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GERMANY S PANTHER TANK

2 i 3 TURRET DESIGN    2 i 4 AR MAM ENT

The curved gun mantlet extendmg across the greater part ot the lunet front was a casting 100 mm thick at the center tapenng to the top and bottom The turret front was a 100 mm thick casting set at an angie of 12 degrees The sides consisted of two large plates which were bent mward near their rear ends to meet the edges of a comparative!y narrow rear piąte The 45 mm thick sides and rear wali were sloped at an angie of 25 degrees to the vertical The 16 mm thick turret roof was aiso slightly bent honzontal at the rear, slop-mg down at the front toward the gun mantlet at an angie of 84 5 degrees The bulge for the commander s cupola. present in the left turret side of the Versuchs-Panther turret. had been elimmated (by extendmg the turret sides further to the rear before bendmg them mward to meet the rear piąte) dur-mg the design of the production senes turrets for the Pan-thers The commander s cupola was drum shaped with six vision pons that could be closed by a 60 mm thick armor rmg Access to the turret was provided through a hatch m the cupola and a hatch m the rear wali directly behmd the loader s position An exhaust fan covered by an armor guard was mounted m the turret roof

The pnmary armament was the 7.5 cm Kw.K.42 U70 gun mounted in the gun mantlet on the centerlme of the turret Secondary armament was provided by an M.G.34 mounted coaxially to the right of the mam gun A second M.G.34 manned by the radio operator was fired through an open port m the glacis piąte Machinę pistols. pistols. and hand gre nades were available for the crew 2 1 5 AMMUNITION STOWAGE

A total of 79 rounds of ammumtion was carried for the mam gun Forty rounds were stored horizontally in the panmers along the superstructure sides Thirty*six rounds were stored vertically m bms along the hull sides and three were stored horizontally m a closed bm under the turret floor. 5100 rounds of machmegun ammumtion were stored in 34 bags. each contammg 150 Imked rounds.

2 1 7 COMMUNICATIONS

The Maybach HL 210 P30 engme with three cylmdncal a>r fiiters (LI. 2 & 3) was mstalled m 250 Ausf D Panthers The semi-circuiar cutout m the fue> tank (Kr) was for mstallmg the teiescop-mg air mtake pipes lor the snorkel The smali tank (K) on the right was lor fillmg the radiators (TTM)

Except for the commander. vision for the turret crew was somewhat limited The gunner had a binocular Turmzlel-fernrohr 12 sightmg telescope with 2 5X magnification and a pistol port to his left The loader had a pistol port to his right The commander had all-round vision blocks in the cupola, a Verstandigungsoeffnung (commumcation port) to his left and a pistol port to his rear

Direct vision was provided for the driver by a port m the glacis piąte, protected mternally with a laminated glass błock When the visor was closed the driver could use two fixeo periscopes providing a view toward the front and left front The radio operator had a machmegun port directly to his front that could be closed with a visor Two fixed periscopes were mounted m the roof above his head providmg a view toward the front and right front

When assigned to company headquarters or to a platocn leader, the Panther was outfitted with two radio sets. a FuG 5 (10 watt transmitter with ultra short wave length receiver operated m the frequency band 27.2 to 33 4 MHz) and a FuG 2 (ultra short wave length receiver operatmg m the same frequency band as the FuG5). The FuG 5 had a useable rangę of 4 to 6 kilometers. highly dependent on terram and atmo-sphenc conditions The normal Panther only had a single FuG 5 radio set Both versions were outfitted with an mtercom servmg all crew members In addition, the commander hac flag sets and a signal pistol

2 1 8 PANZ^RB£FENL$mGEN PANTHER (EdJ<fz.^7jjnd258)

The Befehls-Panther (command vehicle) was a normal Panther slightly modified to mount the additional radio sets and

CHAPTER 2: PANTHER AUSF.D

T ZJ=12 BtnocuUr Gun Sloht

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7 6 cm Kw K 42 L 70

E*tornji Tr*v*l Lock

Ausf D Turret 021 Gr 48950

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Turret Platlorm

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The interior of the Panther Ausf D turret prior to modification it has the onginal commanders seat and cupola onentation The Rohrausblasevorrlchtung (borę evacuator) with compressor hadn t been mstalled The gun mantlet ts offset 40 mm to the right of the turret centerlme The gun itself was centered in the turret and the turret was centered on the hull

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