PzKpfw V Panther Panzerkampfwagen V or SdKfz 171
Type :combat tank.
Crew :5 men.
Armament :a 7.5 cm KwK 42 2/70 cannon; 2 x 7.92 mm MG34 machine guns.
Shielding :minimum 20mm; max 120mm.
Dimensions:
length 6.68m;
width 3.3m;
height length:2.95 m (dimension data refer to Ausf G).
Weight :44.8 t.
Ground pressure :0.88 kg/cm2.
Mass power :15.9 ch/t.
Engine :Maybach HL 230 P 30 V-12 water-cooled petrol engine. developing 700 hp at 3,000 rpm.
Performance
road speed :46 km/h;
off-road speed :24 km/h;
autonomy :177 km:
vertical obstacle :0.9m;
clean cut :1.9m;
ford :1.4m;
slope 35%.
Service time :in the German army from 1943 to 1945. Also employed by France and the Soviet Union after the war.
Although the German forces encountered it from the first days of the Russian campaign, the Soviet T.34 did not cause any serious problems until October 6, 1941. But on that day the 4th Panzer Division experienced severe losses at following an attack launched by a large formation of such tanks. General Guderian demanded immediate measures, which resulted in a study contract awarded on November 25 to MAN and Daimler-Benz for the definition of a 30-ton armored vehicle capable of outclassing the Soviet tank.
The projects of the two builders were ready four months later. Hitler intervened to request the adoption of a 75 mm gun longer than the planned L/48, and the immediate launch of a first series of 200 examples of the Daimler-Benz prototype, the closest to the T.34 with its diesel engine and its leaf spring suspension. But the commission responsible for the program preferred MAN's project and the initial order was canceled and taken over in MAN's name.
The mild steel prototype was prepared for the tests which took place in Nuremberg in September 1942. Shortly afterwards a second prototype could be detached to the Kummersdorf military testing ground.
But, in the meantime, the reinforcement of the armor demanded by Hitler had increased the mass above 35 tons, which made it necessary to increase the power from the HL 210 engine to the 700 horsepower HL 230. Even then the maximum speed could not exceed 45 km/h.
The first 250 copies were to be available in May 1943, and 600 in September. As MAN did not have the means to keep such a commitment, the OKH (Supreme Command of the Werhmacht) decided to add Henschel and MNH to it for the production phase of the tank. This officially received the designation Pz.Kpfw.V “Panther” Ausf. D (Sd.Kfz.171).
Meanwhile, even before the entry into service of the first Panthers, MIAG received the order to develop a tank destroyer version using the same chassis and armed with the 88 L/71 gun of the Tiger (Jagdpanther). The first Panther rolled off the MAN assembly line in November 1942.
The technique
The configuration of this tank was well in the Germanic tradition:a front compartment for the pilot, and the transmission components, engine compartment at the rear, pilot in the front left seat, with visual field ensured by a concealable slot and a set of prisms in addition to two episcopes on the roof of the chassis, in front of the access hatch. In the G version, the two episcopes were replaced by a single rotating episcope.
The radio-gunner took his place on his right. His weapon passed through a concealable vertical slap, or else was mounted under a spherical casemate (types A and G). The radio equipment was installed on the right, in the overhanging protrusion on the suspension. The all-synchromesh seven-speed gearbox was housed between the two seats. The sprocket reducer groups were facing them, at the front. The steering was controlled by Argus disc brakes and assisted by geared epicycloids.
In the turret, the gunner had his seat to the left of the gun. This was capable of piercing 140 mm armor at a distance of 1,000 meters. It was fitted with a two-stage muzzle brake (globular on the first 20 copies). Electric firing was by pedal. The coaxial machine gun was controlled by the loader from his seat located on the right, by action on a pedal.
The commander's position was to the rear and to the left, due to the length of the gun breech which practically separated the turret into two parts. Its seat was near the turret, initially cylindrical in shape with six sighting slots (type D), later rounded in shape and equipped with seven episcopes. The hatch of the rounded cupola opened horizontally. On this type of cupola mounted for the first time on version A then on version G, there was a semi-circular rail on the outside allowing the use of a machine gun for defense against aircraft or against targets. down. The weapon rested on a carriage fixed to this rail by means of a flexible support.
The Panther's turret had a basket (turret), that is, a suspended rotating floor plate. At the rear, a circular opening available to the loader, facilitated the loading of ammunition. On the left, under the cupola, there was a circular hole for the evacuation of casings, and three other hatches which were all removed on the A and G versions.
The engine, a water-cooled Maybach gasoline engine with a displacement of 23 litres, was derived from the HL 210 mounted on the first production units. It was accessed by a large inspection door in the center of the roof of the engine compartment, where there were also the cooling holes corresponding to each radiator, with their fans. The exhaust of the gases was done upwards through two sleeves fixed to the rear wall of the frame. Almost all production variants were characterized by the presence of accessory boxes attached to the sides of the exhaust pipes.
The chassis was monobloc, machined by welding and reinforced in its vital parts by recesses.
Its maximum thickness (80 mm) was towards the front, where the armor plate made an angle of 55° on the horizontal so as to make the shells ricochet upwards without touching the frontal mask of the turret. Almost all Panther tanks subsequently had the upper part of their suspension protected by skirt plates.
The undercarriage consisted of eight pairs of rollers on each side, each of which was attached by a pendulum to a torsion bar coupled to a second parallel to the first. The rollers on the right side were fixed behind their respective torsion bars, and those on the left side in front. These rollers with disc and rubberized flange rolled on four guides. those of axes n° 2, 4, 6 and 8 on the edges of the caterpillar, those of axes 1, 3, 5 and 7 in the center, each being therefore offset from the previous one.
This system had the advantage of a good distribution of the mass, but was the cause of serious maintenance difficulties and loss of time. The tracks were of the pressed steel continuous link type, with double drive.
Evolution
The first 20 specimens (A version) were characterized by frontal armor of only 60 mm, a ZF7 gearbox with clutch discs and brakes, a cannon with globular muzzle brake, and by a protrusion on the left side of the turret, which corresponded to the turret.
The D version followed from January 1943. It was distinguished by its cylindrical turret, by its frontal sighting slots and by its turret smoke launcher tubes. Subsequently, version A was renamed D l and version D, D2.
Only then did the true A-version appear. It was characterized by a one-piece turret, a machine gun under a spherical casemate in the chassis, a bomb launcher operated by the loader and mounted in the roof of the turret (in place of the two triple smoke launchers). The turret side hatches disappeared with this version.
The last mass-produced Panther model was the so-called G version, easily recognizable by the rectilinear shape of the side panels of the superstructure.
It included a few other innovations, including the removal of the slot front sight and its replacement by an episcope, and the mounting of the access hatches for the pilot and the radio/gunner perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the tank, with opening by lateral sliding and no longer by rotation; it was also the generalization of the bomb launcher instead of the smoke launchers and, later, the reinforcement of the lower part of the mask of the gun, to prevent the projectiles having ricocheted on the shielding of the turret from perforating the roof of the chassis, only 15 mm thick.
Inside, the storage volumes arranged in the overhanging parts of the superstructure were equipped with lockers with sliding doors and their capacity increased from 79 to 82 shells.
On the very latest models, the cylinder containing the tube swab, normally attached to the right side, was moved to the engine cover.
The last version of the Panther (Ausf. F) could not enter service. It had a new type of undercarriage, comprising seven double metal-tyred track rollers (Tiger type), not interlocked with each other. The turret was also new, with an almost conical mask and a rangefinder.
On the chassis of the Panther, the Germans made in 1943 an excellent tank destroyer, the Jagdpanther, by extending the frontal and lateral shielding upwards and by arming the machine with an 88 long gun (L/71). The chassis machine gun was retained.
In both tank and tank destroyer versions of the Panther, there were command machines with the same armament plus more powerful radio equipment. It was also made from the same chassis an artillery observatory tank with a fixed turret and dummy gun (called Beobachtungspanzer Panther).
Employment
The Pz.Kpfw. V Panther was first engaged on the Eastern Front in July 1943, during operations to reduce the Kursk pocket. Its development was however incomplete, and its crews insufficiently trained, which resulted in unconvincing results. On this occasion, the need was particularly felt for a breakdown and recovery tank
ration commensurate with machines of this mass. a need that was not to be satisfied until a year later when the Demag factories adapted around 300 Panther (Bergepanther) to this new mission by equipping them in particular with a high-power winch and a robust anchoring spade.
The technical problems that appeared during the first combat experiments received solutions on later models, but the defects observed in the transmission could never be completely eliminated.
The undoubted qualities of the Panther (and its low price, 117,000 marks, barely higher than that of the Pz.KpfW.IV which cost 103,462) aroused interest in Italy and Japan.
The first obtained the manufacturing license, but the military authorities of the time leaned more towards direct importation. As for the Japanese, they were never able to take delivery of the single copy they had purchased.
It has been estimated that 6,000 Panthers of various versions fought in the Panzerwaffe on the three fronts of Eastern, Southern and Western Europe. A few copies survive today, one of which is in working order (in the United States). Similarly, there remains at the Aberdeen Proving Ground a survivor of this Jagdpanther which was built in 384 copies in two variants (one with a one-piece machined tube, the other in two elements with a bolted cast iron collar) .