The Panther: a British view

Among the great collection of AFVs at the Tank Museum in Bovington, United Kingdom there is a vehicle that is often described as one of the best tanks of the Second World War. This tank is better known as the Panzerkampfwagen ‘Panther’ ¹. Germany produced over 6000 Panthers during the war. The majority of these were assembled at one of the assembly firms Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg (M·A·N), Maschinenfabrik Niedersachen-Hannover (M.N.H.) or Daimler-Benz ². The Panther in The Tank Museum, however, wasn’t produced during the war. Instead it was produced post-war under British supervision. In this post I’ll dive into the history of British evaluation of the Panther and look at how and why the British produced their own Panthers.

An interesting beast

With the Panther, the Wehrmacht fielded a weapon system efficiently combining both mobility and firepower. Even though this combination came at the cost of weak side-armour, the Panther could withstand almost anything with its 80 mm thick 55° angled glacis plate. Thanks to efforts streamlining Germany’s armament industry it could be build in large numbers when it was first introduced in 1943. Its gun, Rheinmetall’s 7,5 cm K.w.K. L/70, could achieve hits at over 1000 metres and thanks to its long barrel, projectiles could reach high muzzle velocities (v₀) of up to 1120 m/s³. Although the Panther’s baptism of fire at Kursk in July 1943 was a great disaster (many were total write-offs even before the battle began due to engine fires and other malfunctions) many of its teething issues were resolved. Some serious issues, however, remained to plague the Panther throughout the production run, such as the weak final drives.

Evaluation by Allies

Already during the war had the Panther sparked the Allied force’s interest. First and foremost Allies wanted to learn how to efficiently deal with this new threat on the battlefield. Additionally, by studying the vehicle thoroughly, new and interesting technology could be copied and fielded against the enemy. The Russians were the first to lay hands on a specimen and it didn’t take long before they shot it to pieces on the firing range.

Details of these tests were relayed to the Western Allies which were able to conduct similar ballistic trials later. The British conducted their first trials using a Panther Ausf. D (Fgst.Nr. 213101 produced by M.N.H. in June 1943) captured by the Russians ⁴. During trials in 1944 it had its gun removed and metal ballast plates installed around the sides to simulate full combat weight. Trials on this vehicle were cut short due to an engine fire caused by a back-fire ​[2]​. The evaluation report notes trials would continue on a Panther Ausf. A that had since been captured in Normandy. In October and November 1944 some three firing trials took place on a Panther Ausf. G (Fgstl.Nr. 120404 by M·A·N) at the Shoeburyness Range.

British takeover in Hannover

Well within the British occupation zone was the city of Hannover which also coincidentally accommodated one of the three major Panther assembly plants: Maschinenfabrik Niedersachen-Hannover (M.N.H.). The city was overrun by the British 9th army in April 1945 ​[3]​. After the complete German surrender one month later, the  British occupation army British Army Of the Rhine (BAOR) settled down in the British zone in Germany. One of the units that occupied Hannover was the 823rd Armoured Troops Workshop of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME). They were stationed in the Hanomag factory in Hannover starting from 8 June 1945. After a short stay the unit moved to a gun factory in Laatzen, south of Hannover, on 29 June⁵.

Laatzen was one of the plants supplying sub-assemblies for the Panther tank among which were tracks and various other small components as well as gun tubes ​[3]​. The plant was a mess when the unit arrived there as forced labourers tore the place apart after their release. During normal operation, components completed at Laatzen were transported to the Linden works where Panther tank final assembly took place. Both Laatzen and Linden were subsidiaries of the M.N.H. firm which had been established in 1939 for the purpose of armament production. M.N.H. headquarters were located in Hannover-Wülfel ​[3], [4]​.

In August 1945 the REME workshop unit, under command of Captain W. J. Hadlow, received orders to build as many Panthers as possible from the remnants on the Linden assembly line. During 1945 the M.N.H. assembly lines had been targetted twice at 14 and 28 March ​[5]​. Nevertheless, the majority of the assembly line buildings show only minor damage. The roof over one of the building did, however, collapse. In an interview conducted after the war, two of the former directors noted that after the last raid machine work was no longer possible due to power outage ​[3]​. Eventually, the facilities were overrun by Allied forces on 9 April ​[4]​.

Continuing the story: Hadlow quickly realised that due to the bombing damage the original assembly line was of no use. Therefore parts⁶ from the Linden works were scavenged and transported to Laatzen where a small assembly line was put together. From these remaining parts on the assembly line 21 complete vehicles could be assembled: 9 Panthers⁷ and 12 Jagdpanthers. Since no assembly instructions for these vehicles could be found whatsoever, a former foreman was recruited. The foreman on his turn assembled as small army of former workers. ​[6]​

The finished Panthers were tested according to the official German guidelines on the nearby heath, driven by REME drivers. Standard German ‘Abnahme‘ quality control procedures required each chassis to be run for 15 km – without turret mounted – to ensure the proper functioning of all automotive parts. After mounting the turret, which followed its own QC trajectory, the complete tank was driven for another 50 to 60 km ​[7]​. The assembly of the vehicles was completed by spring 1946. No tools were mounted to the external tool brackets nor were any machine guns installed on the completed vehicles. All received a coat of German camouflage paint available at the assembly line. Some vehicles seem to show a two-tone scheme which most likely boiled down to a coat of Dunkelgrün RAL 6003 with Dunkelgelb RAL 7028 or Rotbraun RAL 8017 accents.

Hadlow had small plaques engraved and these were welded to the glacis of all vehicles to commemorate the completion of these British built Panthers. Each plaque indicates the workshop unit’s details and the vehicle’s production number. ​[6]​

From valuable asset…

One of the trials conducted with the brand new Panthers was aimed at comparing the Panther to British AFVs of the time. Two Panthers, two Jagdpanthers and one captured Bergepanther underwent the standard British AFV acceptance trials. It was quickly realized that due to the Panther’s frequent mechanical failures it would be impossible to complete the complete trial. Trials were halted after the last working Panther damaged its transmission during a hill climbing test⁸. All other Panthers had already been cannibalised for spare parts or had broken down. The conclusive report dated February 1948 notes that “very little information of any value was obtained” the reason named for this was the “general mechanical unreliability of the Panther and JagdPanther tanks”. ​[8]​

The other of Hadlow’s Panther tanks were used for various other purposes. One of them was used in a study on crew ergonomics of German tanks ​[9]​. The report dated December 1947 includes two photos of the Panther used during the trial.

At some point during the trials a number of vehicles was stationed at a military base in Germany to perform trials, possibly Hohne and Vogelsang ranges. A series of photos shows four of the Panthers and some five Jagdpanthers lined up near military barracks. These photos reveal what looks like the application of a camouflage scheme. A dark stripe can be discerned, running from the turret to the lower hull on some vehicles. Possibly, surpluses of Dunkelgelb and Rotbraun have been used to achieve this. A high quality scan posted on Facebook by The Tank Museum of a British Panther photographed at the Putlos ranges in May 1946⁹ also shows a similar paint application.

…to the scrapyard

After intensive evaluation of the Panthers many of the vehicles were scrapped or expended as hard targets on firing ranges in Germany and the UK. In June 1948 the A39 Tortoise prototype  P5 – “Adventure” conducted live firing trials on at least one REME Panther at the Hohne ranges. The Tortoise’s QF 32-pounder penetrated the Panther’s armour frontally at 1350 yards (1235 metres) ​[10]​. A photo of the aftermath of such a ballistic test on a REME Panther was published in Panther: External appearance and design changes, page 153 ​[7]​.

A small lot of the Panthers was taken to the United Kingdom and that is how Panther No. 4 ended up at the Hardwick scrapyard. This vehicle was bought by Mr. Flick and subsequently restored to running condition at a maintenance facility (WTD 41 in Trier, Germany) of the Bundeswehr ​[11]​– photos of this Panther running were published in the Wheels & Tracks magazine number 11. More recently this Panther was covered in the media when it was confiscated by the police in 2015 under the suspicion that this and other items were held without a permit.

In 2000 the Weald foundation (formerly Sd.Kfz foundation) acquired two Jagdpanthers, one of which is a REME post-war built specimen with Fgst.Nr. 303110. It was recovered from a British army range in Vogelsang range in the Nordeifel, Germany ​[12]​. It’s interesting to note that this very Jagdpanther is visible on a photo taken at M.N.H. Linden works after the war where it is shown together with Fgst.Nr. 303112 (see: Panzer Tracts 9-3 page 9-3-77). The second Jagdpanther (Fgst.Nr. 303086) owned by the foundation was recovered from Pirbright ranges, UK. This vehicle, which now carries no. 411, was dubbed more suitable for restoration than the REME one and was subsequently restored to running order using the engine of the Panther at Overloon. Supposedly, the Jagdpanther at Pirbright served as a target tug, but was destroyed after the engine caught fire ​[13]​. Restoration of the REME Jagdpanther is being planned and will start in the summer of 2020 ​[14]​.

Panther No. 6 was displayed at the Shrivenham Study Collection before it was transferred to the Wehrtechnische Studiensammlung (WTS), Koblenz where it was extensively restored. The vehicle currently resides in a depot at the Wehrtechnische Dienststelle 41, Trier. Finally, the last REME Panther I’m aware of is No. 8 which nowadays resides at the Tank Museum ​[15]​. In a later post we will have a closer look at that particular vehicle including a walk-around.

Footnotes

1.  Also referred to as Sd.Kfz. 171. Command conversions are known as Sd.Kfz. 167 and 168 [↩]
2. Additionally, the Henschel and Demag firms were involved during parts of the production run. The MIAG firm only ever assembled Jagdpanthers[↩]
3. Velocity depends on the round fired. Either Pzgr. 39 (high explosive – 935 m/s) or Pzgr.40 (armour piercing – 1120 m/s) ​[1]​[↩]
4. On arrival from Russia the Panther was already in a sorry state, having a defective engine and steering system[↩]
5. According to the unit diary held at the National Archives in Kew, UK (WO 171/7012)[↩]
6. Many hulls and turrets nearing completion were available scattered over the assembly line.[↩]
7. Note that almost all of the turrets are accounted for in the image above which shows 8 of the 9 turrets on stands. The 9th turret is just out of view in the lower left corner. Only one of the turrets seems to feature the ‘chin’ mantlet (possibly tank No. 10). [↩]
8. The vehicle ran out of control after its brakes failed. It drove into a tree and broke a torsion bar which penetrated the gearbox[↩]
9. Fletcher mentions that Panthers were also being evaluated on the Lüneburg heath (Munster training area) in the summer of 1946 ​[6]​[↩]