Interesting Book and Panther Tank critique

[Axis Nightmare]

I was reading this book that was several chapters about famous tank face-offs from WWII forward. My favorite was about the Tiger vs. Firefly in Normandy. I found, however, the Panther vs. T-34 the most eye opening. I've both read and have seen on TV the opinion that the Panther was the best all around tank of WWII. This author considers the Panther a dismal failure. He sites the inept development process with a recipe for constant mechanical problems. He suggests that nearly as many Panthers were put out of service with drive sprocket problems and engine fires as were knocked out in combat. Weight issues and insufficient side and rear armor add to the problems. When extra side armor plates were added he sites that they were of little use as they added even more tons and often fell off during combat maneuvering on rough terrain.

The only positives were a superior main gun and frontal armor with the main gun a huge advantage in combat.

Very detailed and interesting book

[[CAT]CplSlade]

Best as designed perhaps, but as produced was another matter. The Panther was short-changed in many ways by too many people sticking their noses into the process as well as Germany's decline in resources as the war wound down. The Russians loved the gun and optics but hardly used the captured ones due to the breakdowns and lack of parts.

Kind of like how the space shuttle we got was not the one NASA originally envisioned.

Also, this book sounds like a roundup of several of the Osprey Duel books.

[Jnewboy]

The Panther had major problems at first but by the second quarter of 44 the issues had been ironed out and the G version was a very good tank, on the eastern front it had a 12-1 kill rate. The other bonus was that they were cheaper to make than the Tiger and Tiger II, in fact one could argue that the Panther was more effective than its larger brothers. If the Panther chassis had been the only chassis produced after 1943 the Germans may have faired much better as they could have also deployed large numbers of Jagdpanthers, which were far more effective than other tank destroyers like the Jagdtiger which was experiencing its own teething problems. All tanks go though a teething period it's best to go to war after these problems are fixed but when it is absolutely necessary like it was for the Germans it should not be done over and over like the Germans did during the war.

On the other hand it also could be argued that the Panther itself caused Germany's defeat. After all it was the Panther that caused the month long delay on the attack on Kursk that allowed the soviets to reinforce it so much that it made it impossible for the Germans. It is possible that if the Germans had won a major victory at Kursk it could have returned the tide of war but overall victory is a stretch after Stalingrad.