The result was the formidable Panzer V, which became known as the Panther. The design was rushed into production before testing was even completed. Tank-vs.-tank classes during the 1941 invasion had demonstrated that a new design was urgently needed to counter the T-34, and the Panzer V program became a priority. In the closing months of 1941, it had become clear to the German General Staff that its tanks were outclassed by the Soviet Red Army’s mighty T-34.Įven the Panzer IV, which was Germany’s mostly numerously-produced tank and heaviest front line tank in service at the outbreak of the war, proved no match for the Soviet tank. The example in the UK’s Tank Museum – considered the best museum of armored vehicles in the world – actually has an example that was produced in the German factory in Hannover under British supervision following the Second World War. This was a significant find, as there are less than two dozen surviving examples of the World War II Panther tank, and of those only six are operational. It had taken a team of 20 Bundeswehr soldiers nearly nine hours to remove the tank and other military hardware from the unnamed man’s home. As a result, on August 2, the man was ordered to sell or donate the tank – as well as an anti-aircraft cannon also in his possession – to a museum or licensed collector within the next two years.
While his defense team had argued that the tank’s 75mm main gun was no longer functional, he hadn’t actually broken Germany’s War Weapons Control Act, yet the prosecutors were able to convince the court that the weapons could still be used.
The man, who was a life-long militaria collector, had stored a World War II-era Panther tank in the basement of his home in Heikendorf in Northern Germany. Germany’s Panther Tank Was Developed In Response to the T-34 – In August 2021, an 84-year-old man in Germany was convicted of illegal weapons possession and was fined nearly $300,000 along with a suspended prison sentence of 14 months.
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