Il Panzerkampfwagen V Panther it was one of the most important and best German tanks used in the Second World War.
The main users of the vehicle - besides Germany - were the Kingdom of Hungary and France (the French used the vehicle until the early 1950s).
The vehicle was conceived and designed between the end of 1941 and 1942; the objective - essentially - was to create a tank capable of effectively countering the T-34 Soviet (see article "Soviet tanks: the T-34")
It is worth remembering that the contract for the construction was signed between MAN SE, Daimler-Benz and the Wehrmacht Armaments Service in November 1941. Subsequently, Rheinmetall-Borsing was assigned the official task of researching a gun in capable of piercing 140 mm armor at a thousand meters distance.
In the development phase, the mass of the vehicle went from the expected 35 tons to 43 tons.
“After having built a first series of 20 examples, it was decided to increase the frontal armor from 60 to 80 mm, with a consequent further increase in weight”.1
The vehicle was produced from 1943 to 1945 and approximately 6000 examples were built in total. Furthermore, the tank had variants: the Bergerpanzerwagen V (armored recovery vehicle) and lo jagdpanther Sd.Kfz.173 (tank destroyer).
Il Panther entered service in the German armored departments in 1943; the baptism of the fire for i Panther happened inBattle of Kursk (5 July-23 August 1943). Furthermore, it is worth underlining that in that battle the Soviets emerged victorious.
During the war, the tank was used on both the Eastern and Western Fronts.
Overall, the Panther it proved to be very valid in open countryside and in long-range combat.
Il Panzer V Panther it had a length of 8,66 m, height 2,99 m, width 3,42 m and weighed 44 tons.
The armor was 16-100 mm and the armament consisted of a 7,5 cm KwK 42 L/70 cannon and 34 mm MG 7,92 machine guns.
Engine: Maybach HL230 petrol V12, power 700 HP. The maximum speed was 46 km/h (latest models).
The tank could count on a crew of 5 men.
1 C. Falessi-B. Pafi, Pzkw V Panther, in Illustrated History n°158, 1971, p.131
Photo: Bundesarchiv
