Tanks on the Battle field, Of WW2 Check it out Options

[Spartan]

The Panzerkampfwagen IV (PzKpfw IV), more commonly referred to as the Panzer IV, was a tank developed by Nazi Germany and used extensively in WW2. It was designed initially as an infantry-support medium tank, to work in conjunction with the anti-tank crews. Later in the war, it was up-gunned and up-armored, and took over the tank-fighting role. The Panzer IV was the most common German tank of World War II, and was used as the base for many other fighting vehicles, such as tank destroyers and self-propelled antiaircraft guns. By the end of the war nearly 9000 had been built.




Panzer III
n 1936 german industry passed to develope a true battle tank using the experiences got with the previous panzers. Panzer III Ausf. E (Sd.Kfz. 141), armed with a 37mm L46 gun (muzzle speed of 762 m/s), appeared in less than a hundred (previous III models included) during the polish campaign. Circa 300 Panzer III were ready for French campaign, too few to fill the Panzerdivisionen's order of battle and so being often replaced by the light PzKpfw 38(t)s, 35(t)s and IIs; this last operation proved the "foolness" of using 37mm gun against the heavy armored tanks such as the Char B1-bis or the british Matildas. A handful of new Ausf. F, armed with 50mm L42 KwK 38 was tested in the final days of the campaign. Ausf. Fs and heavier armored Ausf. Gs formed the bulk of General Rommel's Afrika Korps when it landed in Libya on 28th February 1941 for reinforcing the Italian anti-tank defence. Experience on the field proved necessity of better tropicalization in both engine filters and turret ventilation.





Sherman M4
In March 1941 the U.S army decided it needed a new tank to replace the Grant M2A1. After looking at five different proposals the Sherman M4 was chosen. Production began early in 1942. The original armament was a 75mm gun capable of firing high explosive shells. Its 500hp engine had a maximum speed of 26mph. This was replaced by a 76mm high-velocity gun in February 1944. The tank's suspension was redesigned and improved by the beginning of 1945.

Although inferior to the best German and Soviet tanks in armament and protection, it was superior in terms of reliability, serviceability and cost-effectiveness. The British army used the Sherman Tank at El Aleman in 1942 and by 1943 was the mainstay of Allied operations in Africa and Europe.

No picture available. sry guys

Like last time i want u guys to do a lil reaserch.

[FeezyWeezy]

Ok, played some with Blinky and his Finnish friends on CTF Barb/Smolensk... Time for tank number 5...yawn.

PzKpfw 5 / Panzerkampfwagen V
Panzer V / Panther

Link to the full story! <<<

Panzer V Ausf. A

The Panther was a tank of Germany in World War II that served from mid-1943 to end of the war in Europe in 1945. It was intended as a counter to the T-34, and to replace the Panzer IV and III, though it served along with them and the heavier Tigers until the end of the war.

Until 1944 it was designated as the Panzerkampfwagen V Panther and had the Ordnance inventory designation of Sd.Kfz. 171. On 27 February 1944, Hitler ordered that the tank only be known as Panther.

The Panther was a direct response to the Soviet T-34. First encountered on 23 June 1941, the T-34 decisively outclassed the existing Panzer IV and Panzer III. At the insistence of General Heinz Guderian a team was dispatched to the Eastern Front to assess the T-34. Among the features of the Soviet tank considered most significant were the sloping armour, which gave much improved shot deflection and also increased the apparent armour thickness against penetration, the wide track and large road wheels which improved mobility over soft ground, and the long, over-hanging gun. Daimler-Benz (DB) and Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg AG (MAN) were tasked with designing a new 30-35 ton tank, designated VK3002, by April 1942 (apparently in time to be shown to Hitler for his birthday).


Panzer V Ausf. G

The two proposals were delivered in April 1942. The Daimler-Benz (DB) design was a direct 'homage' to the T-34, side-stepping the German propensity for over-engineering, and hence complexity, to produce a clean, simple design resembling the T-34 in hull and turret form, diesel engine, drive system, leaf spring suspension, track layout, and other features. The MAN design was more conventional to German thinking; it was higher and wider with a substantial turret placed far back on the hull, a petrol engine, torsion bar suspension and a characteristically German internal crew layout. The MAN design was accepted in May 1942, in spite of Hitler's preference for the DB design. A mild steel prototype was produced by September 1942 and after testing at Kummersdorf was officially accepted. It was put into immediate production with the very highest priority. The start of production was delayed however, mainly because there were too few specialized machine tools needed for the machining of the hull. Finished tanks were produced in December and suffered from reliability problems as a result of this haste. The demand for this tank was so high the manufacturing was soon expanded out of MAN to include Daimler-Benz and in 1943 the firms of Maschinenfabrik Niedersachsen-Hannover and Henschel.

The initial production target was 250 a month at MAN; this was increased to 600 a month in January 1943. Despite determined efforts, this figure was never reached due to disruption by Allied bombing, manufacturing bottlenecks and other difficulties. Production in 1943 averaged 148 per month. In 1944, it averaged 315 a month (3777 having been built that year), peaking with 380 in July and ending around the end of March 1945 with at least 6000 built in total. Strength peaked on 1 September 1944 at 2304, but that same month a record number of 692 tanks were reported lost
(source: T.L. Jentz (1999) Die deutsche Panzertruppe Band 2).


If the over-hanging gun and sloping armour are ignored, the Panther was a conventional German design. The tank's weight had increased to 43 tons from the planned 35. It was powered by a 700 horsepower (520 kW), 23 litre Maybach HL 230 V-12 petrol engine. The engine drove eight double-interleaved steel and rubber bogie wheels on each side suspended on staggered torsion bar suspension. Tank control was accomplished through a ZF AK-7-200 synchromesh gearbox and a MAN single radius steering system, that allowed a single, fixed radius of turn at each gear. The bigger the gear, the bigger was the turning radius. If the radius was bigger than desired, the steering brakes could be used to tighten the turn. The weakest part in the tank were, throughout its career the final drive units. The main reason for this was that the units could not be manufactured using hollow gears due to the shortage of suitable gear cutting machinery in Germany during the war. The final drives were in fact so weak that their fatigue life was as low as 150 km. The crew was made up of five members: driver, radio operator, gunner, loader, and commander. The armour consisted of a homogeneous steel glacis plate, welded but also interlocked for strength. Original models only had a maximum of 60 mm of armour. This was soon increased to 80mm. On the production of the Ausf. D and later models, the armor had a maximum thickness of 120 mm. A 5mm armored Skirt and Zimmerit coating also became standard.

The main gun was a 75 mm Rheinmetall KwK 42 L/70 with 79 rounds supported by two MG 34 machine guns. 75 mm was not a particularly large calibre for the time. Nonetheless, the Panther's gun was one of the most powerful tank guns of WWII, due to the large propellant charge and the long barrel, which gave it a very high muzzle velocity. The flat trajectory also made hitting targets much easier, since aiming was less sensitive to range. The 75 mm gun actually had more penetrating power than the 88 mm gun of the Tiger I, although not of the Tiger II.

The Panther was the first Axis tank design where modern features were more prominent than early WWII-era ones. The rule-of-thumb among Allied tank crews of Sherman-to-Panther ratio necessary for destruction of a single Panther was 5:1, or the same as with the Tiger. Once the problems caused by the vulnerability of the engine and the transmission were solved, it proved to be a most effective fighting vehicle, being as effective as the Tiger, but less demanding to produce and logistically far less troublesome. Captured Panthers proved to be extremely popular vehicles among Soviet troops, who received them as rewards for extraordinary achievements in combat, and who sought (contrary to regulations that captured Tigers and Panthers should not be repaired but abandoned and destroyed after mechanical failure) to keep them in service as long as possible. Even the Pantherfibel service manual was translated into Russian and provided to crews of captured Panzers.



The Panther first saw mass action around the Kursk on 5 July 1943. Early tanks were plagued with mechanical problems: the track and suspension often broke and the engine was dangerously prone to over-heating and bursting into flames. Initially, more Panthers were disabled by their own failings than by enemy action. For example, the XLVIII Panzer Corps reported on July 10th, 1943, that they had 38 Panthers operational and 131 awaiting repair, out of about 200 they had started with on July 5. Heinz Guderian, who had not wanted Hitler to order them into combat so soon, later remarked about the Panther's performance in the battle, "they burnt too easily, the fuel and oil systems were insufficiently protected, and the crews were lost due to lack of training." However, Guderian also stated that the firepower and frontal armour were good. While many of the Panthers used at Kursk were damaged or suffered from mechanical difficulties, only small number was lost for good and the tanks also achieved success, destroying several Soviet tanks.



After Kursk, the problems of early D. model were fixed, making the Panther a very formidable tank.

The tank remained a major German tank until the end of the war. Later versions of the Panzer IV with long 75 mm guns were cheaper to produce and more reliable and so it remained in production alongside the Panther.

Panthers saw the most service on the Eastern Front, though by the D-Day landings of June 1944, Panzer units stationed in France were also receiving Panther tanks, which were used to good effect on that front. Approximately half of the German tanks in France were Panthers.

http://www.pkymasehist.fi/panssarit.html (for blinky)
http://www.chars-francais.net/images/archi...panther_011.jpg (nice picture)
http://www.military.cz/german/armour/tanks...WW2/Panther.htm (if someone is able to read this AT all, its maybe nice )

My opinion is that this is the BEST german tank of whole World War 2



Some notable uses for Panzer V chassis

Jagdpanther



A heavy tank destroyer design based on the 88 mm gun and the Panther tank chassis was ordered in late 1942 as design SdKfz 173. Production started in early 1944; at the same time Hitler specified the Jagdpanther ("hunting panther") name.

To accommodate the gun, the sides of the Panther tank were extended up to provide a roomy interior, while maintaining a very low profile. Both the Panther Ausf. G and Jagdpanther had side armor of increased elevation to enhance this effect even further and to harmonize production.

It was armed with the same long-barrelled 88 mm gun as the Tiger II, with a 7.92 mm machine gun in the front glacis plate for local defence. Despite the limited gun movement traverse (left/right), the Jagdpanther was considered a very good machine. A powerful engine gave it a good power-to-weight ratio resulting in good performance on the battlefield. The low profile meant that it was easily camouflaged.

Two variants can be distinguished, one with a narrow steel-band around the main gun mount and the other with a heavy cast protection, which was bolted to the hull.

All this made the Jagdpanther widely and rightly feared, especially when operating in defensive positions. Because it was based on the existing Panther chassis, the vehicle did not suffer too many mechanical problems






Panther II




Design work on the Panther II began in February 1943. The main aim was to secure maximum interchangeability of parts with the Tiger II heavy tank in order to ease manufacturing. The Panther II had a hull similar to the Tiger Ausf. B, and also shared identical wheels, track, suspension and brakes. One of the parts to be changed was the gun-mantlet, which had to become smaller. This was referred to in German as "Turm mit schmaler Blende" (narrow-mantlet turret).

The Panther II project never got further than one single chassis, that now can be seen in the Patton museum. (See photo at axishistory.com.)

Later in the war, in March 1944, the work started again on a Panther turret with a smaller front. This led to the development of the Schmalturm (narrow turret). In August a Versuchsturm (trials turret) was completed. This was mounted on the chassis of a regular Panther Ausf. G.

In that same period, development of the Panther led to the Ausf. F, slated for production in April 1945. The key-points for this mark of Panther were the new Schmalturm with it improved armour-protection, an extended front hullroof which was also slightly thicker. A number of Ausf. F hulls were under construction at Daimler Benz and Ruhstahl-Hattingen steelworks.

The only difference between the Panther 1 and the Panther 2 was running gear, and increased armour protection. The turret was exactly the same on both types. The Panther 2 was only designed with the 7.5 cm Kw.K. L/70 in mind, and the 8.8 cm Kw.K. L/71 idea didn't enter into consideration after the Panther 2 project had been dropped.





This post has been edited by FeezyWeezy: 03/18/06 5:32pm