forces magazine Signal, gave a false impression of the scale of destruction in the town. The propaganda campaign was given credence in Germany and abroad, leaving the British convinced that the Battle of Villers-Bocage had been a disaster. In fact its results were less clear-cut. The Waffen-SS may have fought with distinction during the Battle of Kursk but could not match the army's success, hence Sepp Dietrich's attempts to manufacture a hero out of Wittmann. Main article:On 8 August 1944, - forces launched. Under the cover of darkness, British and Canadian tanks and soldiers seized the tactically important high ground near the town of.

Here they paused, awaiting an aerial bombardment that would signal the next phase of the attack. Unaware of the reason the Allied forces had halted, of the SS Hitlerjugend Division, ordered elements of his command to and recapture the high ground.Wittmann led a group of seven Tiger tanks from the Heavy SS-Panzer Battalion 101 supported by additional tanks and infantry.

His group of Tigers crossed open terrain towards the high ground. They were ambushed by Allied tanks from two sides. On the right or northeast, British tanks from 'A' Squadron 1st and 'B' Squadron were positioned in woods.

To the left or west, 'A' Squadron was located at a chateau courtyard broadside to the attack where they had knocked firing positions through the stone walls. The attack collapsed as the Canadian tanks destroyed two Tiger tanks, two Panzer IVs and two self-propelled guns in Wittman's force, while British tank fire destroyed three other Tigers.

During the ambush, anti-tank shells—fired from either the British or Canadian tanks—penetrated the upper hull of Wittmann's tank, igniting the ammunition. The resulting fire engulfed the tank and the.

The destroyed tank's dead crewmembers were buried in an unmarked grave. In 1983, the German war graves commission located the burial site. Wittmann and his crew were reinterred together at the in France. In popular culture.

Wittmann, lauded by the during his lifetime, became 'the hero of all Nazi fanboys' after the war, according to. Other historians discuss 'hero worshiping' and 'the Wittmann legend' that live on to this day.Wittmann became a cult figure after the war thanks to his accomplishments as a ' (a highly decorated tank commander) in the portrayal of the. Historian Stephen Hart comments 'the Wittmann legend has become well-established' and 'continues to stimulate huge public interest'. Military historian refers to Wittmann as 'the hero of all Nazi fanboys'. He discusses the popular perception of a tank versus tank engagement as an 'armoured joust'—two opponents facing each other—with the 'more valiant or better-armed the eventual victor'.

Zaloga contends that perception is nothing but 'romantic nonsense'. Most of the successful tank commanders were indeed 'bushwackers', according to Zaloga, having a battlefield advantage rather than a technical one: a tank crew that could engage its opponent before the latter spotted it often came out on top.Wittmann is featured by Kurowski in his 1992 book, an ahistorical and hagiographic account of the combat careers of highly decorated German tank commanders. Smelser and Davies describe Kurowski's version of the war on the Eastern Front as 'well-nigh chivalrous', with German troops 'showing concerns for the Russian wounded, despite the many atrocities' of the Soviets against the Germans. In one of Kurowski's accounts, Wittmann takes out eighteen tanks in a single engagement, for which Sepp Dietrich, the commanding officer, presents him with an and inquires whether Wittmann has a request. Without hesitation, Wittmann asks for assistance for a wounded Russian soldier he has spotted. Many similar acts of 'humanity' are present in the book, amounting to a distorted image of the German fighting men.

Assessment as tank commander Some historians and authors of the late twentieth-century found Wittmann's actions at Villers-Bocage impressive, describing his attack as 'one of the most amazing engagements in the history of armoured warfare', 'one of the most devastating single-handed actions of the war', and 'one of the most devastating ambushes in British military history'. Historian Stephen Badsey has stated that the ambush Wittmann launched has cast a shadow over the period between D-Day and 13 June in historical accounts.German tank commander and historian is not as impressed. In analyzing Wittmann's actions at Villers-Bocage, he called into question his tactical ability. Schneider states: 'a competent tank company commander does not accumulate so many serious mistakes'.

He highlights how Wittmann dispersed his forces in a sunken lane with a broken down tank at the head of the column, thereby hampering his unit's mobility. The solitary advance into Villers-Bocage was heavily criticized as it breached 'all the rules'. No intelligence was gathered, and there was no 'centre of gravity' or 'concentration of forces' in the attack. Schneider argues that due to Wittmann's rash actions: 'the bulk of the 2nd Company and Mobius 1st Company came up against an enemy who had gone onto the defensive'.

He calls Wittmann's 'carefree' advance into British-occupied positions 'pure folly', and says 'such over hastiness was uncalled for.' He concludes that had a properly prepared assault been launched involving the rest of his company, and the 1st Company, far greater results could have been achieved. Finally, Schneider opines that: 'thoughtlessness of this kind was to cost Wittmann his life. During an attack casually launched in open country with an exposed flank.'

Historian describes Wittmann as the 'supposedly successful' tank commander of World War II and attests to 'hero worshiping' around Wittmann. According to Neitzel, numbers of successes, by highly decorated tank commanders, should be read with caution as it is rarely possible to determine reliably, in the heat of battle, how many tanks were destroyed by whom.Historian Steven Zaloga credits Wittmann with 'about 135' tank kills and points out that he achieved 120 of these in 1943, operating a Tiger I tank on the Eastern Front. Having advantages both in firepower and in armor, the Tiger I was 'nearly invulnerable in a frontal engagement' against any of the Soviet tanks of that time, and Wittmann thus could destroy opposing tanks from a safe distance. Zaloga concludes: 'Most of the 'tank aces' of World War II were simply lucky enough to have an invulnerable tank with a powerful gun' (quotation marks in the original). German documents from 1944 state that Allied technology had caught up with the Tiger I and that: 'no longer can it prance around, oblivious to the laws of tank tactics'. Zaloga believes that Wittmann's fate reflected that new reality: after transfer to France, his crew only lasted two months, and was destroyed by a British, the up-gunned Sherman Firefly.Writing in 2013, British historian John Buckley criticised the accounts which many historians continue to provide of the fighting around Villers-Bocage.

Buckley argued that by wrongly attributing the entire German success to Wittmann, 'many historians through to today continue to repackage unquestioningly Nazi propaganda'. Speculation surrounding death. Grave of Michael Wittmann, La Cambe Cemetery, France.For such a junior officer, an unusual amount of speculation has surrounded his death, both as to its cause and the party responsible. Agte states that 'the English' could have possibly placed a bounty on Wittmann.

This is contradicted by Allied records and the fact that, according to the testimony of the Allied troops involved, he was not singled out during the battle.Following the war, claims were made by or for the following units as being responsible for Wittmann's death: the, the, the, and the.Contemporaneous reports contended that Allied aircraft struck Wittmann's tank, stating that he had fallen in combat to the 'dreaded '. In a post-war account, French civilian Serge Varin, who took the only known photograph of the destroyed tank, claimed that he found an unexploded rocket nearby and that he saw no other penetration holes in the tank. Historian Brian Reid dismisses this contention as relevant RAF logs make no claim of engaging tanks in the area at that time. This position is supported by the men of Wittmann’s unit who stated they did not come under air attack, and by British and Canadian tank crews who also dismissed any involvement by aircraft to help halt the German attack.In a 1985 issue of After the Battle Magazine, Les Taylor, a wartime member of the 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry, claimed that fellow yeoman was responsible for the destruction of Wittmann's tank.

Veteran and historian Ken Tout, a member of the same unit, published a similar account crediting Ekins. This became, for a time, the widely accepted version of events. According to Hart, Ekin's unit was positioned in a wood on the right flank of the advancing Tiger tanks. At approximately 12:47, they engaged them, halting the attack, and killing Wittmann.Reid discusses the possibility that A Squadron of the, positioned on the left flank of the advancing German tanks, was responsible instead.

Commanded by, the squadron's six 75 mm Shermans and two 17 pounder were situated on the grounds of a at Gaumesnil. The unit had created firing holes in the property’s walls and, based on verbal testimony, engaged the advancing German tanks, including Tigers.

The British tanks were between 1,000 metres (1,100 yd) and 1,200 metres (1,300 yd) away from the German line of advance, whereas the Canadian squadron was around 500 metres (550 yd) away. Reid argues that due to the Canadians' proximity to the Germans, and the firing angle, their troops more than likely can be credited with the destruction of Wittmann's tank. Reid also relies on H. Holfinger's account of the engagement to support his thesis; Holfinger was in a Tiger approximately 250 metres (270 yd) behind Wittmann and he indicates that Wittmann's Tiger was destroyed at 12:55. Ekin's crew was credited with the destruction of 3 Tigers at 12:40, 12:47 and 12:52, Wittmann's tank being allegedly the one destroyed at 12:47. Considering Holfinger's account, Reid concludes that the Tiger destroyed at 12:47 could not be that of Wittmann; he also notes that the circumstances surrounding the fate of the Tiger destroyed at 12:52 exclude the possibility that it could have been Wittmann's.

Awards. (1939) 2nd Class (12 July 1941) & 1st Class (8 September 1941). Knight's Cross on 14 January 1944. Oak Leaves on 30 January 1944. Swords on 22 June 1944Notes.