Costa, Tito/Fernandez, Claudio An Illustrated History of the Panther Tank

The origins of the Panther armored fighting vehicle (Sd.kfz. 171) began with the VK20 and VK30 test series, which were designed by Daimler-Benz from September 1939 and whose development continued until the first prototype of the Panther, the Versuchs-Panther V1, was completed by M.A.N. at the end of 1942. The design of the Panther was intended to ensure superiority over the Russian T-34 and KV-1 tanks. This superiority was based on its 75-mm gun, which was enhanced by the excellent quality of the German optics and the 80-mm sloped frontal armor, as it was the first German tank to use this design improvement. Unlike the Tiger and the Königstiger, which were organized as heavy tanks in independent battalions, the Panther was intended to equip all armoured divisions and replace the pre-war Pz.Kpfw.III and Pz.Kpfw.IV designs. However, the production capacities were not sufficient to achieve this goal. The Germans classified the Panther as a medium tank, although it was considerably heavier than the T-34 and Sherman tanks of the Allied armies. More than 130 small and medium-sized companies were involved in the Panther's production program. The Panther, which went through several variants of D, A and G, is considered one of the best tanks of the Second World War, whose combination of armor, speed and armament was more than a match for most Allied tanks.