Michael Wittmanns Tank Number
Possibly one of the most commonly asked question with the greatest or least answers depending on how you look at it. The question: What was Michael Wittmanns tank identification number or the number on the side of his tank. To get the answer we first must understand how tank ID worked. The Heer (army) used a three number system on their tanks although some units used only one number The first number denoted the tanks company. The second the Platoon and the third the tanks individual number, so tank 131 was in the first company, third platoon and was the first tank, usually the platoon commander. This system seems simple but that is not so as the company commanders used a different system as did Regimental commanders. Another problem was that the allies could decipher this system and they could target the commanders, so variations began to occur. All this information does not seem to get us any closer to the answer of the question so I decided to dig around and came up with a list of 15 different numbers. This seems insane but most of them would be correct as Wittman was apart of 4 different companies and had different ranks in each. Also the numbering system could change with each new CO who wanted a new system. So there is really no right of wrong answer so long as you base you number on the company he was in at the time.
By Andrew