The Panther was a medium tank (45 tons) with a crew of four, which was designed to counter the excellent Russian T-34 tank. It had a sloped armor for better protection and carried a long-barreled 75 mm gun and two machine guns. Production began at the end of 1942. The plan was to produce 600 Panthers per month, but its complexity (there were hundreds of production sub-contractors) and the allied bombing campaign against the German industry cut production to half of that, and even less. A total of just 4,800 were produced. It was rushed into production without proper trials, and as a result more Panthers were initially lost to mechanical problems than to enemy action. The problems were later fixed, and the Panther is considered the best German tank of the war. The Panther tank initially fought in the battle of Kursk in July 1943, the greatest tank battle of the war, and served in all fronts until the end of the war. It was widely used in Normandy after D-Day.

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