It was the german response to the T-34, but it was a heavier and more complicated vehicle than the soviet ones.
It was the best or not, history and debate here.
I feel that all the tanks mentioned in your poll were very good, and at some stage or other in the war out performed the others.
T-34 was more practical and easier to run, I do agree.
As for me, I vote the Panther… Call me a sucker for German technology.
I wouldn’t mind facing a group of allied tanks in PzKpfw VI Tiger 1. 
“Field Marshal Montgomery was obliged to crack down on a strange new sickness that appeared to be gripping his men – ‘Tiger Fever’ - as they faced the Germans’ superior Tiger tanks.”
Well, there was a said when the war was over from a british tanker that “I prefered to enter in combat with an early Mark IV ( panzer IV) than a late Cronwell cruiser”…But I think that is a extreme statement. Aniway there was 2 unquestionable things, the combat capacity of the Tiger and the dislike of some tommy tankist with their combat armor vehicles.
Some Panther History.
When Germany invaded Russia, Panzertruppe encountered KV series and T-34/76 tanks, which were far superior in firepower and armor protection to any Panzer at the time. It was then decided, because of the constant reports from the Eastern Front to design a new more powerful medium tank, which could be quickly put into production. On November 25th of 1941, Adolf Hitler ordered Wa Pruef start work on the new tank. In December of 1941, Wa Pruef ordered Daimler-Benz and MAN (Maschinenfabrik Augsburg Nuernberg) to design new 30-ton tank armed with 75mm KwK L/70 gun as a response to the Soviet T-34/76 tank. Rheinmetall-Borsig was in charge of the development of the turret for this new tank. In March of 1942, Daimler-Benz was the first to produce their version of VK3002’s design based on previously rejected VK3001 (direct copy of T-34/76) design from January of 1942. Two versions of VK 3001 with different suspensions were designed by Daimler-Benz - one with spring suspension and other with torsion bar suspension. Daimler-Benz VK3002 design was largely based on T-34/76 and was more like a modified German version of it. MAN finished their design of VK3002 in early Spring of 1942.
Daimler Benz VK3002
I think the Panther was the best tank because everything was good as you could possibly make it without getting too impractical, most of the developments after this were better on paper but in practise often had problems due to there size, weight, fuel consumption ect.
It had some troubles in the beggining, some things did not work as espected like the overloaded transmition but that problem was mostly because the rushed production.
But the subsecuents varianst ,the ausf A and G are fearsome vehicles.
Panzerkampfwagen V Panther Ausf D1 (Ausf A)
Initial Production Series by MAN (only 60 mm glacis armor)
Hi.
Afaik is this the only existing picture of the Daimler-Benz VK 3002, taken post-war:
I have some problems with the Panzer V as there are rumors that the US light M5 was able to penetrate the side armour on up to 500 m with its 37 mm gun…
So my vote for the Panzer VI E.
Yours
tom! 
Hmmm…probably it was the case in some rare engagements, the panther 45-40 mm side armour wanst much after all.
according to this site the maximum armor penetration was 50-60 probably with some tugsten core ammo.
http://www.wwiivehicles.com/usa/guns.html
Practical… Easier… to run…
Legends! Faulty exhaust fans caused crews womiting after 4 - 5 shots and forced them to open hatches… Very good in action! Perfect in urban areas…
Driver hatch at the front of the hull is the most stupid feature in any tank from WWII.
T-34 as well as Sherman was good because “of plenty of them”.
Panther rules! The best tank of WWII.
Cheers,
Lancer44
Panther best of the German ones by a mile. Savagely flawed with major mechanical and manufacturing problems however.
Best of the lot to see action would be the US M26 Pershing, and the best tank to see service would be the UK Centurion. That is still in active service, with the last of the UK ones being withdrawn within the past 5 years. The Panther was good, but not as good as either of these two and was much more difficult to make.
But most of the mechanical problems were caused by the rushed service imposed by “Zitadelle”
The later variants Ausf A and Ausf G were not as bad like the early Ausf D.
I am convinced that for the tank vs tank combat the KWK 42 of the Panther was simply the best gun in the WW2.
Panther gunner handling the 75 mm ammo
The german Pzg 39/42 actually penetrate the same armor at 2000 meters than a T-34/76 at point blank .
Ammunition type: 100m 500m 1000m 1500m 2000m
Panzergranate 39/42: 138mm 124mm 111mm 99mm 89mm
Panzergranate 40/42: 194mm 174mm 149mm 127mm 106mm
and the best tank to see service would be the UK Centurion
Did the Centurion actually saw some service in WW2…?..when ?
They were produced in 45/46 but I don’t think any saw service in WW2, I think the Korean was the first major conflict they saw service in. There is a debate as to whether it could have been rushed into service for the final days of the war.
I thought that they were shipped to European fronts but never engaged in combat. War ended to soon.
I voted for the T-34…which was hard because the Sherman was my second choice. When the T-34 came out it was devastating to the German offensive. To me this is the tank that won the war on the Eastern Front. The Sherman did the same on the Western Front but not near the scale.
However if i had to pick one of the 4 to go to battle in I would pick the Panther hands down.
And one more thing just a bit off topic…A ranking by a show on the Discovery channel put the British Challenger behind the Centurion and the M1A1(2)Abrams tank which was second. Out ranked by the T-34. Even thou I do think the Challenger is a better tank than the Abrams series tank it does lack the production and experience of the American counterpart. Not list was the Leopard and the LeClerc. The Leopard is probably the best tank around but has next to no experience. Not wild about the LeClerc … maybe due to lack of confidence in french things. But the T-34 beat them all out in the 5 catagories named.
There was one about military rifles recently that got the denizens of another board I visit rather hot and bothered. Their ranking system does seem rather… odd. Asking random journalists how good a rifle is does not a good system make methinks.
The Centurion was developed during WWII, was rushed to Germany in May 1945 for testing in combat conditions, but did not see action. I would have to agree that the Centurion was the best to see service. For this poll however, I will go with the Panther.
Centurion Tank
http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showpost.php?p=82383&postcount=6
http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showpost.php?p=83169&postcount=30
All right then The centurion did not see any combat.
I think that there is some influence of the Panther in the Centurion design, specially in the sloped front armor. I really like the coaxial 20 mm gun in this.
Centurion.
Panther ausf G.
Despite being a desing completely influenced by the T-34, the Panther did provoque a Russian response…that was the medium tank ( Or MBT according to some historians) the T-44, check the front armor and the schurzen, quite similar.
T-44 proto.
And one more thing just a bit off topic…A ranking by a show on the Discovery channel put the British Challenger behind the Centurion and the M1A1(2)Abrams tank which was second. Out ranked by the T-34. Even thou I do think the Challenger is a better tank than the Abrams series tank it does lack the production and experience of the American counterpart
.
I saw that TV show, the main reason that caused M1A1 wasnt the winner was his fuel comsumption.
Considering our poll guys
I think its not correct to make equal the heavy Tigers (57 tonns) and half-heavy Panther (45 tonns) and with really medium T-34-85 (32 tonns) and Sherman M4 (30 tonns).
If we’ll talk about it’s role in the WW2 - certainly each tank was the best in it’s kind.
In common view i agree with Gen Sandworm.
Heavy germans tanks were extremaly effective in the defence but during the offencive they were very vulnerable as it was in Poland in 1944 ( when near the Oglenduv 502 heavy battallion of King Tigers was destroyed buy the 20 T-34-85).
In the history of WW2 (especialy in the Eastern front) there’re a lot of cases when maneuverable medium tanks won the duels with heavy Tigers.
Having the better optic and more effective gun germans has a less maneuverableness and maintainability.
Lets consider some figures-The relation engine power to the mass:
Soviet T-34-85 has (500 h.f.)/(32 tonns) =15.6
Sherman M4 - (400 h.s.)/30 tonns = 13.3
Panther PzIV - 690 h.f./45 tonns = 15.3
Tiger PzVI -700 h.f./57 tonns = 12.3
King Tiger - 600 h.f/68 tonns = 8.8
As can you see T-34 has a best figure - as the resault T-34 was the most maneuverable and fast ( maximum speed -55 km/hour) then any german or allied considering tanks.
Moreover T-34 has economical diesel engine ( in difference from any other tank) therefore the stock of motion -360 km( for instance petrol’s Pamther - not more 200 km , petrol’s Sherman - only 160 km).
By the way I think it was the stupidest mistake of germans - to create heavy tanks with petrol’s engines. Germany since 1943 had a big problems with petrol.
According to the information above we can compare Panther and T-34-85:
if you has the batlle like in Kurs - the big open distances about 1-2 km certainly germans tanks has advantage becouse better optic and gun.
But if you in the urban -close maneuverable battle - i think the T-34-85 the best.
And gentlemens why has nobody vote for Sherman?
This was the single mass tank of WW2 which has the gyroscope stabilized systen for the gun - very excellent thing.
Soviet tankers who fight on the lend lese Shermans very good recalled this tank.
Very soft suspension , excellent electric equpment and stabilized system - this were the things by which Sherman was better T-34.
But Sherman has a weak armour and 75/76-mm guns in was not good ( especialy against Tigers).
This is very importain advantage my friend. Becouse both Sherman and especially T-34 was a high-unificaited and standartized of production. Therefore T-34 and Sgerman had a much more maintainability than germans Panther and Tiger.Becouse T-34 had a lot of spare parts.
Soviet tank industry had just TWO basic chassis medium T-34 ( all of modification T-34, SU-85, SU-100) and heavy KB ( KB-1/2, IS-1/2, SU-122/152) during all the war. Therefore it was possible to produce the great quantity of tanks - much more than germans. Besides this situation made the repair of the tanks much easy.
Cheers.
I hear the Centurion was the best british tank all of the times, but i think the history of Centurion belongs to the post WW2 period and it could be compare with post war tanks like T-54.
Cheers.
Certainly the active career of the Centurion and it’s use in combat belong to the post-war period, but the tank was developed during the war years and did enter service before the close of the war. The war in Europe ended in May, but Japan did not surrender until August 15, 1945. So technically the Centurion’s service began during the closing months of WWII.
The Panther is a better tank than the T-34. Why do I say so? Well guys do not look at the fact that the Panther had a weak engine and thus make it out as sh*t. IF the Panther were build in the same numbers as the T-34 what do you think would have happend?
I think the Russians had greater numbers and thus used it to their full atvantage.