063

GERMA1MY S PANTNER TANK

Panther Production and Delivery to the Ordnance Depots

	Monthly Goal	Accepted by Inspector	Normal	Delivered for Issue Bef.Wg.	Rebuilt
Nov42	1	0
Dec42	4	0
Jan43	21	0	4^1
Feb43	50	18^1	17^1
Mar43	75	59^1	40^1
Apr43	105	78^1	0^1	0	0
May43	130	324	225	10	16
Jun43	153	160	167	9	10
Jul43	195	202	165	11	4
Aug43	232	120	128	22	3
Sep43	223	197	152	3	4
Oct43	247	257	215	19	1
Nov43	300	209	212	10	0
Dec43	290	299	291	18	0
Jan44	329	279	258	25	0
Feb44	270	256	238	7	12
Mar44	295	270	284	7	6
Apr44	290	311	266	10	8
May44	305	345	351	19	16
Jun44	320	370	329	9	11
Jul44	365	380	315	26	5
Aug44	370	350	356	37	15
Sep44	350	335	366	11	4
Oct44	350	278	245	11	5
Nov44	295	318	329	28	13
Dec44	310	285	240	13	7
Jan45	300	211	217	13	4
Feb45	175	126	161	11	5
Mar45	175	102	94		5
Apr45	200	??	64

CHAPTER 8: PRODUCTION HI8T0RY

Precision Optical Instruments were required in order to _Derat,onal Panthers Leitz, Wetzlar. famous for their ¹ a rameras. produced the pnmary optical instrument"'

^Le Panthers The Panther Ausf D and then the Panther Ai ^lhd V1 .Hitted with the T.Z.F.12 bmocular telescope, prodi ^104,1 ----

----IWO

_F13 teiescopes were produced for the Ausf F The tele-T~-*\ _tz f.13 was outdated when the specification called f^tabilized gun sights Leitz. Wetzlar was responsible for ^f°^r design of the stabilized gun sights and produced five

S.Z.F.1 followedbyfourS.Z.F.Ib DesignsfortheS.Z.F.2and S.Z.F.3 were not completed by Zeiss, Jena in time to enter senes production

An aggressive program had been mitiated to outfit Panthers and other armored vehicles v/ith F.G.1250 infrared searchlights with scopes Starting in June 1944, Leitz, Wetzlar had delivered sigmficant numbers of F.G.1250 Hov/ever, the desire to mamtain secrecy prior to mass employment and the failures revealed in a major trial exercise. delayed the first

combat test, involving a single company of Panthers, until March 1945

TZF12

OPTICAL INSTRUMENT PRODUCTION

TZF!2a

TZF13

Nov42

0ec42

jan43

Feb43

Mar43

Apr43

May43

jun43

Jul43

Aug43

Sep43

Oct43

Nov43

Dec43

jan44

Feb44

Mar44

Apr44

May44

jun44

Jul44

Aug44

Sep44

Oct44

N0v44

Dec44

Jan45

Feb45

Mar45

SZF1

FG1250

5

25

60

70

120

234

285

200

281

125

210

91

270

400

345

420

465

480

582

580

480

500

380

470

296

270

335

300

170

199

247

176

132

194

24

61

30

1

1150

1

With the exception of three Panthers that had been provided to Wa Pruef 6 for testmg, all the Panthers completed from January through April were returned. rebuilt. and included in the 324 Panthers reported as accepted in May 1943