The Fate Of The Black Baron: Hitler's Most Dangerous Ace | Greatest Tank Battles | Timeline

my name's dan snow and i want to tell you about history hit tv it's like the netflix for history hundreds of exclusive documentaries and interviews with the world's best historians we've got an exclusive offer available to fans of timeline if you go to history hit tv you can either follow the information below this video or just google history hit tv and use the code timeline you get a special introductory offer go and check it out in the meantime enjoy this video michael whitman is the most famous tank commander of the third reich he was the most decorated german tank ace of the war at course the greatest tank battle in history he spearheads the attack we just accumulated kill after kill you know in normandy whitman single-handedly halts an allied advance one german tank was able to knock out so many british tanks in a matter of a few minutes whitman's final battle turns him into a nazi legend it was almost suicidal for the germans to mount that attack even though it's been 60 years after whitman's death his legacy his mystique maintains lacombe german military cemetery normandy france 21 000 graves a monument to the death of the german army in normandy and to the downfall of adolf hitler's reviled third reich and yet amongst the rows of unadorned gravestones there is one man's grave that is always honored with fresh flowers name michael whitman whitman is considered the greatest tank ace of all time it was the ace of aces many people say that he was a very quiet likable man he wasn't a your typical nazi most tank commanders weren't personally decorated by hitler but most didn't quite stand out with the number of kills that whitman did whitman's mentality was aggressive motivated disciplined kind of uh encapsulates the panzer arm of world war ii into a person whitman died here in the fields of normandy but his legend began in the fields of bavaria born in 1914 on a farm south of nuremberg whitman was a country boy living the healthy outdoor life at 19 whitman is drafted into the army for compulsory service as all young men are in the germany of adolf hitler [Applause] in 1937 after completing his service michael whitman age 23 eagerly volunteers for hitler's personal bodyguard the life standard ss adolf hitler [Music] it's an elite unit they were in parades they were very regimented it would have been hand-picked personnel they would have had certain height and physical fitness requirements a certain look he's not only a volunteer but he's seemingly politically indoctrinated to want to be part of this unit i swear to the adolf hitler as fuhrer and chancellor of the german rights loyalty and bravery i vow to thee obedience unto death being the honor guard i'm sure it was very appealing to somebody in their early 20s with the black uniforms and the the smart look and the whole elite quality about them michael whitman embraces absolute loyalty to adolf hitler and his policy of persecution of the jews and to his program of conquest and expansion of the third reich but in september 1939 hitler invades poland triggering the second world war now for whitman and his generation of young nazis the parades are over and the fighting begins because of his excellence as a driver whitman is given command of a reconnaissance vehicle by early summer 1941 the nazis are the masters of europe but for adolf hitler the real prize lies to the east the soviet empire vast spaces for the master race to conquer and colonize june 22 1941 hitler invades the soviet union codename operation barbarossa three million german soldiers led by 3 600 tanks plunge into the soviet union against the germans the soviets mobilize 2.9 million men and 20 000 tanks despite their superior numbers the soviets are quickly overwhelmed by the speed and skill of the german panzers michael whitman's reconnaissance unit races over the soviet frontier with the leipztendart part of the leading armored force hitler's armored divisions were important in the fact that they were the ones that were spearheading the advances the whole mentality of the tank force was always keep moving whitman and the livestream dart are now part of the notorious waffen ss the lofan ss had a few premier divisions leicester dart to being one of them that maintained its elite status throughout the war as the panzers slash hundreds of kilometers through russian defenses millions of prisoners are taken [Music] the waffen ss does have a reputation for committing atrocities on the eastern front over three million will be shot or starved to death three weeks after the invasion the leibstandart is closing in on the ukrainian capital kiev at the forefront is reconnaissance sergeant michael whitman july 12 1941 the panzers advance over hilly wooded country as they near the city of jitomir 200 kilometers southwest of kiev the soviets counter-attack dozens of soviet t-34 tanks bear down on the livestream dives the t-34 has been a shock for the germans weighing 26 tons the t-34 is heavily armored with sloping sides to deflect shells armed with a powerful 76.2 millimeter gun it is better than anything the germans can field whitman is ordered to reconnoiter the enemy forces in their sturmgeschertz3 or stewed whitman drove his stomach to high ground we tried to locate the soviets he spotted two groups of soviet t-34 tanks six coming from north-east and another 12 from the east that meant 18 t-34s against whitman's single assault gun it was no match whitman had to act quickly to even the odds he ordered his driver to take the storm to shorts off the high ground whitman has been ordered not to engage the enemy tanks as the heavier t-34s out gun his sturm gestured three is designed initially to be infantry support it's not designed to engage other tanks built on the chassis of a panzer iii the stoog is a turretless assault gun which means the driver has to swing the whole vehicle around to aim its high velocity 75 millimeter cannon the stormcast has a movable cannon of 24 degrees only you have to face the enemy straight forward not from the side if you see the enemy you have to turn despite being outnumbered and outmatched by the russian tanks whitman disobeys his orders and attacks the t-34s this personality that was mated to the panzer credo of attack that that would have been the first thing he was looking for was an opportunity to be preempted as the t-34 surged forward towards the quest of the hill whitman's only hope was to set up an ambush it was a direct hit a second t-34 surged over the hill it went up in flames a third t-34 managed to get a shot at fitment storm kishoots the t-34s were not as accurate we thought at least than ours more russian tanks poured forward there were just too many bittman headed for cover he used the assault gun's low profile to hide it in a small wood i like the sturmkitchens because uh of the low silhouette and that gave me a a feeling being safer but facing so many t-34s there was nowhere for him to hide whitman's driver swiveled the stool to bring its gun to bear on the russian firing would have definitely been an issue because of the inability to track a target via a turret you would have to maneuver the vehicle and again his gunner scored a direct hit with the t-34 the only weak part is between the the turret and the the body to get right into the crack another t-34 tried to target the syn-side armor on the stream deschutes bitland had to turn quickly and fire before the russian got in a shot you hit the tracks if you can when the tracks burst of course it just goes around in a circle with his fast maneuvering whitman began to even the odds then three more enemy tanks attacked bittman opened fire only one of the soviet tanks escaped six of the formidable t-34s destroyed in just a few minutes whitman and his crew stopped the soviet armored attack for his actions whitman is awarded the iron cross second class impressed by his exploits whitman's commanders send him back to germany to train to become an officer of the ss whitman's career is on the rise autumn 1942 bad taltz michael whitman begins his training in heinrich himmler's waffen-ss school its aim is to form a new ss military elite the future leaders of hitler's nazi empire whitman graduates as an ss second lieutenant and is soon training on germany's newest tank the tiger hitler's answer to the soviet t-34 it is the most formidable tank in the world at 100 millimeters the tiger's frontal armor is virtually impregnable it's 88 millimeter gun can cut through a t-34 at over two kilometers in february 1943 whitman is called back to the russian front as part of the leipzig dart's new tiger company [Music] but by the summer the tide of battle is turning against germany soviet forces surged west creating a huge bulge protruding into the german lines near the russian city of kursk desperate to regain the initiative adolf hitler plans a counter-offensive operation citadel it will be a two-pronged attack from north and south to chop off the bulge leaving half a million soviet soldiers cut off and trapped for the citadel offensive the germans have amassed 780 000 men and 2500 tanks to meet the germans the soviets feel almost 2 million men and more than 5 000 tanks the livestrond art will be at the front of the southern attack with them at the spearhead will be michael whitman now commanding a platoon of five tiger tanks on the eve of battle whitman's commander reads out adolf hitler's message to the crews soldiers today use it out on a great offensive whose result can decisively affect the outcome of the war ma soldiers now finally you have better tanks than the enemy the german homeland looks to you with art and confidence we just thought we were superior to the to the russian tanks at least we were brainwashed to believe that which helps to make you feel superior you know you know what propaganda does july 5th 1943 at dawn the tiger crews wait for their attack to begin the order came over the tank radios panzers forward as we advanced we were met by a relentless storm of fire the russians had prepared line after line of defenses with dug-in t-34s because the t-34 was inferior to the tiger 1 it needed to compensate for its deficiencies one of the ways was to have pre-dug positions for the vehicles the incoming round would have to penetrate several feet of dirt to be able to actually get to the vehicle itself the tiger's powerful 88 millimeter gun is able to break through the russian defenses while the russian shells bounce off the tiger's armor overcoming line after line of russian defense whitman and the tigers pushed towards the objective but the russians continued to throw wave after wave of tanks at our advanced these were all fresh targets for whitman's gunner whitman's tank kept moving firing as it turned smashing one t-34 after another knocking out eight tanks and twelve anti-tank guns this first day of battle has been a success for whitman and his elite crew we call it some gespiel they are played together you know so that one interacts with the other the right way the loader the gunner the commander the driver the radio man it's a tightly knit group july 12 1943 the germans set off to assault the final soviet defense line before kursk whitman's commander is wounded and whitman must take over command of the leicester darts tiger company just as the battle of kurusk is about to reach its climax unknown to the germans the russians are preparing a desperate last-ditch counter-attack the germans were on the verge of breaking through into open country and the soviets were starting to panic they're going to throw whatever they had available into the mix the russians send 500 tanks west to attack the german right flank but the waffen-ss tanks turn east these huge tank forces are about to collide near the little town of prokhorovka second lieutenant whitman and his crew are ordered to high ground in the distance what seemed like a dust cloud was rising suddenly hundreds of soviet tanks appeared at the crest of a hill headed straight towards whitman we were in shock the soviets were not on the defensive they were attacking just 1600 meters from whitman more than 100 soviet tanks are charging towards him over the gently rolling land of the step we've had a number of hills but it was predominantly open terrain so the tiger tank could engage at long distance with a well-aimed shot a tiger can knock out a t-34 at a distance of two kilometers but the russian tanks have to get much closer before their guns can have any effect on the tigers trying to close the deadly gap they came back into view now only 800 meters away the tigers opened fire a lot of tanks in a relatively small area something of a shooting gallery from a tiger one commander's perspective the t-34s were still not close enough to penetrate the armor of the tigers so they had to keep advancing straight through our barrage they got to 700 meters getting closer and closer the tiger guns were belching fire but there were too many they couldn't all be stopped [Music] at close range the german tanks are vulnerable whitman's tigers spring into action whitman's gunner fires on the move again and again one of the reasons that whitman was so successful as a tiger commander was his ability to fire while moving on the with the vehicle that way they could acquire the target but they get rounds on the target more quickly such a technique wasn't normal in fact german regulations stressed that the tanks should not fire when on the move it's basically a waste of ammunition but whitman and his crew have mastered the difficult technique using it to their advantage from whitman's perspective prokarovka would have just been chaos he would have had firing at close range whitman's tank is hit twice but keeps on fighting the metric of being dryden panzer of panzer the battle rages for hours the russians take appalling losses but they succeed in slowing the german advance brazilian kursk is considered one of the greatest tank battles in history because of the numbers of tanks and other armored vehicles involved in a relatively small area our tiger company had a series of fine successes over the whole citadel cursed battle we destroyed 151 enemy tanks [Music] despite the success of the tiger units the ferocious russian defenses has stopped hitler's offensive the germans have lost the decisive tank battle on the eastern front [Music] from now on michael whitman will be fighting for his and for nazi germany's survival in its third winter on the eastern front the german army is in full retreat the russians have pushed them 500 kilometers from kursk back into the ukraine michael whitman's tiger unit is fighting a series of desperate rear guard action tiger units would have been sent from one sector of the front to the other to try and plug gaps that had been opened up by soviet armored forces and attempted to blunt them so that way german forces can continue their retreat to the west the rapid russian advance leaves the soviet supply line stretch dangerously thin making supply convoys a vital necessity december 6 1943 whitman and his unit now designated the 101st ss heavy panzer battalion are poised to attack a soviet supply convoy near the town of brusolov but between the convoy and the tigers are batteries of russian anti-tank guns the soviet 76.2 millimeter divisional gun is a tank killer it can smash through a tiger's side armor at a distance of nearly 1 000 meters and wreck its tracks to kill these anti-tank batteries whitman's tactic is to play a dangerous game using himself and his tank as bait whitman drove to high ground he was tempting the russian gunners to fire at him they took the bait but now the gunners had revealed their positions under heavy fire whitman quickly retreated then our tigers raced at the anti-tank guns from their blind spots charging straight at them before the russians could turn the guns around whitman's tactic has worked the anti-tank batteries are now a smoking wreck but his tiger reveals just how dangerous whitman's game can be we counted a total of 28 hits on the tiger some of them were smaller of course but there were also some big enough to easily put one's fist into with the anti-tank batteries eliminated whitman races towards the supply road he drives into cover to observe the road and he spots a convoy though he's heavily outnumbered whitman decides to attack on his own whitman would have been trying to make the best of a bad situation he would have been increasingly reckless due to necessity in engaging enemy targets like a wolf attacking its prey he quickly knocks out the lead tank and the rear tank leaving the convoy trapped on the road at his mercy whitman blasted the enemy with furious barrages of gunfire he placed his fiery mark on the road smashing long lines of soviet vehicles into junk this caused mass confusion amongst the soviets whitman's daring lone wolf attack has worked brilliantly the russian convoy has been destroyed over the next few weeks he goes on a rampage knocking out 61 enemy tanks his total kills soon reach 117. he paints the number of kills on his tank barrel on january 16 1944 whitman is awarded the knights cross nazi germany's second highest military honor then just a few weeks later his knight's cross is upgraded with oak leaves and he is promoted to first lieutenant on february 2nd 1944 whitman is called to the fuhrer's eastern front headquarters to receive his new commendation from adolf hitler himself i think one of the reasons that whitman was decorated to the degree that he was was that he was part of the leicester darta ss adolf hitler division and that's hitler's name in the unit whitman is now ordered back to germany where his exploits have already made him famous but the country he finds upon his return is in ruins a result of allied bombing the site of such senseless destruction of our cities is enough to make one's heart bleed the anglo-americans have taught us to hate they will see this hate transformed into energy we desire one thing to get them in front of our guns we have only one watchword and that is revenge the war effort was definitely going against germany and they were looking for ways to keep up the public morale he visited the henschel factory where the tiger one was made and made a speech to the workers there i think whitman was used as propaganda for the nazi party but i don't think it was totally unwilling on his part i think it was just another way of contributing to the war effort the reich made him a celebrity intentionally during his triumphal tour of germany whitman marries 19-year-old hildegard burmester the couple is offered a special wedding gift adolf hitler's mine camp hitler went to pittman's wedding a tank case in germany was so important before he can arrange a honeymoon for his young bride whitman receives a new posting so his wife accompanies him with his tiger battalion to the chateau elbow in normandy france michael whitman will soon have his chance at revenge on germany's enemies on june 6 1944 allied forces land in normandy hitler orders his panzer forces to drive the allies back into the sea for michael whitman and his tigers the allied beachhead is over 200 kilometers away whitman started off on june 6 with 45 tiger tanks which is a full complement for that 101st heavy ss tank battalion but it takes whitman five harrowing days to get his second company to the normandy battlefield under unrelenting attacks by allied fighter bombers that decimate his forces and a week later it was down to about six vehicles that were serviceable whitman and the 101st ss heavy panzer battalion are positioned on the left and most crucial sector of the front facing the british and the canadians the germans would have concentrated their armored units around the british and canadian sector because if that sector had fallen that would have been the shortest route to germany so they had to hold that with their stronger units the allies are preparing the break out of the beachhead their plan is to send the british 7th armored division towards the key city of khan through the town of villers bokage june 13 1944 sheltering from allied bombers whitman positions his surviving tigers under the cover of trees near villers bokage the british 22nd armored brigade was moving through the town column of british tanks is just 200 meters from whitman's position the british do not know whitman is there but they are about to find out then a man came into the command post and said uber stormfire tanks are driving past i don't think they are german i had no idea that the enemy might suddenly appear whitman saw that there was an opportunity in that the british armored vehicles were in a nice neat line approaching his position i went outside and saw english and american tanks rolling past about 150 to 200 meters distance never had i been so impressed by the strength of the enemy as i was by those tanks rolling by whitman is facing tanks and armored vehicles while he has only six tanks the decision to attack was a very difficult one but i knew it absolutely had to be and i decided to strike out at the enemy whitman's split second decision will become legendary i had no time to assemble my company i set off with one tank i drove up to the column surprised the english as much as they had surprised me i first knocked out two tanks from the right of the column then one from the left with them being in such close proximity to each other there was no room to maneuver i then turned about to the left and attacked the armored troop carriers in the middle of the armored regiment they never left the road they were so surprised that they took to flight but not with their vehicles instead they jumped out and i shot up the battalion's vehicles as i drove by i drove towards the rear of the column on the same road knocking out every tank that came toward me the enemy was thrown into total confusion i was able to take out tanks as well as armored troop carriers then i drove straight into the town of villers bokash the town has already been occupied by british armor whitman continues his single-handed attack claiming a total of 21 allied tanks destroyed i got to approximately the center of town where i was hit by an anti-tank gun my tank was disabled i fired that and destroyed everything around me that i could reach i then abandoned the tank whitman's deadly rampage has lasted barely 15 minutes but he has devastated an entire enemy regiment [Music] by single-handedly knocking out the british column it kept the allies from taking the area around khan for two months and it added to the mystique of whitman's abilities as a panzer commander german newsreels make the most of the allied setback at villers beaucon [Music] whitman is the most famous tank officer in the german army [Music] but the following day the stress of battle shows on his face whitman is celebrated for his astounding feat by first ss panzer corps commander sepp dietrich who recommends him for yet another commendation in july whitman is once again personally decorated by hitler this time adding two swords to his night's cross with oak leaves whitman was the most decorated tank commander not only for his experience on the battlefield but i would think also for the propaganda value that could be showcased through him and so michael whitman reaches the height of his fame in normandy and it is in normandy that his fate and his myth will be sealed august 8th 1944 two months after villar's bookage michael whitman is now a captain and acting commander of his battalion yet as whitman's career soars hitler's army in normandy is headed towards destruction now the allies launch a decisive punch codenamed operation totalize british and canadian armor storms along the con fillets road smashing 14 kilometers through the german lines towards the village of sinto as 300 allied tanks bear down on sinto the 12th ss panzer division is ordered to bar their advance with the remnants of the heavily outnumbered division is captain michael whitman with a small group of tiger tanks the division's leader colonel kurt mayer now orders an immediate counter-attack [Music] whitman's tigers were standing ready behind the hedge east of sintok we had to risk the attack in order to win time it was almost suicidal for the germans to mount that attack but this was their system if they were hit they would hit back immediately whitman is in reserve but he insists on leading the attack michael said to me i must be in the attack myself for the other officers can barely cope kurt mayer knows the situation is hopeless i shook michael witman's hand michael left his youthful laugh and climbed into his tiger and so michael whitman sets off on the attack just eight german tanks advancing against 300 allied tanks i don't think whitman is exactly a fatalist i don't think that he just figured that he was going to die maybe this was the best place to do it whitman and probably his crew didn't think so much about their own personal safety as the overall war effort what whitman doesn't know is there is a hidden danger waiting for him on either side of the con filet's road british tanks of the northamptonshire yeomanry are lying in weight in the woods to his right canadian tanks of the sherbrook fusiliers are hidden behind a wall to his left we drove off michael right of the road and i left of the road approximately 800 meters to michael's right there was a small wood which looked suspicious the british tanks hidden in the woods observe whitman there were four certainly four tigers which came down on what would have been our side of the main road the canadians of the sherbrookes were as far as i can see actually much nearer but they were on the other side of the main road the canadian tanks are hidden from whitman's view behind a long chateau wall we sneaked up right beside a brick wall and got in reasonable cover just hit the wall just enough that you could get your gun that you could move it sufficiently i could see on the right the first german tanks came out from synthol right away i can remember the wireless net becoming active i can see them i can see them i saw these targets coming across in front of us about 1200 yards away my tongue commander they said well white till they get to about 800 yards we drove about one to one and a half kilometers always now starting to get a bit itchy the allies not only have the element of surprise they have a new tank the sherman firefly the firefly up gun with a powerful 17-pounder cannon is able to penetrate millimeters of steel enough for even the thickest armor on a tiger for the first time we realized that we now had a tank which was equal to the tiger whitman's tigers are now in the kill zone with my eyes i could see the tank closest to the road about two 200 yards i guess the tank commander said advanced driver and we pull out a cover as we pull out a cover he says target the rear target i fired we began taking heavy fire and then i received a radio message from michael one shot at the second tank the loader reloads again fall when ready [Music] three of the four tigers are now knocked out whitman's tank moves on alone from close range the canadians now opened fire at whitman's tank the one that he was in i think went by me other people from my squad we're firing at it now whitman's tiger is hit when i got to within 300 meters of michael's tiger flames suddenly shot from the tank i can remember a tremendous explosion and seeing the turret hit the ground august 8 1944 michael whitman has fought his final battle whether his last thoughts as he went down the road were simply valhalla here i come a sort of a death wish he must have known there was no way they were going to win [Music] august 25th just days after whitman's death the german army in normandy is defeated many of hitler's soldiers remain in normandy buried in lacombe german military cemetery somber gravestones recall the unheralded end of the nazi empire [Music] yet michael whitman is still celebrated i think there's a myth to michael whitman's combat experiences people look at him as yes being a nazi but it's not the reason that they admire his abilities in combat i think if you're on the receiving end of that you're going to have a different perspective he accepted the doctrines of hitler enough to get in his tank and invade other people's countries country after country to kill men women and children he might have been a hero to the germans but not to me even though it's been 60 years after whitman's death his legacy his mystique maintains to today i swear to thee adolf hitler as fuhrer and chancellor of the german right obedience unto death [Music] you

Channel: Timeline - World History Documentaries

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Keywords: History, Full Documentary, Documentaries, Full length Documentaries, Documentary, TV Shows - Topic, Documentary Movies - Topic, 2017 documentary, BBC documentary, Channel 4 documentary, history documentary, documentary history, ww2, germany ww2, michael wittman, tank ace, the black baron, black baron, german tank ace, german war hero, german war legends

Id: GFyKVJ_ZN-8

Length: 48min 14sec (2894 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 16 2021