Here is the introduction that was to go into the now ill fated Wave of Steel. Thanks again to Barry Doyle for his assistance in formatting (I'm on a mac and can't use the scenario editor!). Thanks too for all his efforts in trying to get something going for the game.
Who Killed the Black Baron?
During Operation Totalize, run by the Canadian commander General Guy Simonds with joint operations of the British, Polish and Allied Air, the German field commander Kurt Meyer sent tank ace Michael Wittmann on a counter-attack mission with his battalion of Tigers to stem the operation.
Michael Wittmann was largely unknown to the allies. His exploits on the Eastern front however earned him similar fame to that of the Red Baron during WWI with his own forces (thus the nickname, the Black Baron due to the colour of the armoured uniforms). Wittmann was credited with the destruction of 143 Allied armoured vehicles which include about 25 during his rampage at Villers-Bocage on June 13th.
On August 8th, Meyer issued Wittmann his orders to take the high ground of Pt. 122 and destroy any allied armour he met there. With a handshake Meyer wished Wittmann luck as he mounted his Tiger, 007 of the 101 Heavy Tank Battalion, to carry out his orders.
Sometime between 1230 and 1255 hours of that day while en route to the assigned objective, Michael Wittmann, the Black Baron, was killed. As seen in a photograph taken a year later, his tank turret was knocked off and landed upside down quite a few meters away.
Ironically, much like the Red Baron, there has been much controversy surrounding the claims on who actually delivered the final blow that killed the Black Baron.
For the longest time, the kill was assigned to British Trooper Joe Ekins of A Sqn. of the 1 Northhamptonshire Yeomanary who was verified to have knocked out three Tigers between 1240 and 1252 hours that day. This unit was set up in a wooded section East of the main Caen-Falaise road. However, according to his recorded position and that of the final resting place of Wittmann’s 007 tank, the range was outside of that for a Firefly.
The French civilian, Serge Varin, who took the photograph concluded that an RAF Typhoon rocket destroyed the tank based on the position of the turret (and the violence needed to displace it in such a way) along with the discovery of an unexploded rocket nearby. Although the RAF was active during this operation there were no reported Tiger or tank kills of any sort in the area.
The third competing claim was made from Major Radley-Walters who commanded a squadron from the Canadian unit Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment. The squadron had set up behind a chateau in the cover of woods close to the main Caen-Falaise road. Major Radley-Walters recalls his tanks hitting the Tiger ‘closest to the road’. This would’ve been Wittmann’s 007 as evidenced by the photograph. Unfortunately, there are no official AAR’s to substantiate this claim as ironically, the regimental command post that held them were destroyed by an allied air attack!
While the evidence strongly supports the Canadian claim to the kill the controversy around who actually killed the Black Baron will remain. The subject of this scenario is the chance to determine for yourself, who killed the Black Baron!