On June 6, 1944, the last thing Hitler wanted to see finally happened—the Allies began to land in Normandy, and the German army, which was already struggling on the Eastern Front, was even more in a dilemma of fighting on two fronts. A few days later, the Allies established a solid landing ground on the beachhead and began to gradually advance inland. The Allied forces attacking Caen consisted mainly of the following forces: the British 3rd Division on the left side of the line, the Canadian 3rd Division in the center, and the British 51st and 50th Divisions on the right, while the British 7th Panzer Division took on a detour mission and outflanked Caen from the right via Highway 175. By June 13, the 22nd Armored Brigade of the British advance force had entered the village of Pokaki and went around to the rear of the German armored instructor, and in order to make up for the huge gap in their own left defense line and save the armored instructor, the German army ordered the mobile SS 101st heavy armored battalion to rush to help. The battalion is composed of 45 Tiger tanks, 6 Leopard ambulances and 124 other vehicles, with a full strength of 1,037 officers and men. They set out from the camp on 7 June, but the railway system was destroyed by Allied air raids, so they marched on their own for the 200 kilometres. However, the Allied "Tempest" ground attack aircraft did not give up their "favor" for this team, and the battalion was subjected to indiscriminate bombardment along the way, and half of its vehicles were destroyed by the time they reached the front line.

In the early morning of the 13th, a German soldier rushed back in a panic and reported: "The British have reached the village in front, less than 2,000 meters from here!"

German Lieutenant Michel Wittmann (commander of the advance company of the 101st Battalion) is sleeping next to the tank. Hearing this, he was a little surprised: "Britain is moving so fast!" he said, he stood up, "Hoflinger, lend me your No. 231 tank." Bobby, be my gunner. Let's check the situation. ”

Tank 231 was the best Tiger tank in the advance company, while Wittmann's own car was still under repair due to shrapnel damage from the air filter.

"Let's go!" Wittmann ordered, and the Tiger tank rumbled out of the forest path. In front is the village of Pokaki, nearly 3 companies of the British army have entered the village, in peacetime, no one has paid attention to this small farm 30 kilometers away from Caen, but from this day on, the ordinary village of Pokaki became famous, becoming synonymous with classic examples of armored warfare.

Company A of the British 22nd Armoured Brigade had crossed the village to the east side of the hill - 213 Heights, while Company B stopped on the road west of the village and assembled, while one M5A1 light tank and 14 "Cromwell" of the regimental headquarters were in the village, as well as four reconnaissance vehicles, 20 M21 half-track trucks, and one 57-mm anti-tank gun (i.e., the British 6-pounder gun).

Unaware of this, Wittmann plunged into Route 175 through a wheat field at the edge of the village, wedged into the convoy of the British Legion. After entering the road, his vision suddenly widened, but he was also taken aback. It turned out that the nearest British reconnaissance vehicle to him was 15 meters to his right (just now due to the cover of the bushes, no one had noticed the other side), and 200 meters to the left, the muzzles of several tanks were facing his tank. The British were also taken aback, they did not expect that there were German armored units in the vicinity. And it's a frightening "Tiger" tank.

While everyone was still stunned, Wittmann reacted first: the reconnaissance vehicle was not to be afraid, and it was first necessary to take out the few tanks on the left that posed a threat to it. So, the "Tiger" quickly turned to the left, the turret turned even faster, Bobby did not aim, and by feeling fired the first 88-mm shell. In the blink of an eye, the M5A1 at the head of the British army was beaten to the ground, and the "Cromwell" tank did not seem to have been loaded, but just quietly stared at the rushing "Tiger" with its muzzle. 88 guns "Knock-Knock-Knock" several shots in a row, and the "eyes" of 3 "Cromwells" were closed. Captain Adams, a staff officer of the British Corps, sat on the last one of the Cromwells, and he ordered the tanks to retreat sharply and hide in the rubble by the side of the road.

Wittman found a British tank escaping, but did not know that it was hiding nearby, he continued to rush forward, just in front of Captain Adams's tank, Adams did not react, and watched the weak side armor of the "Tiger" pass by him, losing the best opportunity to counterattack, of course, it was the completion of Wittman's continued amazing record.

Wittmann sped west, fearing that the infantry in the British reconnaissance vehicles would chase after him, because tanks could not take advantage of infantry in street fighting. But when he drove to the bend of the street, he suddenly found a group of British tanks parked on the side of the road 150 meters ahead, including the "Firefly" tank with a "long nose". The front armor of the "Tiger" could not care about the "Cromwell's" 75-mm short-barreled main gun, but the "Firefly's" 76-mm long-barreled main gun could easily penetrate his tank at such a distance.

"U-turn, U-turn!" Wittman shouted hoarsely, the Tiger as he turned around dragging his 56-ton hulking body. At this moment, a 76-mm shell from the "Glowworm" hit the left side of its turret, but fortunately the angle of penetration was too small and it was ejected. Weitman was in a cold sweat, and he knew that if he delayed here for more than 1 second, he would be in mortal danger, because the other party could easily catch up with him, and his "Tiger" style couldn't outrun the "Firefly" at all.

The road was narrow, Wittman's tank had just turned around, and the "Cromwell" piloted by Adams had also come out of hiding, and the two sides looked at each other. They are all quick and quick-sighted, and they fire almost at the same time. But Adams was unlucky, his shell only made a shallow hole in the "Tiger" shield, but his own tank was punched a big hole, although Adams was not dead, but he was so shocked that his hands and feet were numb, and he staggered out of the "mount" and ran to the side of the road.

Wittmann continued to retreat eastward, considering that there were several British tanks behind him, and that there might be a large number of infantry in ambush in front of him, and perhaps anti-tank guns. The first thing to do was to get back to the station as soon as possible and call the other tanks over. So he had the Tiger drive out of a gap, preparing to go around from north to east and turn back to camp to avoid all dangers.

In fact, the situation was not as terrible as Wittmann imagined, and the tanks of British Company B did not pursue him, because they thought that there might be many German tanks in the village, so they did not dare to engage in street fighting; the 37-mm anti-tank guns of the British regiment headquarters were mounted, and the infantry also got out of the car and entered the position, but their attention was only focused on the road, and they did not expect Wittmann to go around from the roadside wheat field to its side.

Weitman didn't expect that his little detour would turn out the results of the war. The British parked vehicles on the side of the road were exposed to its right like a row of targets, he turned the turret in the direction of 3 o'clock, and the 88 guns began accurate point fire. British reconnaissance vehicles, anti-tank guns, and half-tracks were reduced to ashes on the side of the road, and Route 175 became a feared vehicle graveyard.

After Wittmann cleared the road of British troops, he found British Company A on Heights 213. Company A, of course, also noticed that the situation on the road was not good, but it did not know where the enemy's artillery fire was coming from. They simply pointed their guns at the road and continued to make the same mistakes as their fallen comrades.

Wittmann continued to drive east through the wheat field, and the sides of all the tanks of Company A were clearly exposed to his guns, and the frontal armor of the "Firefly", "Sherman" and "Cromwell" was not enough to resist the 88mm guns of the "Tiger" type (even at a distance of 1,500 meters), but now the distance was less than 250 meters, and Company A was in the open (open ground) and Wittmann was in the dark (in the wheat field behind the bushes). The following scene does not need to be described, as a total of 23 of the above-mentioned tanks were destroyed here.

At this time, there was no effective British resistance east of the village of Pokaki. Wittmann decided not to return to the station, he was going to kill the horse pistol - to the village and continue to attack the British B Company. He walked back along Route 175, the steel wreckage he had just made, but at this point, he didn't have time to reflect on it, because the village ahead of him was lurking with murderous machines.

Sure enough, when Wittman was on 213 Heights, Adams had already run back to Company B on foot, and when his comrades saw him, they joked with him: "Captain, did you just teach the 'Tiger' tank a lesson?" ”

The communications corps hurriedly called Company A by radio, but there was no news. Only then did the British realize the seriousness of the situation and immediately began to deploy.

In order not to clash head-on with the Tigers, they set up anti-tank guns in the gaps between the buildings along the road, while the Fireflies and Cromwell also drove into the broken walls to conceal themselves, which was also conducive to attacking the flanks of the German tanks

Wittmann drove less than 200 meters when the battalion headquarters called him: "Car 231, we have entered the village to support you, please join the formation." Four Tiger and two Tank G of the 1st German Company entered Route 175 along a street parallel to the original Weitmann Road, and the other two Tiger made a detour from the fork in the road towards the village. At this time, the balance of power was clearly reversed, and the balance of victory and defeat began to tilt in favor of the Germans. But Wittman's eyes flashed, and an anti-tank shell hit the front of the car, although the blow was not fatal, but the "Tiger" type was biased to the side of the road, followed by another "boom", another shell broke its track, and Wittmann's tank came to an abrupt halt. From this point on, he retreated from the protagonist to the audience. A few German tanks were still galloping forward, while a few British tanks were hiding in the corner and rejoicing that their chance for revenge had arrived.

The No. 132 "Tiger" had just opened the firing range, and the guns of the two "Fireflies" and one "Cromwell" burst into flames at the same time, and the three shells paralyzed the "Tiger" type, and the No. 131 "Tiger" type rushed past its partner, and the members of its crew thought that although the No. 132 car was blown up, its shell just sealed the enemy's firing range, but they did not expect that there were several anti-tank guns in front. As a result, the turret of No. 131 was knocked more than ten meters away, and the "Tiger" and No. 4 tanks that followed closely behind were also destroyed in the middle of the Po village.

The battle stalemate lasted until the evening, and the remaining tanks on both sides gradually withdrew from the battlefield, leaving only the infantry and the tank crews who had lost their vehicles to fight in the streets and alleys. At this time, 12 British Tempest fighters arrived and razed the small village to the ground.

In the Battle of Pochon on 13 June, the British lost a total of 27 tanks and other combat vehicles, all of which were handled by Wittmann alone, while the rest of the German tanks were destroyed without a single victory.

2. Because the 75-mm short-barreled gun of the American-made M4 "Sherman" tank was insufficient (almost useless in the face of the "Tiger" and "Panther"), the British army loaded its 17-pounder anti-tank gun with the "Sherman". The Sherman, armed with a 76mm long-barreled cannon, is called the ShermanFirefly, and here I call it the Firefly. The British army equipped each of its tank platoons (5 units) with one "Firefly". The U.S. troops did not even have "Fireflies" during the Battle of Normandy, and could only rely on M10 self-propelled anti-tank guns, but fortunately, the German armored forces were almost all concentrated in the front of the British army.

3. According to British sources, a total of 20 Cromwells, 4 Sherman (all Firefly, equipped with 75 mm/17-pounder guns), 3 Stuart, 14 half-tracks, and 14 Burren transporters were lost that day.

4. Montgomery had high hopes for the British 7th Panzer Division because of its combat experience and the veteran unit with whom he had fought from El Alamein, and his biography simply mentions that it had a column that suffered heavy losses in a fierce battle with the Tiger tanks at the village of Pokaki as it unfolded. In fact, he hoped that the 7th Panzer Division would open a gap in the German line and penetrate directly into the weak rear of the German army at that time, but in fact the experience of desert warfare was useless for the battle between the sheep gut paths and hedges in the small trees. Dempsey, commander of the British 2nd Army, commented on the battle after the war much more directly: "The 7th Panzer Division lies on its past honor, and the whole (Pokaki village) battle is simply a disgrace". When the division failed him again and again in the battles of "Racecourse", "Goodwood" and "Blue Jacket" in July and August, he removed the division commander Erskine, the division artillery commander, the armored brigade commander, and the commander of the 30th Army to which the division belonged on August 3, 44, along with Buckner, the commander of the 30th Army to which the division belonged.