Among those who would see action in the assault was Michael Wittmann. Wittmann, together with several other NCOs and men, had now transferred to Juterbog, where the self-propelled assault battery was being formed. There, he and his colleagues traded in their black Panzer uniforms for grey assault gun tunics. It was to be two years before he would see Panzer black again. This was the start of Wittmann’s association with armoured fighting vehicles which was to lead him to fame and infamy throughout the civilised world. There was much to learn. As we have seen, the assault guns were armed with the short-barrelled 75mm gun, which had little in common with the feeble 20mm cannon carried by the armoured cars, but Wittmann soon showed exceptional promise with the new weapon. After training, the fledgling assault gun battery was sent to garrison duty in France.
A war artist provides a vivid impression of the cooperation between the Panzer grenadiers and the Sturmgeschütze.