British granddad may have killed Black Baron
A British granddad has been credited with killing dreaded German tank ace the 'Black Baron', a claim which could end a mystery which has lasted for more than half a century.
New evidence has emerged which allegedly shows Joe Ekins, 86, fired the fatal blast which ended the reign of terror of Nazi Germany's most feared tank gunner Michael Wittmann.
Historians argued for decades over who killed the Black Baron after the Canadian army, Polish forces and the RAF each claimed credit.
The Baron was a Nazi war hero and household name in Adolf Hitler's Germany during the Second World War after destroying 138 Allied tanks and took out 132 anti-tank guns.
Now the granddad-of-two, from Rushden, Northants., has been shown as the true hero firing off three shots which blew up the Baron's tank on the northern France battlefield on August 8 1944.
Historians with Battlefield History TV spent two years researching Wittmann v Ekins: Death of a Panzer Ace.
They claimed Mr Ekins was the sole gunner within range of the Black Baron and the only British tank which fitted with a gun which could take out the Nazi Tiger tanks....
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)
New evidence has emerged which allegedly shows Joe Ekins, 86, fired the fatal blast which ended the reign of terror of Nazi Germany's most feared tank gunner Michael Wittmann.
Historians argued for decades over who killed the Black Baron after the Canadian army, Polish forces and the RAF each claimed credit.
The Baron was a Nazi war hero and household name in Adolf Hitler's Germany during the Second World War after destroying 138 Allied tanks and took out 132 anti-tank guns.
Now the granddad-of-two, from Rushden, Northants., has been shown as the true hero firing off three shots which blew up the Baron's tank on the northern France battlefield on August 8 1944.
Historians with Battlefield History TV spent two years researching Wittmann v Ekins: Death of a Panzer Ace.
They claimed Mr Ekins was the sole gunner within range of the Black Baron and the only British tank which fitted with a gun which could take out the Nazi Tiger tanks....