In September 1942 the first pilot model of the MAN design was completed and tested in the MAN factory grounds at Nuremberg. The second pilot model was transported to the Heereswaffenamt test ground at Kummersdorf for official army trails. The first Panther models which came of the MAN line from November 1942 were designated as PzKpfw V Panther Ausf A. These were "pre-production" vehicles having 60mm thick front armor as originally called for, and with the commander's cupola cut into the turret side wall. From January 1943, however, Panthers appeared with all the design improvements suggested from trials with the pilot model. The Ausf. B with a different gearbox was never realised, and no record of an Ausf. C has been found. The first full production type was the Ausf. D, which characteristics were the 'dustbin' cupola, the vision port and machine-gun port on the glacis, and smoke discharges on the turret sides.

Late in 1943 the Ausf. A went into production, and had improvements as an armored cupola with periscopes and anti-bazooka side plates. This lettering is an anomaly never explained, and might have reulted from an administrative or phonetic error, since the logical designation was Ausf. E. The Panther Ausf A was the main type encountered by the Allies in the Normandy fighting. It was planned to build at a rate of 250 vehicles a month, but at the end of 1942 this target was increased to 600 a month. To reach such a target a larger Panther production group was necessary, and Daimler-Benz were to build Panthers as well. Even aircraft production was cut back to free manufacturing facilities and to conserve fuel for use in tanks. However, the monthly target was never reached, with a monthly average of 154 tanks in 1943 and 330 in 1944. By February 1945 4814 Panthers had been built.

The crew of a Panther, Eastern Front, April 1944	Repairing motor damage of a Panther Ausf A

The Panther had the driving and transmission compartment forward, the fighting compartment and turret in the centre, and the engine compartment at the rear. The driver sat on the left-hand side forward with a vision port in front of him in the glacis plate. This was fitted with a laminated glass screen and had an armored hinged flap on the outside which was closed under combat conditions. Forward vision was then given by two fixed episcopes in the roof. The wireless operator, who was also the hull machine-gunner, sat on the right side forward. In the early Ausf. D models, he was provided with a vertical opening flap in the glacis plate through which he fired a MG34 machine-gun in action. In the Ausf. A and G this arrangement was replaced by an integral ball-mount. The radio equipment was fitted to the radio-operator's right and was located in the sponson which overhung the tracks.

In the turret the gunner sat on the left hand side of the gun and was provided with an articulated binocular sight (later changed to a monocular sight). He fired the gun electrically by a trigger fitted on the elevating handwheel. The co-axial machine-gun, fitted in the gun mantlet, was fired by the gunner from a foot switch. Traverse was by hydraulic power or hand. The loader occupied the right side of the turret, who had a large round access/escape hatch at the rear face of the turret (which was also used for loading ammunition). The vehicle commander was at the left rear of the turret, necessary by the length of the breech which divided the turret into two. A prominent cupola was provided with six vision slits in the Ausf. D. In the Panther Ausf. A and G an improved cupola was fitted which had seven periscopes. This had a hatch which opened horizontally. A ring wasfitted above the cupola to mount a MG34 for air defence.

The gun mantelet of the Panther Ausf. A without...	... and Ausf. G with deflector lip

The Panther had on each side double torsion bar suspension for the four inner and outer road wheels, an idler wheel with an adjusting shaft for track tension, two shock absorbers and a drive sprocket. The first, third, fifth and seventh wheels from the front were double while the intervening axles carried spaced wheels overlapping the others on the inside and the outside. The interleaved running gear gave the Panther equal ground pressure and the road wheels moved little while traversing rugged terrain. Disadvantages were the difficult replacement after damage (eg by a mine) and the accumulation of clogged mud, clay and ice. In addition, a single damaged wheel often needed the removal of several road wheels.

The 80mm glacis plate was sloped at 33o to the horizontal, an angle specifically selected to deflect shells striking the glacis upwards clear of the mantlet. The three-man turret was armed with a 75mm KwK 42 L/70 gun and was capable of dealing with a T-34 or KV at any practical fighting range. It was developed by Rheinmetall who had been asked to design a high velocity version of the 75mm weapon which could penetrate 140mm armor at 1000 meters. It had a baffle at the muzzle end of the barrel which acted as a muzzle brake, absorbing 70% of the recoil when firing. The single baffle was later replaced by a double baffle muzzle brake. The high velocity meant a flat trajectory, which meant less likelihood of missing the target due to miscalculation of range. During road marches the gun was held in place with a barrel lock, which folded down onto the forward hull when not in use. Whereas the pzKpfw II, III, IV and Tiger tanks carried the crew's baggage in a compartment on the rear of the turrets, the stowage boxes on the panther were mounted on the right and left of the outer rear hull wall.

A Panther is given an engine change by a half-track mobile gantry

The final production model of the Panther in its original form was the Ausf. G. By this time the designation PzKpfw V had been dropped following a personal directive from Hitler on 27 February 1944, and the vehicle was simply known as the Panther Ausf. G. It had altered superstructure sides (mainly to simplify production), the hull sides were increased in thickness from 40mm to 50mm and altered in angle of slope. The gun mantelet's lower part was made thicker and vertical so as to prevent shells from deflecting and entering through the hull roof. The driver's vision port was replaced by a rotating vertical periscope since the fixed episcopes restricted vision, and the vision port was dispended. The Ausf. G was thus easily recognised from the front since it had an unpierced glacis plate. Some very late production vehicles had all-steel resiliently sprung wheels of the type subsequently fitted to the late production Tiger and Tiger II. In very late production vehicles the cylindrical stowage box for the gun pull-through and cleaning gear was removed from the left side and mounted across the hull at the rear of the engine compartment.

 

To Panther page III

To Panther page III