Panther maintenance

[JBark]

I was recently in a discussion on another forum about the Panther"s high maintenance needs. In my readings I had run across mention that the Panther's need for overhaul was frequent and required that he tank be returned to Germany; that the field maintenance units could not handle it. I have racked my brain to remember a second source of this information and do recall that one of the memoirs I read mentioned it, though which one i don't know. The German general had pointed out the problem of the return to Germany for its time and simple logisitical difficulties.

Can anyone here offer a source for this?

[nebelwerferXXX]

Change Oil every 5,000 kilometers
Replace oil filter
Inspect air filter
Check brakes
Clean spark plugs

[John W. Howard]

Nebelwerfer:
Is the information you have posted accurate?? If so, from where did you get it?? Name the source for the poster above. If it is not accurate information, do not post it on a research forum.

[Ricardo Silva]

I'll advise you two magazines that are still being sold, both in french. In the regular Battailles & Blindés (nº37) you have a special article about the guderian vision of the panther in the kursk battle, in the Battailles & Blindés Hors Série (nº13) you have over 100 pages all dedicated to the panther, the name of this issue is "Panther au Combat" and that says it all.
The panther was one, if not the most, modern armoured vehicule of the II world war, nonetheless, it had a number of flaws, particularly the Ausf A that was sent to combat way to soon, and suffered from a huge quantity of engine and transmission problems. It´s true that the panther suffered a high number of losses to mechanical problems, but that's what happens to an army in retreat that can't recover it's damaged tanks.
Furthermore, the panther had a high fuel consumption and it also suffered from a very poor transmission, add to this inumerous cases of sabotage caused by the forced labour used on the factories where it was produced.
You also have an excelent books about the panther being edited by the osprey;
Panther vs T-34 (Duel 4)
Panther vs Sherman (Duel 13)
Modelling the Panther Tank (Osprey Modelling 30)
Panther Variants 1942–45 (New Vanguard 22)
Panther Medium Tank 1942–45 (New Vanguard 67)

[nebelwerferXXX]

Nebelwerfer:
Is the information you have posted accurate?? If so, from where did you get it?? Name the source for the poster above. If it is not accurate information, do not post it on a research forum.

I assumed only that it's only a 'safe' presumption basing the Standard Operating Procedure (S.O.P.) on preventive maintenance of motor vehicles...Can you help me Sir if my statement was accurate enough? Thanks...

[Die Blechtrommel]

The panther was one, if not the most, modern armoured vehicule of the II world war, nonetheless, it had a number of flaws, particularly the Ausf A that was sent to combat way to soon, and suffered from a huge quantity of engine and transmission problems. It´s true that the panther suffered a high number of losses to mechanical problems, but that's what happens to an army in retreat that can't recover it's damaged tanks.

Actually in Kursk the Germans had Panzerkampfwagen Panther V Ausführung D.
Date of first production January 1943.

Funny enough tha Ausf. A came to production Autumn 1943. With this mod. they tried to avoid the problems of the "Ausf.D" due to the experiences of Kursk.
Greets
J-P

[Ricardo Silva]

You're right Die Blechtrommel, i made a confusion with the Ausf version, since it's against all logic to have the "D" before the "A", nonetheless, the Ausf "A" (or the "G") didn't solved all those problems, and the greatest "enemy" of the panther were not the shermans, t-34's, jabos, bazzoka, piat,..but indeed, the panther itself.
In "Panther au Combat": "Notons que des analyses complémentaires britanniques, tirées des combats en Normandie et dans les Ardennes, permettent de calculer une statistique très précise des causes réelles de pertes de Panther. Celles-ci nous révèlent qu'à peine 20% des chars de ce type ont été détruits par une arme à vocation antichar. Elles spécifient également que 3% le sont par des tirs de artillerie (my note: particularly on the normandy where the allies even used naval artillery, including battleships, in support of they're forces) et que 4% ont été mis hors de combat par l'aviation. (m.n.: one blunder about the jabos, is that in reality they had a hard time while attacking either a panther or a tiger, since they used mostly rockets that were highly erroneous on they're flight path, and in the case of these panzers, they needed a bullzzeye to destroy one, the bombs had basically the same problem) Une trés grosse proportion des blindés rayés des contrôles ont purement et simplement été sabotés par leur propre équipage (37%) ou simplement abandonnés (28%). Cette analyse chiffrée laisse à penser qu'en réalité la plus grosse cause de l'attrition des Panther au combat, soit presque deux tiers, est constitué de pannes mécaniques ou d'un manque de carburant. pages 104 and 105

[Die Blechtrommel]

I have always thought that the Ausf G was quite reliable. All German tanks needed regural (every day?) maintenance, but didn't they all!

Greets
J-P