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| The most important derivative of the Panther was the famous Jagdpanzer V Jagdpanther (Hunting Panther), one of the best known AFVs to appear in WW II. The Germans built several important items of self-propelled artillery equipment as assault gun or tank destroyer but invariably these were makeshift adaptations on obsolescent chassis. The need for a fast, up-to-date tank destroyer on a modern chassis was met by adapting the Panther. Previous attempts to produce a heavy tank destroyer had been unsuccesful. The 88mm Pak had been mounted on the Porsche Tiger chassis (to make the Ferdinand) and on the PzKpfw IV chassis as the Nashorn, but both of these improvisations proved unsatisfactory as the Ferdinand was too heavy and the Nashorn too small and underpowered. By 1943, however, there was an urgent need for tank destroyers in quantity so it was decided to utilize the best available chassis, that of the Panther. |
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| The Panther chassis was used unaltered, but the front and upper side plates were extended upwards to make a well-sloped enclosed superstructure. The mantlet was fitted in the centre of the hull front with a limited traverse for the 88mm Pak 43/3 L/71 gun of 11o each side. First production Jagdpanthers had a one-piece barrel, but later a two-piece barrel was used to ease barrel changing. Instead of the welded mantelet the final production examples of the Jagdpanther were given a bolted collarpiece which covered the gun opening. |
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| On 17 december 1943 the first demonstration of the Jagdpanther took place. The production began in 1944; it was intended to built Jagdpanthers at a rate of 150 per month, but disrupted production facilities in the last year of the war made this target quite impossible to achieve. A total of 415 Jagdpanthers were built. They were used by several Heeres-Panzerjagerabteilungen up until the end of the war. The crew consisted of a commander, gunner, two loaders, wireless operator/machine-gunner and driver. |
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covering the gun opening |
for working on the gun |
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| Hitler considered the Jagdpanther as an excellent solution and called it an "armored casemate". He once again emphasized the significance of producing assault guns and tank destroyers, which at this juncture in the defence strategy he valued more highly than the related tank. He expressed the view that the Jagdpanther would eventually prove to be superior in many cases to the Tiger II (equipped with the same gun) and pointed to the lower manufacturing costs, the lower weight, the reduced susceptibility to shell damage and the greater mobility of the vehicle with the same engine thanks to its lower weight. |
