Panther tank

Panzerkampfwagen V Panther
Panther Ausf. D tanks, 1943. The D model can best be recognized by the drum-shaped cupola or the "Letterbox" hull machine gun slot.
Type	Medium tank
Place of origin	Nazi Germany
Service history
In service	1943–1945 (Nazi Germany) 1944–1945 (Kingdom of Hungary) 1944–1952 (France)
Used by	Nazi Germany France Hungary Limited use by other militaries (see Postwar and foreign use)
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designer	MAN AG
Designed	1942
Manufacturer	MAN, Daimler-Benz, MNH
Unit cost	117,100 ℛ︁ℳ︁ (without weapons, optics, or radio) 143,912 ℛ︁ℳ︁ (combat ready)[1][2] 2,000 Man hours[3]
Produced	1943–1945 (1946 - 9 postwar for the British Army)
No. built	about 6,000[4]
Variants	Befehlspanzer (command tank), Bergepanther (armoured recovery vehicle), Jagdpanther
Specifications
Mass	44.8 tonnes (44.1 long tons; 49.4 short tons)[5]
Length	6.87 m (22 ft 6 in) 8.66 metres (28 ft 5 in) gun forward[5]
Width	3.27 m (10 ft 9 in)[5] 3.42 m (11 ft 3 in) with skirts
Height	2.99 m (9 ft 10 in)
Crew	5 (driver, radio-operator/hull machine gunner, commander, gunner, loader)
Armour	16-100 mm
Main armament	1 × 7.5 cm KwK 42 L/70 with 79 rounds[5]
Secondary armament	2 × 7.92 mm MG 34 machine guns with 5,100 rounds
Engine	V-12 petrol Maybach HL230 P30[5] 700 PS (690 hp, 515 kW)
Power/weight	15.39 PS (11.5 kW)/tonne (13.77 hp/ton)
Transmission	ZF AK 7-200. 7 forward 1 reverse[5]
Suspension	double torsion bar, interleaved road wheels
Fuel capacity	730 litres (160 imp gal; 190 US gal)
Operational range	Road: 260 km (160 mi) Cross-country: 100 km (62 mi) [6][7]
Maximum speed	55 km/h (34 mph) (first models) 46 km/h (29 mph) (later models)

The Panther tank, officially Panzerkampfwagen V Panther (abbreviated PzKpfw V) with ordnance inventory designation: Sd.Kfz. 171, is a German medium tank of World War II. It was used on the Eastern and Western Fronts from mid-1943 to the end of the war in May 1945.

On 27 February 1944 it was redesignated to just PzKpfw Panther, as Hitler ordered that the Roman numeral "V" be deleted.^{[citation needed]} In contemporary English-language reports it is sometimes referred to as the "Mark V".

The Panther was intended to counter the Soviet T-34 medium tank and to replace the Panzer III and Panzer IV. Nevertheless, it served alongside the Panzer IV and the heavier Tiger I until the end of the war. The Panther was a compromise. While having essentially the same Maybach V12 petrol (690 hp) engine as the Tiger I, it had better gun penetration, was lighter and faster, and could traverse rough terrain better than the Tiger I. The trade-off was weaker side armour, which made it vulnerable to flanking fire, and a weaker high explosive shell. The Panther proved to be effective in open country and long-range engagements.^[8] Although it had excellent firepower, protection and mobility, its reliability was less impressive.^[9] The Panther was far cheaper to produce than the Tiger I. Key elements of the Panther design, such as its armour, transmission, and final drive, were simplifications made to improve production rates and address raw material shortages. Despite this, the overall design has still been described by some as "overengineered".^[10][11]

The Panther was rushed into combat at the Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943 despite numerous unresolved technical problems, leading to high losses due to mechanical failure. Most design flaws were rectified by late 1943 and early 1944, though the bombing of production plants, increasing shortages of high-quality alloys for critical components, shortage of fuel and training space, and the declining quality of crews all impacted the tank's effectiveness. Though officially classified as a medium tank, at 44.8 metric tons the Panther was closer in weight to contemporary foreign heavy tanks. The Panther's weight caused logistical problems, such as an inability to cross certain bridges, otherwise the tank had a very high power-to-weight ratio which made it highly mobile.

The naming of Panther production variants did not, unlike most German tanks, follow alphabetical order: the initial variant, Panther "D" (Ausf. D), was followed by "A" and "G" variants.