Panzer V Panther (Family)
Contents
In-Game Vehicles
Panthers
Rank III
Rank IV
- Panzer V Panther Ausf. A
- Panzer V Panther Ausf. G
- Panzer V Panther Ausf. F
- Panther II
- Panther «Dauphine»
Vehicles Based on the Panther
Rank IV
Panzer V Panther
Panzerkampfwagen V Ausf. D
The Panzer V Ausf. D was the first production version of the Panther. This is odd and possibly confusing because most German vehicles progressed in alphabetical order for the designations.
Crew
The Panther had a crew of 5 men. The radio operator/machine gunner sat in the front, right side of the hull, and the driver sat in the front, left side of the hull. The gunner sat directly to the left of the cannon breach in the turret, the commander sat in the rear left of the turret, and the loader sat behind and to the right of the cannon breach.
Armament
The main armament consisted of a 7.5 cm Kampfwagenkanone (KwK) 42 L/70 gun fitted in the turret. This gun could fire armor piercing rounds at high velocity, and could destroy most Allied tanks at long range. The effective range was 1.1 to 1.3 kilometers, and six rounds could be fired per minute.The gun could depress 8 degrees and elevate 20 degrees from horizontal. 79 75 mm rounds could be carried, and the tank was fitted with a Turmzielfernrohr 12 binocular gun sight to aim the gun.
Secondary armament consisted of a co-axial 7.62 mm MG34 machine gun and a hull machine gun operated by the radio operator. The hull machine gun was fired through a "letterbox" opening, which was basically a rectangular hole in the glacis. When the hull machine gun was not in use, the letterbox slit was covered by an armored door. Starting in August of 1943 an additional 7.62 mm machine gun was added to the commander's cupola, for use in the anti-aircraft role.
Armor
The upper glacis of the Ausf. D consisted of an 80 mm armor plate angled at 55 degrees and the lower glacis was 60 mm thick, sloped at 55 degrees. The lower hull sides were 40 mm thick, and were not sloped. The upper hull sides were 40 mm thick and sloped at 40 degrees. The top armor of the hull was 16 mm thick, and the belly armor was 16 mm thick as well. During production of the Ausf. D the belly armor was increased to two sheets of 16 mm thick armor, and later to 3 sheets. The rear of the hull was 40 mm thick and sloped.
The turret front was 100 mm thick and sloped at 12 degrees, and the mantlet was also 100 mm thick. The rounded mantlet was known to create a shot trap, where an armor piercing shell would deflect off of the mantlet and through the roof of the hull. The sides and rear of the turret were 45 mm thick and sloped at 25 degrees. The roof of the turret was 16 mm thick, and so was the roof of the commander's cupola. The commanders cupola was drum shaped, and had six viewports of 90 mm thick glass. The commanders cupola had 110 mm of armor all around, not sloped. All the armor was face-hardened and used a tenon joint arrangement, in order to increase the strength of the welds.
It was thought that Soviet anti-tank rifles would be able to penetrate the flat 40 mm lower side armor, so in April of 1943 Schuerzen side armor began to be added. These were thin armor panels, 4-5 mm, that were added to the sides of the tank to both hide the lower side armor and add a protective layer.
Magnetic anti-tank mines were created for use by the infantry of the Wehrmacht, so it was thought the Red Army might create and use something similar. As such, zimmerit began to be applied to Panthers in August and September of 1943. Zimmerit was a paste that would be applied to the armor of the tank like paint, and it was rippled, giving it a unique physical appearance.
Mobility
The first 250 Panther Ausf. D were powered by a Maybach HL 210 P30 petrol V12 water-cooled 650 hp engine. The rest were powered by a Maybach HL 230 petrol V12 water-cooled 700 hp engine, which was more powerful. The transmission was a ZF A.K.7/200, made by ZF Friedrichshafen. The transmission had 7 forward gears and one reverse gear. The tank could only go 4 km/h in reverse, but could go 54.9 km/h forward, on road.
The suspension system used was a torsion bar system. It had a front drive wheel, a rear idler wheel, and eight interleaved road wheels on each side of the chassis. The interleaved road wheels provided greater protection for the sides of the hull, and allowed better mobility because wider tracks could be used, but they made replacing a damaged wheel much more difficult. Multiple wheels had to be taken off to get to the wheel that was broken, which was very time consuming. In addition, the interleaved road wheels could freeze together in cold temperatures. The Bundeswehr accepted this though, as the interleaved road wheels allowed for lower ground pressure, and therefore higher mobility. The road wheels originally had 16 bolts, but later in production of the Ausf. D, those were changed to 24 bolt wheels. The wide tracks allowed for better traction as well as lower ground pressure, helping the Panther to be so fast for a vehicle of its size and weight.
Turret
The Pz. V Ausf. D turret had three pistol ports, one on each side and one on the rear. There was also a circular hatch on the side of the turret, for the loading or ejecting of ammunition when needed. On the rear of the turret there was a circular escape hatch for the crew. There was a circular cover at the front of the turret roof was used to protect the gas exhaust fan. There were brackets to attach Nebelwurfgerät smoke grenade dischargers at the front sides of the turret, but in 1943 these stopped being added to the Panthers, as it was seen they could prematurely detonate if hit by small arms fire, blinding the crew and forcing them to evacuate the vehicle. When the brackets were removed, a rain guard was added to the two binocular gun sight apertures. Additionally rain guards for the pistol ports, escape hatch, and communications hatch were added later in production.
Radio
The radio used on the Pz. V Ausf. D was the FuG 5, FuG standing for Funkgerät, which means 'radio device'. The FuG 5 operated at between 27,000 and 33,300 KHz in frequency, and had a transmitting power of 10 Watts. It was a high-band HF/low-band VHF transceiver, and it could use 125 channels with 50 KHz spacing. It's range was 2-3 km with AM frequency and 3-4 km with the CW frequency. It was intended to be used to communicate with other tanks in the platoon or company.
A second radio was added to the tank if it was being used by a company commander, and it was a FuG 2 radio. The FuG 2 was a high-band HF/low-band VHF receiver, and it operated between 27,000 and 33,300 KHz in frequency. This receiver allowed the company commander to listen to orders from command, while still communicating with other tanks in the company.
Driver's Vision Port and Headlights
Originally a rectangular vision port for the driver was cut out of the upper glacis. When in combat, or not in use, it could be closed by an armored cover. In order to make production simpler and easier, as well as remove what was seen as a weak spot, this feature was removed during the Pz. V Ausf. D production. The driver then had to see through two periscopes, which was later changed to one periscope that could swivel.
Two Bosch Tarnlampe headlights were fitted to early Pz. V Ausf. D, one on each side of the tank, above the track guard. In July of 1943 this was changed to just one headlight on the left side.
Camouflage
Panthers were painted in Dunkelgrau (dark grey) at the factory until February of 1943, when the factories were ordered to paint all vehicles in Dunkelgelb (a yellow tan). The units that received the vehicles then applied field camouflage using Olivegruen (olive-green) and Rotbraun (reddish-brown). For winter camouflage, a whitewash was applied.
Panzerkampfwagen V Ausf. A
Hull Machine Gun
Early Ausf. A Panthers had the same rectangular "letterbox" hull machine gun port, but this was changed to a ball mount, known as the kugelblende, in November of 1943. The kugelblende was a spherical armored mount, which allowed the radio operator to look down the machine gun's sights and gave better protection. The radio operator's forward facing periscope was removed, and the right facing periscope was moved 2.5 cm to the right.
Armor
The belly armor of the Ausf. A Panther was not consistent, but there were three different variations. Some had belly armor of one sheet of 16 mm thick steel, another had a front sheet of 30 mm thick armor and a rear sheet of 16 mm thick armor - in order to better protect against mines, and the last had three armored plates, the front two being 30 mm thick and the last being 16 mm thick. In addition, the deck armor was also not consistent, with some having one sheet of 16 mm thick armor, and others having 16 mm thick armor but in three parts.
Turret
The mantlet of the Pz. V Ausf. A was wider than that on the Ausf. D. The gas extractor used on the Ausf. D was improved on the Ausf. A model. The turret of the Ausf. D was fitted with a single-speed system for traversing the turret, whereas the Ausf. A received a variable-speed system, increasing the speed of turret traverse. In addition, a spring-compressed sealing ring was added to the turret ring in order to prevent water from entering the tank during fording.
Early Ausf. A turrets had the same drum shaped commander's cupola as the Ausf. D, but later Ausf. A turrets had a new dome shaped commander's cupola. The dome shaped cupola had seven periscopes with armored coverings. The turret was fitted with a 1 o’clock to 12 o’clock azimuth indicator ring, which allowed the commander to call out the direction of enemy tanks and the gunner would know what direction he was talking about. Starting in August of 1943 a ring and 7.62 mm anti-aircraft machine gun was added to the commander's cupola.
The early Ausf. A turrets retained the three pistol ports from the Ausf. D, but later production turrets lacked the pistol ports, in order to increase the strength of the armor and to simplify production. In order to make up for the lack of pistol ports, a Nahverteidgungswaffe was added to the right of the commander's cupola. The Nahverteidgungswaffe looked like a flare pistol, and it could fire a high-explosive grenade, smoke grenade, or flare. If the tank was under attack be enemy infantry, a high explosive grenade could be fired, killing the enemy infantry but not the tank crew.
Early Ausf. A Panthers had the same binocular T.Z.F.12 gun sight as the Ausf. D, with two lenses in the mantlet. In November of 1943, this was changed to the monocular T.Z.F.12a gun sight, which only had one lense. Therefore, the mantlet had to be changed, so there was only one hole in the mantlet for the gun sight lense. Additionally, a semi-circular rain guard was added.
Suspension
In August of 1943 the 16 bolt road wheels where changed to 24 bolt road wheels, but even by March 1944 Panthers were still receiving 16 bolt road wheels. Also, maintenance yards still had stores of 16 bolt road wheels, so if a Panther had to have road wheels replaced there was a chance it would receive 16 bolt road wheels. There were other minor suspension changes that appeared on Ausf. A Panthers, such as a different armored hub cap for the drive sprocket.
Exhaust Pipes
Early Ausf. A Panthers still had the two exhaust pipes on the rear of the hull protruding from curved armored casings vertically. The red convoy light was located above the left track but below the pannier. During production the exhaust layout was altered. The right exhaust pipe remained the same, but the left exhaust pipe was altered - two cooling pipes were added so that three pipes protruded from the left side armored casing. The convoy light was moved from above the left tracks to directly left of the leftmost exhaust pipe.
Panzerkampfwagen V Ausf. G
Turret
In order to prevent debris from preventing gun elevation, a metal strip was welded across the gap between the top of the gun mantlet and the turret front. Also, the rain guard over the gun sight aperture was lengthened. A new mantlet design was introduced, in order to prevent the shot trap effect of shells hitting the curved lower part of the mantlet. The new mantlet featured a "chin" guard, so the lower part of the mantlet was no longer curved. Five metal loops were added to the turret sides starting in 1945, in order to allow easier application of camouflage using ropes strung between the loops to hold on branches and foliage.
