Yep. Many consider the Panther to be the finest medium tank produced by any country in the entire war. High velocity 75 mm cannon, sloped glacis armor and wide tracks made it an excellent, all-purpose tank. The Germans frittered away a lot of time and material on dead-end wunderweapons like the King Tiger and Elephant, when they would have been far better served maximizing Panther production - and jet fighter development.
>>Many consider the Panther to be the finest medium tank
>>produced by any country in the entire war.
The French opinion of the Panther versus Sherman debate can be seen in their decision to send the American military aide delivered M36 Tank Destroyers to Vietnam — to counter Soviet IS-2’s in Chinese hands on the border — rather than sending the Panther’s they had in service at the time.
The Panther was a great mobile tank destroyer, but it had crappy operational mobility without a huge amount of support. Something that the Sherman derived, 90mm high velocity gun armed, M36 had in great measure with minimal support...just the ticket for operations in Vietnam.