Early on in this series I made a video on the development history of the Panther 2 tank.
Unfortunately at the time I wrote that video I was unaware that one of the primary pieces of source
material I used for my research had later been found to contain a mistake by the author. Although
some of the information was still accurate I do regret not catching that prior to the video going
live as it did spread further misinformation about the tank. This is made even worse by the
fact that the Panther 2 already has a ton of made up information about it from games where it is
portrayed inaccurately. For these reasons and with new information from up to date source material
I’ve chosen to make a part 2 to the original video where we’ll break down exactly what I got
wrong in the first video as well as adding more information to the story of this enigma of a tank.
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just for being one of my viewers. Now let’s get into the main topic of today’s video.
It seems logical to start off by explaining exactly what I got wrong in the first video
before we get into correcting the record. As I mentioned in the intro much of my information
had come from a single source that being the book “Panther and its variants” by Walter J
Spielberger. In his book he claims that the Panther 2 was planned to mount a version of the
Tiger 2s 88mm and that this would be done using the schmalturm turret from the Panther F program.
The issue here is that the Panther with an 88mm was a separate program entirely
and a mixup with documents led to him making this error. Unfortunately the other sources I used for
my original video did not directly contradict any of this so I had no reason to doubt it at
the time. Before you blame Mr Spielberger for causing so much confusion though allow me to
read you a small portion from Panzer Tracts number 5-4 which explains what happened.
“The confusion in the identity and evolution of these two panther projects
(referring to the Panther 2 and Panther 88) in post war histories was created by
misinterpreting a single sentence in an original document. A report dated 10 February 1943,
stated that experience on the Eastern Front has shown that the Panther did not have sufficiently
thick armor. Knowing that Panthers hadn’t been in combat on the Eastern Front until July 1943,
our friend and mentor, Walter Spielberger, thought that this document had been misdated and should
be from 1944. Not being in possession of several key documents found later,
he chronologically positioned the Panther II project as still being active much later in
early 1945. This eventually led to an erroneous supposition that linked the
project for mounting an 8.8cm K.w.K L/71 in a Schmalturm with the Panther II chassis project.
After the new data was found Walter Spielberger corrected these misconceptions in the 1999 edition
of his book “Der Panzerkampfwagen Panther und Seine Abarten” Band 9
As you can see a minor error being made due to an assumption has led to a mountain of
misinformation developing however this was not done maliciously and was an honest mistake which
was later corrected. The error on my part is far less excusable as I should have done more
to fact check what I was using for my information as it is now available in the source books I will
be using for this video. Obviously I will likely continue to make minor mistakes as I continue
with future videos because I’m only human and its bound to happen but I strive to eliminate
as many of them as possible so I apologize for something so inexcusable happening and I encourage
you all to check the sources I list in all my videos if you suspect I have made a mistake so
I can ensure that my videos are as accurate as possible. Now that we’ve gotten through
what went wrong with the first video though let’s dig into what exactly the Panther 2 was.
The original Panther program began in late 1941 following the German invasion of the Soviet Union.
This was started due in no small part to the impact of the Soviet T-34
and KV tanks. This would culminate in the first production version of the Panther,
known as the Panther D, leaving the factory in early 1943. However even prior to this there
were already concerns brewing that the armor of the tank was insufficient for the Eastern Front.
This is where the Panther II enters our story. The conception of the Panther II can be said
to have occurred during a conference on the 3rd of January 1943 where Hitler approved a
proposal to create a new model of the Panther with 100mms of frontal armor and 60mms of sidearmor.
With the pressing need for tanks on the Eastern front this would not stop the current Panthers
from being sent into the field or stop production but the Panther 2 would eventually replace them.
At this stage in development the only improvement was to be the increased armor with the rest of
the tank being identical. However, this would later change as the shortcomings
of the Panther became more and more clear. As you no doubt are aware the Panther, especially
in its early versions, was horrifically unreliable with many parts of the drivetrain being prone to
catastrophic failure. Although its armament was better than just about anything on the battlefield
that meant very little if the tank could barely limp between positions and it was eventually
decided to redesign the tank entirely. Part of this redesign would incorporate components from
the Tiger tank such as the steering gear and the Panthers achilles heel, the final drives.
This does raise the question of why this wasn't done from the start with the Panther program but
that’s a topic best kept for its own video. One interesting thing to note is that this was all
done even before the Panther would even see combat showing just how rushed this tank was.
At this point in our story the Tiger 2 makes its appearance. Known at the time as the Tiger 3
it was decided that the two designs should be standardized. For those not familiar with the
term it essentially would mean that components from the two tanks would be interchangeable,
or at least as many as possible would be. This was an idea the Germans tried to implement often
during this point of the war with programs like the E-series but one that they never quite managed
to implement. In the case of the Panther II and Tiger this meant both were planned to utilize
the Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen AK 7/200 transmission, Maybach HL 230 engine, and the
same roadwheels with the Panther using 7 per side and the Tiger using 9. It was also planned to use
the combat tracks from the Panther 2 as transport tracks for the bigger Tiger. This would lead to
issues down the road though as the designers ran into issues when trying to incorporate the Tiger
components into the Panther hull. The entire explanation is a bit too wordy and complex for
me to go into full detail on here but I’ll try to simplify it. Essentially it was found that
both designs could use the same exact drivetrain but this would require a redesign to the Panthers
hull due to the different axle widths for the final drives and the different turning speeds of
the drive shafts coming from the steering units. This was predicted to cause a drop in production
resulting in the Panther II being delayed while the Tiger II was accepted for mass production.
During this period there was also work being done on designing a turret for the Panther II with
plans for a narrow mantlet model eventually being created by Rheinmetall-Borsig in November of 1943.
This is where much of the confusion between the schmalturm turret and the Panther II stems from
as the turrets were very similar in overall shape. However no turret was ever actually decided on for
the vehicle and none were ever completed for it. One turret was eventually mounted to the tank but
we’ll talk more about that and the further confusion caused by it later in the video.
Production of the Panther II was planned to start by September
of 1943 without any experimental vehicles. This was to start with the assembly firm Demag
who would jump straight into production of the Panther II rather than starting on the standard
Panther. By the end of 1944 it was anticipated that all manufacturers would transition into
Panther II production as well with the original Panther ending its production cycle in 1944.
Not long after this though things would take a drastic turn for the worse in both the German
war plan as well as the Panther IIs development. Development of the Panther II would still continue
however interest began to diminish for various reasons. One of the main causes of this was the
introduction of the schuerzen to the sides of the Panthers. The primary concern with the Panthers
protection as I talked about in the original video I made on this topic was the threat of
Soviet 14.5mm anti-tank rifles. These were found to be capable of punching through the
side armor of the Panther which was only 40mms however the addition of these side panels was
not only effective at stopping the rounds but also much cheaper than a whole new tank.
The Panther IIs future now hinged on a knife's edge with the focus now becoming if the Panther
I could use the improved road wheels. The original wheels had used large amounts of
rubber for their production and by this point Germany was already beginning to
feel the pressure as resources began to become more scarce. This scarcity was only increased
as the allied bombing raids began to hit German factories harder and harder as the war dragged on.
If the current generation of Panthers could not be made to use these new wheels then the Panther II
might still see production. As we know from history though the production of the Panther
II was not started and the Panther I would see construction up until the end of the war.
So what resulted from this entire program, was it just a complete waste of time and
resources? Not quite. M.A.N, the company behind the Panther, reportedly stated that
two experimental Panther IIs were eventually ordered with only one of those actually being
produced. They also state that it may have been employed in combat but I find that hard to believe
considering what happened later. As for the man hours spent in the engineering room for this tank,
improvements were made to the production Panthers using experience gained from the Panther II design
process. Although testing may have continued with the single prototype hull, production was to
continue with the original Panther instead and the Panther II was essentially shelved by mid 1943.
As I alluded to earlier there is a bit more to the story of this vehicle. Although no
turret was ever produced for the tank, one was eventually fitted to it. Contrary to what many,
including myself, may have thought though this was not done by the Germans.
The prototype of the Panther II was eventually captured by the American forces as they pushed
into Germany later in the war with it reportedly being found with no turret.
What the tank did have at the time of capture and when it arrived back at Aberdeen for testing were
test weight rings which were meant to simulate the weight of a turret. It’s entirely possible
that what followed is either due to the Americans not having the documents for what
exactly it was that they had or just because they wanted to recreate what the final tank would have
resembled as best they could. Either of these are plausible in my opinion but I have yet to
see any of the documentation regarding what occurred so I’m just guessing. Regardless of
the reasoning the Panther II was fitted with the turret from a captured Panther G. My source does
not mention any findings from these tests however the tank was eventually loaned to the Patton
Museum in Fort Knox where the turret armor shell was swapped to one from a different Panther G
along with the tank being restored using parts from a donor Panther G. It remained there for a
number of years until recently when it was moved to Fort Benning in 2010. The tank has since been
moved into the new facility there alongside many other German tanks that survived the scrapyard.
So as you can see the tale of the Panther II is one with many twists and turns caused
by missing information. Although the tank did help the Germans with improvements to
later Panther variants it never resulted in its own lineage. It does serve as a
perfect example of what can happen from assumptions and lack of information though.
We should never forget that history as we know it is based on the evidence we have and does
not always perfectly represent the exact way things occurred. Now I’m not trying to say that
history as we know it is wrong because that would just be silly but it's just something
to keep in mind if you ever see something that challenges what you thought you knew.
If you enjoyed the video I recommend following this video up with the video I made on the Panther
F. Special thanks to my ConelyFans for supporting this channel and to Warpath for sponsoring this
video. Don’t forget to use that link in the description and my code Airforce2021 to get
all that free stuff when you do. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next video.