Panther Competition Results

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Hello everyone,

here are the results of the Panther DVD Competition, in which you can win the Panther DVDs :)

The questions I asked were:

1. At one point, German engineers proposed a close-support direct fire assault gun based on the Panther chassis. What was its name, what was it supposed to be armed with? (Hint: there was more than one, if you know the other one, I will be impressed)

Answer: Sturmpanzer Panther (or Sturmmörser Panther). There were actually two versions. One was with the 150mm StuH 43 variant, mounted in turret. The other was basically a Sturmgeschütz with a 210mm mortar (no drawings were found, pretty obscure stuff).

2. The last variant that was actually built (if only partially) of the Panther was the Panther Ausf.F – what were the differences between the Ausf.F and earlier variants? (Hint: the entire variant, not only the hull) What was it armed with?

Answer: The answer could be found in this post. Depends how far you are willing to go, but if you went with the top armor changes, the redesigned crew hatches and the Schmalturm with stereoscopic rangefinder and improved optics. The gun was 75mm KwK 44/1, but keep in mind that the 88mm L/71 in Schmalturm was NOT a part of the Ausf.F variant.

3. Which countries after the war used the Panther (any of its variants) or considered its use? (even “stored in reserve” counts) – name at least 4

Answer: This one was a bit tricky, the important part was “after the war” and “used or considered its use”, which does NOT include simply testing a specimen. The correct answer I had in mind was: Germany (Germans considered restarting the Panther production, France, Czechoslovakia and Romania). Bulgaria would be acceptable as well, but Sweden, America, Britain, Japan, USSR and other countries never really considered their use after the war, they just tested it vehicle. Therefore, if you went with the wiki article, you most likely got it wrong.

I considered the answer correct, if the answer had incorrect parts, but included the correct parts as well (for example, if you listed 6 countries and 4 were correct).

I recieved 77 e-mails with answers, of which 23 were correct. The most common mistake was to take the wikipedia list of foreign Panther users and use it as an answer for the third question. Second most common mistake was to list 88mm L/71 as an Ausf.F gun (it was not) and third most common mistake was to include Jagdpanther in the first answer.

It wasn’t hard to pick 18 winners out of 23 answers, but I would like to thank everyone for participating. The winners are:

Srdo (EU), sov_ddb (RU), Pentti_Perusinsinoori (EU), Panzer_Fenris (EU), Llares (EU), Avalanche_2 (EU), kiflajiq (EU), redblurr (NA), Toiski (EU), ChielScape (EU), Lonewolf89 (EU), LtPineapple (EU), marcusanton (EU), Jagdwehrwolf (EU), Tenkaido (EU), beczl (EU), DemolitionDmitrij (EU), Zygzak191 (EU)

Now I am going to need the shipping address for the winners. Some already sent it to me in the initial e-mail, will wait for the rest and then I will send the prizes en-masse. I would appreciate if you took time to e-mail me that address (to competitionftr@centrum.cz) as soon as possible.

To all of you, once again, thanks for participating :)

14 thoughts on “Panther Competition Results”

  3. Off topic: Just noticed another translation error on the “Achille’s” (should be spelled Achilles’) Heel achievement in the English client.

    • If I read SS correctly, Bulgaria was a correct answer – the correct answers were Germany, France, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Bulgaria, with four being needed to be eligible. If so, it looks like I was probably one of the five unlucky ones. Ah, well, c’est la vie.

      (I didn’t get Germany… had no idea they’d considered restarting production, and had thought it had pretty much been rendered obsolete by the time either of the Germanies was allowed to rearm. Curious as to whether it was West or East Germany now…)

  9. i wonder what the panther would have developed in to after world war 2 if for example germany restarted its production because the chances are they may have continued to try and develop on it. the panther would also make the most sense to restart the production of out of all the ww2 german tanks because the tiger, tiger 2 and the e-series machines would likely have been way to difficult to develop after the war and build while also being complicate to build.

    • Not to mention that, with Hitler out of the picture, they would probably have realised how impractical the Tigers really were – not to mention an E-50 that was partially designed with compatibility with an E-75 in mind.

      It’s an interesting question. To be worthwhile in 1955, it would need to be something that was at least vaguely competitive to early Pattons and T-54s. What I’d imagine would be something like people IMAGINE the Ausf F (which if hypothetically development had continued likely would have been in the Panther’s future, but a later Ausf) to be – take the larger turret ring that was developed for the 88L71 and mount the postwar 90mm in it (maintaining compatibility with American ammunition… assuming it was West Germany that was considering this).

      I’d also imagine that the final drive would be replaced, either by the Tiger drive or a new design, since they would no longer have been looking to achieve wartime production rates.

      Of course, it’s possible that the reason it was looked into was on the basis of understanding that it was obsolete, but that any tank was better than no tank. Either way, the US dumping their surplus M47s across Western Europe would have put paid to it entirely and shifted focus to the next generation (being the Franco-German-Italian collaboration that split into the AMX30 and the Leo 1 after the French withdrew).

      Either way, SS, if you have more information on this (and it’s not something you can’t publish due to your arrangement with the Panther Project people) I’d be interested in seeing it!