perocity
05-15-2010, 09:23 PM
REVEALED AFTER 66 YEARS...THE HERO WHO ENDED NAZI TANK ACE'S REIGN OF TERROR
6919
A MODEST British war veteran has finally been credited with killing the German tank commander Michael Wittmann, known as the Black Baron.
Evidence has emerged which proves Trooper Joe Ekins fired the shot that ended the Nazi’s reign of terror.
Historians have argued for more than 60 years over who killed the Baron after the Canadian army, Polish forces and the RAF each claimed credit for the kill in northern France.
Wittmann was a household name in Hitler’s Germany after claiming to have destroyed 138 Allied tanks. But he met his match when he came up against Mr Ekins, of Rushden, Northants, who was serving with the 1st Northampton Yeomanry.
Historians who spent two years researching the battle on August 8, 1944, believe Mr Ekins was the only tank gunner within range of the Black Baron. And his Sherman Firefly tank was the only one fitted with a gun powerful enough to take out the *German’s heavily armoured Tiger.
Widower Mr Ekins, now 86, yesterday welcomed the solving of the 66-year-old mystery, adding that the 30-year-old Baron “deserved to die”.
He said: “In a battlefield I don’t think anyone can really be 100 per cent certain what happened but most historians now seem pretty sure it was me. I volunteered to fight when I was 17 because I saw the dreadful things the Nazis were doing across Europe.
“I felt that anybody who supported the Nazis or who stood by and watched were criminals and I still believe that. Every day this Black Baron guy went out to kill people and when he knocked someone out he put a ring on his gun.
“When he was coming towards me I didn’t know who he was or his *reputation.
“I’ve got no regrets. He deserved to die and I am glad I was the guy who did it.” Soon after the war the 4th Canadian Armoured Division claimed its forces killed the Baron. Later the 1st Polish Armoured Division and 144 Regiment Royal Armoured Corps also tried to claim credit.
Source:Express.co.uk
6919
A MODEST British war veteran has finally been credited with killing the German tank commander Michael Wittmann, known as the Black Baron.
Evidence has emerged which proves Trooper Joe Ekins fired the shot that ended the Nazi’s reign of terror.
Historians have argued for more than 60 years over who killed the Baron after the Canadian army, Polish forces and the RAF each claimed credit for the kill in northern France.
Wittmann was a household name in Hitler’s Germany after claiming to have destroyed 138 Allied tanks. But he met his match when he came up against Mr Ekins, of Rushden, Northants, who was serving with the 1st Northampton Yeomanry.
Historians who spent two years researching the battle on August 8, 1944, believe Mr Ekins was the only tank gunner within range of the Black Baron. And his Sherman Firefly tank was the only one fitted with a gun powerful enough to take out the *German’s heavily armoured Tiger.
Widower Mr Ekins, now 86, yesterday welcomed the solving of the 66-year-old mystery, adding that the 30-year-old Baron “deserved to die”.
He said: “In a battlefield I don’t think anyone can really be 100 per cent certain what happened but most historians now seem pretty sure it was me. I volunteered to fight when I was 17 because I saw the dreadful things the Nazis were doing across Europe.
“I felt that anybody who supported the Nazis or who stood by and watched were criminals and I still believe that. Every day this Black Baron guy went out to kill people and when he knocked someone out he put a ring on his gun.
“When he was coming towards me I didn’t know who he was or his *reputation.
“I’ve got no regrets. He deserved to die and I am glad I was the guy who did it.” Soon after the war the 4th Canadian Armoured Division claimed its forces killed the Baron. Later the 1st Polish Armoured Division and 144 Regiment Royal Armoured Corps also tried to claim credit.
Source:Express.co.uk