this is the famous
Panther tank probably the best German
tank of World War two the Germans call
it a medium tank
we'd probably in Britain or America we
would have called it a heavy tank coming
in at about 44 tons the Germans tended
to categorize their tanks less about the
weight but about their use this tanks a
product of the Germans going into Russia
in July of 1941 they meet for the first
time the famous t-34 tank and kv-1 tanks
of the Russian army they have obviously
more superior firepower more superior
armour protection than the tanks at the
Germans a Panzer 3 & 4 using at the time
and Hitler says we're going to need a
new main battle tank and in September of
42 the first prototypes running and they
get them into production the actual
first model is not the AL strung a the
Model A as we normally would consider
them they work down the letters in the
German system the first model that goes
into production is actually the Model D
and they have lots of problems with it
because of this rust production and also
from the point of view of just simple
technical errors that are going on they
have issues with the tires of rubber
coming off issues with the transmission
and some engine fires and those first
Panthers in action at Kursk a lot of
them end up being taken out of action
because of mechanical failure not
because of Russian gunfire and of course
the problem then of course from nineteen
the summer of 43 onwards is a German
armies on the retreat so if your tank
breaks down unless you own the
battlefield recovering it becomes a
major problem in terms of the tank once
they've ironed out these problems it's a
fantastically effective machine it's got
this massive 75 millimeter kwk 42 gun on
it that can fire a armor-piercing round
out the end at about 1,100 meters a
second and it's a very accurate gun on a
flat trajectory good optics that was
something the Allies noticed all the
time about German tanks having very
effective optics on them that round will
come out with a huge amount of force
behind it and it's got a very flat
trajectory which means aim
it is much easier you don't have to lob
the shell onto a tank at distance as
long as the guns pointing at it it
should hit it that was the idea because
it's got so much force taking that round
towards the target the armored
protection is about eight centimeters on
the front much thinner on the sides and
part of the tactics of using the Panther
was making sure you didn't expose your
sides to the enemy because the thinner
plate armor
you've got ammunition stowage underneath
could become a problem engine at the
rear the Maybach HL 210 in the early
models and the HL 230 P in the later
models gives it about 600 horsepower
that's transmitted from the rear through
to these front drive sprockets and the
wide tracks with these eight double
wheels on each side and gives the
vehicle a very very smooth ride over
open country and the mobility of the
panther and its speed you know getting
up to about 38 miles an hour that's
noted on these one of its key features
so firepower good mobility good armor
protection the only issues again is the
Germans are still probably over
engineering their tanks about six
thousand are made but that's just not
enough as the war progresses they're
just not getting enough out small
indication about how Germany was faring
at the end of the war this camouflage
scheme we all get very excited about
late war German camouflage scheme this
one is sometimes known as the third
scheme it was designed specifically just
so they only used about 1/3 of the paint
that they would usually use on a normal
tank so what you're looking at is the
undercoat the red oxide with only a
third of normal paint used and it's
quite effective this very tank you're
looking at was made after the war it's a
Model G tank it was made in the factory
after the Allies Oh at one the Germans
had surrendered they got some factory
workers back and made a number of
Panther G's and yang Panthers for
testing and of course tanks were
captured during the war and tested by
the Americans of British because it was
a tank we really knew we had to defeat
and also learn lessons
from
you