To continue
The design and development part of the book on the Panther D had the basics as well, nothing shocking in what I read from the past. In the end of the Panther chapter, the writer points out that....
If ever there was an example that "haste makes waste" in warefare, it lies in the Panther development program.
It goes on to say that the Panther was'nt given enough proper testing for various reasons, from "it might have failed and embarressed the Armaments Ministry" to "Guderian knew the Panther was a loser, but he was silenced by Saur."
The Panther, in the writers opinion had some good features, like the gun and sloped armour, but fell far short of the tank that Guderian requested initially.
The abandonment of the deisel tank engine in a time of the German fuel crisis/shortage that was only growing at the time is another negative impact for him.
I'll leave this section of the book with this, the final word from him in the chapter.
The need for the Panther tank developed because of battlefield realities discovered in 1941, but German developers erred grievously by building a tank that essentially ignored these realities.
Somewhat harsh, but it tends to bring some topics that tend to ring true to me, from what I know of the Panther. My question to the writer of the book is this. What would have happened if the Germans did not have any Panthers during WW II? But that is a more of an "what if" topic then, something to be explored maybe later on that forum!!
Cheers
Tom