The FReeper Foxhole's TreadHead Tuesday - PanzerKampfwagen V - Panther - Feb. 17th, 2004

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[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.

...................................................................................... ...........................................

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PanzerKampfwagen V
Panther

After meeting the Soviet T-34 tank in late 1941 the German army was considerably shaken to find that there was a tank better than its PzKpfw IV. Although work on a successor to the PzKpfw IV had started as early as 1937, which eventually became the Tiger heavy tank, it largely incorporated features from the earlier development prototypes and owed nothing to the T-34 design. After examining captured T-34s during an "on the spot" investigation, the key features of the T-34 design were assessed. The three main characteristics were:

• the sloped armor which gave optimum shot deflection
• the large road wheels which gave a stable and steady ride
• the overhanging gun, a feature previously avoided by the Germans as impracticable

Wooden model of the Daimler-Benz proposal

Having received the commision's report on November 25 1941, the Heereswaffenamt contracted with two armament firms, Daimler-Benz and MAN, to produce designs for a new medium tank in the 30-35 ton class. To be ready for the following spring, the specifications called for a vehicle with 60mm frontal armor and 40mm side armor, a high velocity 75mm gun and the front and sides to be sloped like the T-34.


MAN Panther Ausf. D

In April 1942, the two designs were submitted, with an interesting contrast. Daimler-Benz proposal was an almost unashamed copy of the T-34 in layout, with the addition of a few refinements. It had a hull shape similar to the T-34 with turret mounted well forward; the driver sat within the turret cage. A diesel engine was fitted with transmission to the rear sprockets. Paired steel bogies without rubber tyres were suspended by leaf springs. Other features included jettisonable fuel tanks on the hull rear in T-34 fashion.


Panther Ausf. A

Hitler was impressed with the Daimler-Benz "T-34 type" proposal, although he suggested that the gun be changed from the 75mm L/48 model to the longer L/70 weapon, and prototypes went into production. Leaf springs were cheaper and easier to produce than torsion bars, and the diesel engine would have been an advantage in later years when petrol supply became restricted. However, the Heereswaffenamt preferred the MAN design, since simply copying the T-34 was unpatriotic and there were mechanical features of the T-34 which made copying an impractical proposition for German manufacturers.


Panther Ausf. G

The MAN design displayed original German thinking, sophisticated rather than simple. It had a higher, wider hull than either the Daimler-Benz design or the T-34, with a large turret placed well back to offset as much as possible the overhang of the long 75mm gun. Torsion bar suspension was used with interleaved road wheels, while a Maybach petrol engine was proposed, with drive to the front sprockets. The internal layout followed conventional German practice with stations for the driver and hull gunner/radio-operator in the front compartment.


The crew of a Panther, Eastern Front, April 1944

Militarily, there were two important prerequisites in the comparison of the two models: mass production should start in December 1942, and the weapon should be of superior quality to counter the numerical material superiority of the enemy. Daimler-Benz was not able to produce the turret for the deadline, and needed modifications on the turret as well. The recommendation of the MAN's proposal was presented to Hitler on 13 May 1942, and accepted. At the same time the specifications were restated, increasing the frontal armor thickness to 80mm, a change increasing the weight to 44 tons. By that time much of the design, like wheels and suspension, had been completed and subcontractors at work; throwing additional strain on components designed for the original weight, which lead to problems of unreliability in action.

[Professional Engineer]

ROFL That's my very favorite one.

[SAMWolf]

"Fight for Kowel" Poland, March/April 1944 by David Pentland

Although in the process of regrouping after their escape from the "Cherkassy Pocket", Panthers and Panzer Grenadiers of the crack 5th SS Panzer Division "Wiking" are part of the relief force hastily assembled and thrown in to free the strategically important city of Kowel in the Pripet Marshes. By April 10th the Soviet encirclement of the city was broken and "Wiking" were pulled out of the line to continue refitting.



"Panther at the Zoo", Tiergarten, Berlin 2nd May 1945 by David Pentland

Below the vast bulk of the "Zoo Bunker", one of three giant Flak towers designed to defend Berlin from air attack, some remnants of the city's defenders gather in an attempt to break out of the doomed capital. Amongst which are troops from the 9th Fallschirmjäger and Münchberg Panzer Divisions, including a rare nightfighting equipped Panther G of Oberleutnant Rasim's Company, 1/29th Panzer Regiment.

[SAMWolf]

I used to have that as an Avatar at some Bulletin board

[radu]

Hey there feather!

Ain't house cleaning just so much fun? LOL! With all these critters, it's an on-going ordeal. Carpet cleaning is a twice-a-year thing and now's the time. Ugh!

It must be nice having two 'puters.....we need another one so we don't have to toss for use of it. Hubby's bigger than I am and he can toss me farther than I can toss him. LOL!

Time to get back to work before my back stiffens up much more. Hope I don't lay myself up doing this. hehe!

[radu]

Just don't burst into flames or turn into a pile of dust on us. ;-)

Running around pulling all the shades! It's a close call! LOL!
Catch ya in a bit. :-)

[Cannoneer No. 4]

HALFTRACKS.COM

[Professional Engineer]

Ooooo I have a new home page.

[archy]

I forgot to ask last week when we discussed half-tracks. What were the reasons for the their development? Why did they disappear from use?

Largely, they were developments of heavy truck technology, using existing truck automotive components, particularly engine, chassis and drivetrain [the White truck company and International Harvester were the primary US manufacturers] combined with the replacement of rear multiple axles with the Kegresse tracked suspension and drive tracks in back for better ability to travel cross-country, particularly in snow or mud.

Once it was realized that fully enclosed personnel carriers with overhead protection from grenades and shell bursts would be needed, the weight of the additional armor needed became greater than the half-tracked configuration could reasonably be upscaled to accomodate. And too, some south and central American countries converted their halftracks to six-wheeled armored cars after the war, using axles from 5-ton military transport trucks, neatly reversing the concept from which the things were designed in the first place, and the 4-wheeled M3A1 scout car halftrack predecessor vehicle. The result was similar to the Russian BTR-152 armored truck.

[King Prout]

thanks - great thread.

[SAMWolf]

Ooooo I have a new home page.

LOL! Hey, you starting trouble on a ZOT thread?

[SAMWolf]

Thanks for the link to that BTR site.

[U S Army EOD]

The Germans also had a television guided bomb as early as 1940.

[SAMWolf]

Good Afternoon EOD.

Henschel Hs 293

This was the first guided missile that entered service in large numbers. The Hs 293 was a glide bomb of aeroplane configuration, with a underslung rocket engine. It was carried by bombers like the He 111, He 177, Do 217 or Fw 200. A radio command link was standard, and a flare in the tail burned to help the operator sighting. There were also versions with wire guidance, and the experimental Hs 293D had TV guidance. The sloop HMS Egret, on 27 August 1943, had the dubious honour of being the first ship sunk by a guided missile. Many other victims followed, including five destroyers. Over 2300 Hs 293 missiles were fired.

[U S Army EOD]

On the ball as usual Sam. The only draw back the Germans had was the controlling aircraft was vunerable. If they have had air superiority, we may have had a lot of problems. Just think what would have happened at Normandy if they still had an effective offensive airforce.

[SAMWolf]

One of the unheralded results of the strategic bombing campaign was that the Germans didn't have an effective air force over france and the Normandy beaches, what they had left was trying to defend the skies over the Reich.

[snippy_about_it]

Gotta love a lady who has her own tank!

[Professional Engineer]

Not intentionally, for sure.

[SAMWolf]

LOL! We know that. Been there a few times myself, my sense of homor isn't always appreciated :-)

[colorado tanker]

I finally just got back on the Internet, after wrestling with a combination of viruses, spyware and IE redirect software. Inexplicably, my virus protection hasn't been scanning or updating for months. But the real culprit was spyware, that our virus protection doesn't catch. Got an adware program that cleaned out over 100 items, including cookies. Grrrrrrrrr!!!

But things are looking up. The Panther was a cool tank - I'm looking forward to reading this thread, Sam. Thanks!

[SAMWolf]

I finally just got back on the Internet, after wrestling with a combination of viruses, spyware and IE redirect software.

ARRRRRGH. Which reminds me I have to get Ad-Aware up on this machine.