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GERMANY'S PANTHER TANK

The spent MG cartndge tubę pulled out when the n s depressed When the gun was elevated the tubę w crushed The tubę needed to be lengthened and prevem

tes\rr\ ^llarminn h\y mstallinn a shfiPt rnpfal niian

i

The origmal rear deck layout for the Panther Ausf D Both air mtake covers on the engme access hatch had horned' prongs to aid m twistmg them ciosed for sealmg the engme compartment The fuel filier cap was mounted flush with the rear deck The hole in the rear deck mtended for teiescopmg pipes for the air mtake snorkel was covered by a flanged screen (TTM)

B>id l Turm von links

the requirement for submersion of the Panther I up to a depth of four meters had been deleted. Seals and gaskets on open-mgs m the hull were still installed to meet the requirement for fordmg up to a depth of about 1 9 meters

PANTHERS

Wa Pruef 6 noted the followmg problems when they exam-med the first three senes production Panthers delivered to Grafenwoehr on 28 through 30 January 1943

The corners of the turret hit the ciosed driver's and radio operator s hatch covers Up to 3 centimeters needed to be removed from the right and left lower corners of the turret Problems were encountered in traversmg the turret The clutch slipped earlier when traversmg clockwise than counter-clock-wise. When the Panther was on a 10 degree slope. the gun-ner could not traverse the turret by himself The top of the hull was so uneven. that each mdividual turret needed to be mdividually fitted by tnmmmg the bali bearmg race or by m-

stallmg an adaitional spacer ring Large vanations in fabr mg the turret side plates resulted m turrets with large va^Cat' tions m clearance An entire senes of Panthers were tn delivered with turret clearance that didn t meet specificatio ^be Since the gun sight hit its mountmg bracket, the iov that the gun could be depressed was 7 5^W The highest eie ¹ tion was only 17 5‘ The commanders seat prevented n? gun from bemg elevated, smce the recoil guard hit the h ^e ot the seat    ^ase from collapsmg by mstallmg a sheet metal guard.

A gun tubę lock prevented the gun from sliding back f recoil cylinder leaked It was designed to prevent damaoe t the gun when the first round was fired. This gun tubę lor? needed to be disengaged by a mechamcal spring at the sam time that the breech travel lock was disconnected. ^me A piąte needed to be mstalled on the recoil guard to nr* vent the recoilmg gun from hittmg the commander*s nght kriee

Turret No 210004 (completed by M.A.N m late January 1943) pnor to pamtmg and mountmg m the completed chassis The onginal layout of the turret platform is shown prior to mstallmg _a compressor for the borę evacuator (TTM)

Bild i Turm von rechti

CHAPTER 2: PANTHER AUSF.D

Interior views of the rear and left turret wali of turret No 210004 This is the origmal internat layout for an Ausf O turret before the ordered modifications The wheel for raismg the cupola hatch was in the corner behmd the commander and the wheel to rotate the cupola vision błock shieid was to his left front The verticai shaft. from the turret ring to the cupola. dnves the azimuth mdicator nng mounted mside the cupola To the commander s immediate left (startmg from the top) were two cylmdricai contamers two rectangular boxes contammg the firmg switches for the Nebelwurfgeraet (smoke candle dischargers). and the Verstandlgungsoeffnung (Communications port) (TTM)

Also, a guard was necessary to protect the commander s right arm from the recoilmg gun

The visor ring for the commander s cupola was very diffi-cult to operate Opening and closing the hatch for the commander s cupola was much too difficult and unwieldy sińce the operatmg wheel and lever were mounted behmd the commander Easier access to the operating wheel was absolutely necessary

The gun sight spare parts box was mounted too close to the escape hatch in the turret rear. It needed to be relocated so that it didn't interfere with entry and exit.

The traverse and elevation gear for the gun m turret No 210004 The loader could insert a crank handle into the keyed slot on the right to aid the gunner m traversmg the turret The handwheel for traversmg the turret was directly in front of the gunner and the lever for controlling the hydrauhc drive was to his lower right (TTM)

2 3 4 PEMONSTRATION FOR SPEER

On 22 February 1943. Direktor Rathje from M A N recorded the followmg account of the Panther demonstration conducted for Speer at Grafenwoehr on the previous day

“Reichsminister Speer arrived shortly after eleven He greeted the troops assembled for the demonstration as well as the representatives from M A N

Twelve Panthers. all outfitted with clutch-brake steermg. were assembled After a ride in one of these Panthers. Speer remarked that the steermg was somewhat hard Evidently the brakes engaged too abruptly

Three Panthers fired at stationary and towed targets At the finish. Speer requested that another designer from M A N. and I sit in the commander s position in one of the firmg Panthers. I was hereby convinced that the turret ventilation was deficient in that only several rounds could be fired with the hatches ciosed I promised to pass on this deficiency to the responsible company. Rhemmetall

The purpose of the demonstration maneuver was for the Panthers to support an infantry assault on a ridge During the maneuver. nonę of the Panthers fell out Generally only praise was heard about the Panther’s shape. speed. and suspen-sion Officers from the Panther-Lehrganges (a Panther school in Erlangen) especially stressed these points as be-mg excellent

The closing speech was delivered by Generalleutnant Eberbach He expressed that it was a special pleasure for him to also salute the representatives from MAN-Nuernberg as the factory that the troops have to thank for this good ve-hicle.

Generalleutnant Eberbach asked Speer to listen to the remarks from the troops and requested that I also take part in this meetmg. The engmeer from Panzer-Abtellung 51 re-lated the followmg problems motor fires. fuel pump failure.

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