11:45 am, 8 August 1944, From a vantage point near Gaumesnil. Kurt Meyer commander of the Hitlerjugend SS Panzer Division has just come to the conclusion that the Allied armored forces arrayed immediately to his front, will attack as soon as the approaching Allied strategic bombers have smashed the German main line of resistance. If nothing is done and done immediately, the road from Caen to Falaise will be wide open. He orders all available German forces, meager that they might be, to launch an immediate assault against the Allied position. The attack will be spearheaded by four or more Tiger tanks of the 2nd Company, 101st Heavy Tank Battalion, lead by SS Hauptstrumfuher Michael Wittmann. 12:47 pm, 8 August 1944, In a Sherman Firefly commanded by Lieutenant James. With the Tiger commanded by Wittmann in the cross-hairs, Trooper Ekins calculates the range, around 800m and the loader places an AP round in the breech. As James counts down 3, 2, 1, fire, the crew places their hands over their ears, open their mouths and close their eyes. All in preparation for the violent back blast created by the 17-pounder gun!* * Sherman Firefly vs Tiger, Normandy 1944 by Stephen A. Hart, Osprey Publishing (an excellent book on this subject! J.D.A., aka dadamch)