In the beginning of August, the Soviets began a major offensive around the Kursk salient, and within a few weeks the Germans were in retreat all along the eastern front. After six days of warfare concentrated near Prokhorovka, south of Kursk, the German Field Marshal Gunther von Kluge called off the offensive, and by July 23 the Soviets had forced the Germans back to their original positions. However, the Soviets had better tanks and air support than in previous battles, and in bitter fighting Soviet antitank artillery destroyed as much as 40 percent of the German armor, which included their new Mark VI Tiger tanks. The German attack began on July 5, and 38 divisions, nearly half of which were armored, began moving from the south and the north. In early July, Germany and the USSR concentrated their forces near the city of Kursk in western Russia, site of a 150-mile-wide Soviet pocket that jutted 100 miles into the German lines. The abbreviations mean that it was assembled by 823 Armoured Workshops (ARMD WKSP), Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers (REME), British Army of the Rhine (BAOR), based at the Maschinenfabrik Niedersachen (MNH) plant in Hannover.The Battle of Kursk, involving some 6,000 tanks, two million men, and 5,000 aircraft, ends with the German offensive repulsed by the Soviets at heavy cost. The small plate on the front shows where this tank was built.

This Panther was one of a group of tanks that were built under British supervision after the German factory in Hannover had been taken over by the Allies.

Production of the Panther was slow and there were never enough of them to make a serious difference to the fighting in Russia, Italy or North West Europe. Its 75mm gun was a vast improvement on the Russian equivalent. Wide tracks spread the Panther’s weight when travelling over soft ground.

The Panther’s suspension system was more complicated than that of the Russian T-34, involving torsion bars and 18 overlapping road wheels on each side. The Panther was larger and of much better quality than the T- 34. Download Icons Express for macOS 10.5 or later and enjoy it on. Hitler ordered that the T-34 be copied and the result was the Panther, which saw action for the first time at Kursk in 1943. Read reviews, compare customer ratings, see screenshots, and learn more about Icons Express. When the Germans invaded Russia in June 1941, they were surprised by the quantity and quality of Soviet armour. The Panther is often believed to be the best German tank of the Second World War.

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