Wittmann was the commander of the Tiger tank which caused  the carnage at  on the road from Villers Bocage during the battle for Normandy. On June 13, 1944, Wittmann with his crew and former gunner Bobby Woll (who was by now a panzer commander, but was on that day Wittmann's gunner since his own tank was damaged) set out an ordered reconnaissance patrol of the area in front of his company towards Balleroy and in the direction of a hill tactically marked height 213.  Rumors were that the Allies were surmounting a massive attack aimed at Panzer Lehr's left flank.  When Wittmann stopped his tank to listen for enemy sounds, an alarmed infantry squad reported to him that strange tanks were rolling down the road. As he emerged on foot from the cover of a small wood he witnessed the arrival of a large number of British tanks, half-tracks, and infantry support carriers belonging to the 4th County of London Yeomanry (4th CLY), part of the famed 7th Armored Division (Desert Rats). The British were headed in the direction of Hill 213 and Wittmann realized that this unit was about to mount a flanking maneuver against Panzer Lehr. Near Villers Bocage the British stopped for vehicle maintenance and breakfast, not expecting to meet any German forces.  Wittmann ran back to his Tiger, placed his crew on battle alert and although he was not able to establish contact with other units, or did not want to to maintain radio silence, he broke cover and moved off in the direction of the British headquarters section tanks (RHQ) protected between A and B squadrons. The first vehicles were twelve M3 half-tracks, which were destroyed using both MG-34's. Next appeared three M5A1 Honey tanks which were fired upon with main gun rounds. The Tiger engaged the RHQ tanks inside Viller Bocage and knocked out three Cromwell tanks. Wittmann then moved down the road and bumped into B squadron which was guarding the road to Caumont. Turning around to return to his company for additional vehicles he ran into a stalking Cromwell which fired two 75mm gun rounds that bounced off the thick armor. Wittmann's gunner destroyed the Cromwell and they went back to their company area.

	The British 7th Armored Division,  having outflanked Bayerlein's Panzer Lehr Division,  was running for Caen as part of an overall plan  to take the city by a "right hook" around the defenders.
Wittmann wearing his Italian  U-boat leather jacket

After reporting to his commander Sepp Dietrich, Wittmann returned in the afternoon with three Tigers and a PzKpfw IV Ausf. H to launch a counter-attack against A squadron and capture Villers Bocage. By that time Cromwells, Sherman Fireflies and Bren Carriers towing anti-tank guns had halted on the side of the road, parked nose to tail, with their guns swung to the side. The British tank crews were dismounted taking a break and brewing tea, and recognition of a quick kill was instinctive. Wittmann and his crew knocked out the entire line of British vehicles as he moved past, impervious to everything that was fired in return. After regrouping, the four German vehicles entered the town where B squadron had taken up defensive positions together with some 6pdr anti-tank guns. One of the anti-tank guns immobilized Wittmann's Tiger, and the crew had to escape. The other German tanks were knocked out by Firefly and Cromwell tank gun fire. The losses for the 7th Armored amounted to 25 tanks, 14 carriers and 14 half-tracks, the majority incurred during the morning.

A RHQ vehicle knocked out by Wittmann	German tankers siphoning fuel from a  knocked-out M4A4 sherman "Firefly"

Despite the German losses, Wittmann's single handed attack had inflicted such an overwhelming damage and a state of shock, that Panzer Lehr was saved from certain destruction. On the recommendation of General Bayerlein of Panzer Lehr, Wittmann was awarded the Swords to his Knights' Cross with Oakleaf and was promoted on the spot to the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer (captain). He was offered an appointment at an officers' tactical school but refused.  During the ongoing fight for Caen, Wittmann's tank, bearing the number 007, got a direct hit on 8 august 1944 near Cintheaux while engaging a superior force of Sherman Firefly tanks of the Northamptonshire Yeomanry. The hit in the right side of the vehicle resulted in an explosion, and a secondary explosion blew the turret off, killing the entire crew. Wittmann and his crew's bodies were moved from the unmarked field grave to the La Gambe cemetery in Normandy in 1983.

Knocked-out M3 half-tracks line the road	Wittmann's attack, as drawn in "Signal"

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