One German tank ace wrecked 30 Allied vehicles in 15 minutes
At Villers-Bocage, commander Michael Wittmann destroyed around 30 Allied vehicles in under 15 minutes, a feat from history's deadliest war.
World War II pitted two coalitions, the Allies and the Axis, against nearly every country on Earth. Tanks and aircraft reshaped the battlefield, with bombers leveling whole cities and delivering the only nuclear weapons ever used in war.
Amid this scale, individual moments still stood out. At the Battle of Villers-Bocage, German tank commander Michael Wittmann destroyed roughly 30 Allied vehicles in less than 15 minutes.
The wider conflict killed between 60 and 75 million people, making it the deadliest in human history.
Why it mattersIt shows how a single armored ambush could rewrite a battle, in a war whose death toll still defines the modern world.
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