Designed by MAN it was intended to become the replacement for the obsolescent Panzer IV series and also introduced to work in tandem with the PzKpfw VI "Tiger". It was developed in response to the Soviet T-34 and adopted it's sloping armour and road wheel design, but was armed with a far more powerful 75mm KwK 42 L/70 which could punch through a Sherman's armour with ease even at long range.
It first saw action alongside the debuting Elefant tank and the recently introduced Tiger I at Kursk, where many suffered breakdowns from teething problems. Once many of the early issues had been solved it proved to out-perform almost any mass produced Allied well into 1945. The Allies introduced tanks such as the likes of the American M26 Pershing heavy tank, the Soviet IS-2 heavy tank and the British Centurion I MBT (the Centurion did not appear in time) and nevertheless still fronted up well against these newer heavily armed and armoured tanks. The Panther led to the Panther II and E50 designs which never materialised due to war constraints.
One Tiger and Panther were sold to the Japanese in 1943 but by the time they were produced, transport was impossible.
One Panther and Jagdpanther were built post-war by German staff and were sent to England for trials and are now in the Bovington Tank Museum.
