During Operation Totalize the 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry and elements of the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division reached the French village of St. Aignan de Cramesnil during the early morning of 8 August 1944.

[3][6][9] From this position they overlooked a large open section of ground and were able to watch as German tanks advanced up Route Nationale 158 from the town of Cintheaux.

Ekins, the gunner of Sergeant Gordon's Sherman Firefly (called Velikiye Luki, as A Squadron's tanks were named after towns in the Soviet Union), had yet to fire his gun in action.

Les Taylor, a wartime member of the 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry, claimed that Ekins was responsible for the destruction of Wittmann's tank.

[12] In preparation for his book, Brian Reid in 2005 postulates that A Squadron of the Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment, 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade, positioned on the left flank of the advancing German tanks, was responsible instead.

Situated on the grounds of a château at Gaumesnil, the unit had created firing holes in the walls and engaged the advancing German tanks, including Tigers.

He might have been a hero to the Germans, but not to me.After the war, Ekins returned to Rushden, Northamptonshire and went back to work in the shoe factories near his home town.