German
Tanks Jagdpanther
In
the beginning of 1943, the then used 88 mm gun was to be changed to a self-propelled
gun, and in the same year, this new type appeared as the "Nashorn SDHF2
164", with the hull of the Pz.Kpfw.IV. However, it was found that the Nashorn's
fighting section was much too open to enemy fire. The defensive armour was too
thin and the driving power was rather small. Another type, the "Elephant",
produced by making use of the Porsche Tigers hull, solved the driving power
problem but failed to improve the other defects. Its added hull weight resulted
in slow action and reduced manoeuvrability. Then, the Panther, which had been
mass-produced since the middle of 1943, was picked as the ideal tank for mounting
of the 88mm gun. Its large hull, great horsepower, heavy weight and superior
performance favoured the choice. On October 20th of the same year, a new German
prototype tank possessing Panther's hull and equipped with a 88mm gun, was Trial
manufactured by the MIAG Company. Although it’s lower hull was that of
the Panther, its front and side armours were extended very high and even the
ceiling was covered with relatively thick armour, enough to protect the crew
inside. The problematical fighting section thus was solved. Then, the 88mm PAK/43L71gun
was placed inside this section. The gun barrel was moveable 11 degrees to the
right or left and 8 degrees downward and 14 degrees upward. The crew consisted
of five. The tank was proud of its fully equipped weight reaching as heavy as
45.5 tons with 50 shells aboard. The No. I of the new type tank was mass-produced
and completed in December of the same year. In January 1944, Hitler named it
"Jagdpanther." The side shape of the Jagdpanther copied that of the
Panther G, which, too, was mass-produced around the same period. As the war
situation worsened, the MNA Company in Hanover also took part in helping to
produce the tanks. Thus production of the Jagdpanther was accelerated. In the
meantime, the hull of the Jagdpanther was differentiated into two types. On
one type, the 88mm gun was mounted inside the sloping armour and was neatly
arranged. It is usually this type, which is seen in books or magazines. In the
other type, however, the gun was fixed sturdily with big bolts. The Jagdpanther
displayed in the open field Aberdeen, Maryland U.S.A. is this type. Its rear
part is equipped with three exhaust pipes arranged all together on the left
side and with one pipe on the right side. Other arrangements are quite the same
for both tanks. However, at the Bovington Tank Museum in Britain, there is one
Jagdpanther, exhaust pipes of which are all covered. The later type was produced
in 1945 and may be called the last one of the series. Also, there was an irregular
Jagdpanther, which possessed an additional second antenna on the right side
of the fighting section. On such a type, a commander was riding. Still another
had drop-away auxiliary fuel tanks on the rear side armour. The Jagdpanther
very active and distinguished itself brilliantly on the battlefield. It stormed
the front at a maximum speed of 46 km/hr and destroyed many enemy tanks of the
Allied Forces with its 88mm gun. It was soon nicknamed "heavy tank killer”
After the war, many recorded histories of the Allied Powers noted the superior
performance of this tank and esteemed the Jagdpanther as a masterpiece of the
medium-class tanks. A total of 384 Jagdpanthers, 272 by the MIAG and 112 by
the MNA, were produced until April the year of termination.
Painting
of Jagdpanther
Around
1941 the colour of all German military vehicles were a standard grey except
those on the African Front, which were painted in a combination of dark yellow
and red brown, or Ger man grey and dark green. However, all these colours were
dull matted ones. Then in 1942, the combination colours of the African vehicles
were changed to dark yellow and red brown. Also on the Eastern Front, winter
white of a grey tint was sprayed over the base colour for those vehicles fighting
against the Soviet forces. The over-sprayed colour paint was of an aquatic nature
so when wiped off. the base colour was not tainted at all. Then on February
18, 1943. all colours were dismissed and dark yellow became the standard colour
for all military vehicles by order of the German Central Command. But in order
to heighten camouflage effect, respective front forces in various war districts
sprayed different colours over this dark yellow. In addition, the German Mechanized
Division had distributed among its tanks the following paint colours: 2 kg each
Olive drab (colour of the US. forces), red brown (dark brown mixed with red),
dark yellow) standard colour). Thus, painting was done either in large spots
designs or stripe formations or sprayed all overusing freely these three colours.
However, from the spring of 1945 entirely German grey vehicles appeared on the
front, through the shortage of paint.
Marking
of Jagdpanther
The rhombic mark ‘ is a German standard mark for an anti-tank mechanized
unit. The small number beside the mark indicates the number of company to which
the tank belongs. For example. the number 3 shows that the tank be longs to
the 3rd company. There is a three-digit number on the side of the hull. The
first digit from the left indicates the number of company, the second indicates
platoon and the last is the tank’s number. For example, if a tank has
the number. 324, at its hull side, it means that the tank is the No 4 tank of
the 2nd Platoon, Company 3. The tank in which either a Commander or an Assistant
Commander is riding is differentiated in the following way:
The vehicles car
rying
commanders are usually numbered 101. or 201 and vehicles carrying assistant
commanders are numbered 102. 202. or 302.
Jagdpanther V
JA6DP4
Fixing of Upper and Lower Hull Halves A
Fixing of Upper and Lower Hull Halves B
C2 A42
The Jagdpanther understandable from their production period, were basically
painted in dark yellow. They may be camouflaged by spray gun or brush.
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