PzKpfw V Panther....the best tank in WW2 ?

World War II German Military
#297

The death of a Panther.

City of Köln ( Cologne) 3th march 1945, breaking the resistance of the army and Volkssturm militia, the US army 3rd armored Div penetrate in the city, in the streets near the cathedral some combat took place between a Panther and 3 Div tanks, The following images show the destruction of a Panther by a brand new M26 Pershing.

The Panther hits a Sherman with a single shot, the tank is wrecked, 2 of the crew bailed out seriously wounded.

The Pershing advancing by the side street at full trottle and shoot in the move, the Panther is hit in the rear hull.

Given the position of the panzer turret is probably that the german gunner was about to open fire…but the stabilization in the Pershing allowed it to shoot first.

The german tank commander crawls out , in the meanwhile the ammunition cook off…

the MG 34 gunner tries to get out…

#298

The death of a Panther (II)

The driver scapes…

another figure emerges from the turret, maybe the gunner or loader…

The Panther is hit again, the 90 mm AP round penetrates the mantlet, 110 mm of hard german steel are defeated. Unthinkable achievement with a Sherman…but the Pershing is other story

#299

That’s the famous Panther kills Sherman, Pershing kills Panther battle of Cologne, March 6th 1945. In contrary to the narration of the clip, two soldiers of the german Panther crew have actually survived this.
Lately it was discovered that the whole thing did occure a little different than we all know. Some scenes had been re-performed the next day.

#300

The Death of a Panther (III)

When the combat camera guy get focus again the driver completed its scape, somehow he managed to survive the last 90 mm hit, however one of the crew in the turret did not.

The Panther is hit the third and last time, flames erupted everywhere…the kill is completed.

And this is the final state, the heat softened the internal torsion bars lowering the height of the tank.

#301

The History Channel interview with the Pershing crewman who commanded the tank revealed that the Panther burned like a crematorium for three days…:shock:

#302

The Panther did indeed look “well done” afterwards:

#303

Is it the same panther though?
when it received the rounds from the Pershing ,the turret is at 3 o’clock but on the picture(s) with the Cathedral of Koln in the background ,the turret is at 12 o’clock.

#304

It’s definitely the same tank, the americans must have relocated it so it didn’t block any roads. There were some major discussions on that issue on some german WW" forums.

#305

the t-34 was more practical to make and easier to drive.the advantage of it was the sloped armor.but i like the panther. i would either face a group of allied shermans in a panther

#306

The design of the Panther was certainly were much inspired by the russian T-34, that’s why the Panther’s armour actually was “sloped”.

#307

Same with the King Tiger. Wait… If they knew about the awesomeness of sloped armour, why did they make the Tiger with non-sloped front armour?

#308

I guess because they simply depended on the thickness of the Tigers armour.

#309

… It didn’t seem to work too well…

#310

A funny picture. peaceful collaboration between allied and a german tank. The Panther is quoted with better bad terrain mobility than the Churchill, despite being heavier than the british tank.

#311

The actual footage is here somewhere and is quite compelling.

You see, an actual film director happened to witness the beginning of the battle. It started with a rather famous sequence of a Sherman “Easy-Eight” ambushed and hit by the Panther pictured above. One of the crewman flops out of the top hatch, tries to get up but is strangely hobbled. Then you realize if you look closely that his foot have been severed in the attack. Pinned down by sniper fire, medics were unable to get to him and he bled to death in front of his tank. The cameramen then jumped into a jeep, and followed the Pershing filming a sequence that looks more like a Hollywood film than battle footage.

Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt5bJQOkI1g

#312

Quite young people the crew in that Pershing, I cant avoid to think the differences in maturity in the people of that time compared with todays, there people 20 year old drive and command an 46 tons steel monster like a bicycle…in the other had today youngster get hurt themselves just handling a scooter.

#313

I completely understand the purpose of relocating the Panther but why move the turret while towing it.Did it matter where the gun was while a prime mover was towing the tank?

#314

Gotta look for some info on that, but the tank should have been towed backwards and the 12 o’clock position of the gun would be most advantageous in the narrow gaps of Cologne.

#315

Dont worry guys, is the same panther, it was moved and the turret too.

Two good examples of Pzkpfw Panther deployed in Italy.

#316

I have been looking over this thread, and I must say that all the information that It has is rather good .
There ar two photos of a Flakpanther in a square with two shops behind it . The one on the left says ‘correctly’APOTHEKE but the one on the right says LEICARAMA ‘a camera shop’ not LEKARNA. So I would say that the picture was either taken in Germany or the German speaking part of Czechoslovakia

Its got to be the panther A for me.

Paul