As an infantry soldier of World War II, nothing could have been quite as terrifying as enemy tanks
gunning for your position. The tanks of the era represented the pinnacle of
shock weaponry, and their commanders gained legendary status. So lock and load,
viewers, these are five of the most formidable tank aces the war ever produced.
The top US tanker of the entire Second World War AND the inspiration for Brad
Pitt’s “Wardaddy” character in the movie *Fury*, we have Lafayette Pool.
Unlike the famous German tank aces who slogged it out on the Eastern front for years,
US tank forces began their fight against Nazi Germany in June 1944, and Pool himself
fought in France between June and September. He was in combat for just 81 days but, in that time,
managed to rack up more tank kills than any other US tanker, on top of losing three tanks himself.
Pool initially commanded an M4A1 Sherman tank, which lasted him a week. On the 29th of June,
he attacked the town of Villiers-Fossard in Normandy. During the assault, his tank was
hit by a Panzerfaust. Pool and his crew managed to clamber out of the burning wreckage — and survive.
Pool fared better with his second tank, a new M4A1(76)W Sherman he picked up on July
1st. This one was destroyed a month and a half later, on August 17th,
by friendly fire from a P-38 Lightning as Pool led US forces in clearing the village of Fromental.
Undeterred by multiple near-death experiences, Pool fought on with a second M4A1(76)W Sherman,
commanding it until September, when it was destroyed by a German Panther defending the
Siegfried Line. The Sherman was obliterated by an armour-piercing round which threw Pool out of the
commander’s hatch, mangling his leg. Transferred back to the US, Pool’s injury meant his war was
over. He left France having destroyed 12 enemy tanks and 258 armoured vehicles,
having killed over 1,000 soldiers, and having taken an additional 250 as POWs.
The war in France was rough on the tankers, but the REAL armoured war was fought in the East,
where high-quality and complex German tanks slogged it out against unending waves of more
simply-made Soviet tanks. One of the Germans committed to this fight was Otto Carius.
Carius showed a keen aptitude for tank strategy right from the start of his
career as a tank commander. In one of his first engagements on the Leningrad front,
he managed to destroy four Soviet SU-85 tank destroyers without the loss of a
single one of his Tiger Is. Though his most spectacular moment was yet to come.
On July 22nd, 1944, Carius patrolled to the village of Malinava with his unit of eight
Tiger I tanks. After personally scouting it out, he determined that Malinava was occupied by an
advance guard of Soviet tanks. When others may have called for backup, Carius decided the best
option was to smash this spearhead as quickly as possible. Backed up by another Tiger I,
Carius drove down the only road to the village.
He deliberately kept six tanks in reserve so he had as much room to manoeuvre as possible.
The two Tigers crashed into the village at close to top speed.
Carius immediately encountered a Soviet IS-1 heavy tank, something he had never
seen before. The veteran tanker acted rapidly, blowing apart the JS-1 with his first shot. Both
Tigers then made quick work of the T-34/85s around Malinava, destroying 17 of them in 20 minutes.
This would not be the last of Otto Carius’s deadly engagements,
and by the war’s end, he had destroyed over 150 enemy tanks... and a plane!
Although he only fought for two and a half months,
Soviet tank ace Dmitry Lavrinenko was by far the top Allied tanker of the Second World War.
Lavrinenko took command of his first tank, a T-34, in October of 1941. Like his contemporary aces,
he was a master tactician. His favourite strategy was to set complex ambushes.
On one occasion, Lavinenko ordered soldiers to place logs in position so they looked
like anti-tank guns. When a German tank unit approached, they opened fire on the
decoy — allowing Lavrinenko and his men to annihilate them from a flanking position.
There’s no telling how successful Lavrinenko may have been if he had lived out the whole
war like most of the German aces did. Just after scoring his 52nd tank kill and securing a village,
Lavrinenko walked over to a radio to report the victory to his commander.
The Allies’ greatest tanker picked the wrong time for a stroll, as German mortar fire
rained down when he stepped out into the open, peppering him with shrapnel and ending his life
Michael Wittman became a household name in Germany and, to some extent,
the world during the Second World War. This tanker was a legend,
and his victories were broadcasted as propaganda over the radio for the whole of Europe to hear.
Wittman joined the SS in 1936 and the Nazi Party in 1938. His commitment to Nazi ideals caught the
eye of the higher-ups, and he rapidly rose through the SS ranks. His first serious engagements were
in 1941, where he first fought in the invasion of Greece and then in Operation Barbarossa,
where he destroyed several Soviet tanks with a Stug III and Panzer III. But it was when he
took command of a Tiger I in 1943 that he REALLY began to shine, destroying 117 Soviet tanks.
Wittman was transferred to France in April 1944.
After the Normandy landings, his unit was ordered to halt the southward Anglo-American advance.
The crux of this engagement was the battle of Villers-Bocage, a tank battle fought in
the namesake French village. Wittman was the hero of this battle, recorded as destroying
up to 14 enemy tanks *alone* after charging his Tiger I into the middle of the village.
At least, that is what the Nazi propaganda machine wanted the world to believe.
It’s true that Wittman had major success in tank battles,
but historians now think this might be down to the machine, not the man.
Wittman fought with his Tiger I on the Eastern front when it had no real match. Soviet light
and medium tanks couldn’t scratch it front on and the powerful German 88-millimetre gun
could smash through ANY Soviet armour. This all changed when the Allies showed up in
France with the Sherman Firefly, a tank armed with a 17 pounder gun that could reliably take
out a Tiger I. Even the German tacticians were quick to spot this issue, stating in a report,
"No longer can [the Tiger I] prance around, oblivious to the laws of tank tactics"
The Tiger I was a supremely powerful machine, and this likely made Wittman overconfident,
especially after his success against the Soviets. Eventually, this got the better of him,
when he attacked an Anglo-Canadian tank force two months after the Battle of Villers-Bocage.
Making his trademark head-on attack, the Tigers were blown to pieces by Allied armour.
A direct hit blew the turret off Wittman’s tank, killing him and his crew instantly.
Wittman had been a formidable tanker,
racking up 138 destroyed tanks, and 132 anti-tank guns before he died.
And finally, we’ve got not *only* the most successful tank ace of the Second World War,
but the best armoured-vehicle commander in world history — the German tanker Kurt Knispel.
Knispel was a humble man. He didn’t boast the accolades of Germany’s other aces, but
what he did have was an ability to hunt tanks like no other.
Much of this can be put down to his experience. Knispel was a non-commissioned officer who
began his career as a loader, then became a gunner, eventually making it to panzer
commander. These experiences gave him an intimate knowledge of every aspect of a tank's operation.
In January 1943, Knispel was sent back to Germany to train on the new Tiger I tanks. By this point
he had already been credited with 12 tank kills in a Panzer IV. Equipped with his new Tiger,
Knispel was hurled into the front line as part of the 503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion.
His first engagement in his brand new Tiger I was the Battle of Kursk.
In few places has the heat of battle burned hotter than at Kursk. Tasked with defending the eastern
flank of the southern armoured pincer, Knispel and his Panzers were thrown against wave after
wave of Soviet KV-1s, T-70s, and T-34s. The better armoured German tanks stood up well against their
Soviet counterparts, but the weight of numbers was not in their favour. Knispel and the other German
Panzers units were pushed back, but not before destroying between 1,600 and 1,950 Soviet tanks.
Knispel saw almost continuous action until mid-1944, when his unit was pulled back from
the line to receive new tanks, formidable Tiger IIs. After some fighting in France,
they were sent back East. Defending against the inexorable Soviet advance,
Knispel scored tank kill after tank kill, the thick armour of his Tiger II protecting him.
In one engagement, he recorded 24 direct hits to his Tiger, of which none penetrated.
But armour can only hold strong for so long. While fighting in Germany on April 28th 1945, Knispel’s
Tiger II was hit. The Soviet shell pierced his armour and cooked off the Panzer’s ammunition.
Knispel was badly wounded and died hours later in a field hospital. He had 168 confirmed enemy
tank kills but believed he had 200. He died only ten days before the end of the war in Europe.
Those were five of the top tank aces of the Second World War.
Who were YOU most impressed with? How many tanks do YOU think Lavrinenko would have destroyed,
had he lived longer? Think Wittman was a genius of armoured warfare OR a propaganda
man who relied too much on his heavy armour? Let us know in the comments!
Additionally, this wasn’t an exhaustive list so if
you’d like to see more about the war’s best tankers, let us know!