A Panzer 4 Ausf H operating with the Panzer Division August Nite the Grisley Bear painted on the turret scherzen panel German Armored Forces & Vehicles - A Tank named Grizzly Panzer IV, note the mobile fresh egg supply, Soviet Union August - September 1943.
I forgot to mention that the price of 117,110 Reichsmark (about 46000$) only refers to a tank without weapons, optics, or radio. In order to compare prices we have to take certain factors into account such as, PPP parity, labour, resources, economic model, level of industrilization, inflation.
Currencies could not been freely converted during WW2. It is generally better to compare prices of other types of tanks of the same nation. You’ve sure done your homework! Excellent page.
We have one of the only surviving Panther ausf. D on display in a park. It was captured by a Polish/British armor regiment in 1945 when they liberated Breda where it still remains to this day. I used to drive by it daily and at one point they sold the drivetrain to a British private collector for enough money to completly refurbish the entire tank and service it for the upcoming few decades. It’s truly stunning to see one in real life.We also have 2 on display in the Overloon military museum. One restored to driving order and one kept as found (detracked) but repainted and rust treated to make sure it last at least another 70 years. From Achtung Panzer!
Web site:“.Overall, from 1943 to 1945, only some 6000 (5928 or 6042 depending on the source) Panthers were produced by Maschinenfabrik-Augsburg-Nuremberg (MAN) in Kassel and Maschinenfabrik Niedersachsen-Hannover (MNH) in Hannover, along with Daimler-Benz, Henschel and Demag”The average of these two figures (5928+6042/2) are 5985. Thus, 5985 is a good SWAG (Scientific Wild Assed Guess) for the number of Panthers produced by Nazi Germany. Thomas Jentz & Hilary Doyle cite a total of 5987 SdKfz.171 – Panthers produced. This is more likely a historically accurate and researched number. SuspensionThe Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor Curator Charles R. Lemons ran a comparison in turret travers speeds of the German Panther tank and the Allied Sherman Tank.
He found that the Panther had a travers speed of 10 degrees per second which was a lot slower than the 20 degrees a second produced by the US electro-hydraulic powered traverse motors fitted to the Sherman Turrets. The Panther’s travers speed depended on the main engine for pumping power. This slow speed could help a fast Allied tank avoid getting hit in Urban situations.may need to fix this title to turret traverse.
Sorry to nitpick but the caption with the picture “Pantherrepairengineinthefield.jpg” should read “Transmission replacement in the field” not “Engine replacement”.On youtube there’s a video how this was done in the during the restoration of the Littlefield Collection’s Panther. If you see how this had to be done it makes you wonder how they got these ever got repaired in the field.
And if you compare it with the comparative ease with which you can maintain Sherman’s transmission it tells you a lot about all the German tanks that had to be abandoned and the low operational readiness rates.Thanks for this great site. I am quite interested in every information I find about the Panther and the Panther II or the Ausf. I have seen the drawing of the E-50 that has been drawn with the 88mmKw.K43 L/71but as this I noticed in the model issued by Trumpeter, The barrel of the gun is too long! At its actual lenght the gun should be 89 calibers long not 71. An 88mm cannon has a barrel which measures 4636mm from front armour to the first light of the muzzle brake translated in a 1:35 scale this would be 132mm the barrel I found in the Trumpeter model is 160mm long!!I let to you to see the reason of this long writing.With my best regards.
The M-4 was definitely the superior of the two vehicles. It proved far more adaptable (in good part due to the selection of a fairly large turret ring) than the Pz IV. Gunwise, there isn't much to choose between the two. The 76/50 is roughly as good as the 75/48 and both had lower velocity 75mm guns originally that proved useful during the earlier stages of the war.And, there was a wartime variant that mounted a 90/50 that was cancelled due to the M-26 coming into production.
That model could have been available shortly after D-Day had it been ordered into production. A turreted Pz IV lacked the capacity to accept a weapon that large. Of course, post war the Israelis managed to shoehorn a 105 high velocity gun into it as well, not to mention the 105 models used in WW II.The Sherman has far better turret traverse, being both faster and smoother with better fine movement control. This ensured a good Sherman crew was going to get the first shot in more of the time.
The gyroscopic stabilizer was a useful addition when the crews bothered to learn to use and maintain it.In terms of reliability again, the Sherman has a very distinct advantage. The tracks on the M-4 have several times the life of those on a Pz IV, the engine is both more reliable and easier to maintain. The Sherman's design also allowed the use of several different engines using both diesel and gasoline.Up armoring proved more possible on the Sherman than the Pz IV too.
The late models were about as heavily armored as they were likely to get at 80 or so millimeters on the front. The M4A3E2 'Jumbo' had 152+ mm on the front and side and rear armor almost up to Tiger I levels.With improvements in suspension the Sherman's cross country performance continued to improve. The change to the 23' HVSS suspension puts it on par with the Pz IV. The earlier initial VVSS suspensions were no worse than those on early model Pz IV's either.The Sherman also had fewer shot traps and better slope and distribution of its armor at least over the foward arc. With wet storage the Sherman was no more likely to burn when hit than a Pz IV either.If you add in the use of HVAP ammunition the 76mm Sherman isn't all that bad as a tank killer and certainly has a big edge over a Pz IV.