Panzerkampfwagen V Panther Ausf. G (Sd.Kfz. 171)

Type: Medium Tank
Nation: Germany
Period: World War 2
Location: Grandmenil, Belgium

A panic reaction?

The Panther was considered one of the best medium tanks of World War 2, but it had to go a very long way to earn this reputation. Its origins date back all the way to 1938, when a project was launched to replace the Panzer III and Panzer IV. The Panther’s final design would be heavily influenced by the Wehrmacht‘s unpleasant encounter with the Soviet T-34 during Operation Barbarossa in 1941. The concept of sloping armour to increase its effective thickness while at the same time saving weight was nothing new, but up to this point the German tank designers had not thought these advantages would outweigh the inevitable reduction of space in the hull. The Panther programme was by no means a reaction to the T-34 shock, but its development was certainly accelerated because of it.

Dangerous curves

Compared to the earlier Ausführung D and Ausführung A models, the Ausführung G can be identified by the lack of a driver’s direct vision port and the simplified one-piece hull side plates which are narrow in the front and become wider in the back. The curved „Walzenblende“ gun mantlet was around 100 mm thick and offered excellent frontal protection, but in September 1944 the Germans replaced it with a redesigned version featuring a blocky „chin“ – because Allied tankers had found out that a carefully aimed shot on the lower part of the mantlet could ricochet downwards and penetrate the thin hull roof above the driver and bow gunner. Like many other minor changes, the introduction of the chin mantlet happened halfway through the Ausf. G’s production run, so many of the earlier Gs would still have the curved one.

Surprise in the dark

This particular vehicle was built by Daimler-Benz in Berlin-Marienfelde in October 1944. During the Battle of the Bulge it belonged to the infamous 2nd SS Panzer Division „Das Reich“ – a unit responsible for many war crimes and atrocities such as the massacre at Oradour-sur-Glane. On 25 December 1944 at 2:30 AM a column of Panthers was heading west towards Érezée when they were ambushed by two American M36s from the 628th Tank Destroyer Battalion in Grandmenil. Two Panthers were destroyed at close range at the cost of one M36. Trying to escape the emerging chaos, most of the remaining Panthers drove off the road and straight into a minefield, where several of them became disabled. One crew decided to take another route, but their tank soon got stuck in a boggy depression. They had no choice but to abandon their Panther which today is sitting near the Manhay History 44 Museum – although there is still some debate that it actually might be another vehicle from that night‘s battle. Many of the tank‘s parts have gone missing over the years, for example the muzzle brake. The turret number 407 was painted on in 1994 when the vehicle was refurbished for the 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge. The original wartime number had probably been 214.