Joe Ekins, who has died aged 88, ambushed and knocked out four German tanks, including three Tigers, in a day and was said to have fired the shot that killed a German panzer ace.
On August 1944, during the breakout from the Caen salient, Ekins was serving with the 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry (1 NY). He was the gunner of a Firefly tank, a Sherman equipped with a British 17-pounder. These were more manoeuvrable than the German Tigers but less well protected. The latter, with their heavy armour and 88mm guns, were the most feared weapons in Normandy and, a few weeks earlier, a lone Tiger was reported to have destroyed 14 Allied tanks in as many minutes.
After a night move, a troop of 1 NY’s tanks was leaguered in an orchard near St Aignan-de-Cramesnil, a few miles inside German-held territory. The following morning, the Germans counter-attacked. For Ekins, it was his first action.
He saw three Tiger tanks advancing across open farmland near the road from Caen to Falaise. He opened fire and got off two shots at a range of about 800 yards and knocked out one of them. As the other two Tigers rapidly traversed their guns, his Firefly reversed into cover but an answering shot smashed the heavy steel turret lid, injuring the tank commander, who staggered out.
The troop leader ran to the tank and guided the driver to a new firing position under some apple trees. At the next shot from Ekins, the turret of the second Tiger exploded. The remaining Tiger might have had a damaged periscope, for it was circling as it tried to escape.
Ekins loosed two more shots and this tank, too, started to burn. In 12 minutes, Ekins had destroyed three Tigers. Later, he destroyed another tank, reported to be a Panzer IV, at a distance of about 1,200 yards. His own tank was then hit. There was a loud bang, a cloud of sparks, the crew scrambled out and, in Ekins’s words, “we ran like hell.”
It was later claimed that with his third tank “kill” Ekins had brought about the death of the German tank ace Michael Wittmann, a veteran of the Russian front credited with the destruction of 138 tanks and 132 anti-tank guns. Several other units were the subject of similar claims. Among them was the Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment, which had a squadron in the area.
Joseph William Ekins was born at Riseley, Bedfordshire, on July 15 1923 and educated at Riseley School. He enlisted in 1 NY in 1940 and took part in the D-Day landings in Normandy.
Ekins’s “tally” of four “kills” was, by any standard, a remarkable feat of gunnery, but he received no recognition for it. Indeed, he never even fired another round because he was then given the job of wireless operator.
The claim that he fired the shot that killed Wittmann has been reinforced by recent research, but he sought no glory for himself as a result. Nor did he express any regrets about killing Wittmann, if indeed he had done so, noting that the German tank ace “was in someone else’s country without being asked” and had got what he deserved.
In 1945 Ekins was invalided out of the Army with diphtheria and became a shoe worker. He rose to be a manager of several factories and was a designer and lecturer. He was also a partner in a business promoting the use of computers. Technology was very important to him and he continued to make full use of it right up to the time of his death.
In 1988 he retired and settled in at Rushden, Northamptonshire. He was a holder of the Black Belt at judo and was a regional chairman of the British Judo Association. He was awarded the Queen’s Jubilee Medal for services to sport.
Joe Ekins married, in 1946, Stella (Gwen) Swain. She predeceased him, as did a daughter, and he is survived by their son.
Keep usin those Mosins!"
