Customer Reviews

Panther Medium Tank 1942-45 (New Vanguard)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Stephen Hart does a great job of describing the development history, combat performance, and detailed description of the Panther tank in just 48 pages! He does a fine job of describing the different models of the Panther (A, D, F, and G). The colored plates by Jim Laurier are excellent.

In the combat performance portion, Hart describes more of the Panther's battles in the Western front rather than the Eastern front (e.g. Barkmann's experiences in Normandy, Peiper's actions during the Ardennes Offensive). I deleted one star because I felt Hart should have covered the extensive actions of the Panther in the Eastern Front. He does a brief analysis of Kursk, but what about all the other battles in the Eastern front (Operation Bagration, battles in Berlin, etc.)? The bulk of the ground fighting in WWII took place in the Eastern front. I was somewhat surprised that Hart did not devote more space to analyzing how the Panther fared against the T34 and the JS tanks.

One of the chapters I enjoyed reading the most was the last portion, where Hart assesses the Panther in terms of the balance of firepower, protection, and mobility compared to other tanks. While he does not quite say that the Panther is the best overall AFV of WW2, he hints at it. The only thing lacking in the Panther as compared to the T34/85 is the ease of production and the numbers produced in the war. Otherwise, the Panther is a strong candidate of being the best overall tank of WW2.

I was very pleased with this book and found it to be a worthy edition in the Osprey series.

If you're looking for a good, inexpensive overview of the PzKfw V Panther then I'd recommend this title. It's quite well written & informative ( a few typo's but at least it doesn't cost very much ). The book covers all models from D to F & includes a small section on the never produced Panther II. The artwork is very good ( a major improvement over some Jim Laurier's previous work in Osprey titles ).

The book is apparently aimed at model builders as it has many full color pictures, but little hard data (for example, how long was this beast? Don't look for it here. What little information is provided is hidden among the text. At the very least a book like this should have several tables of characteristics for each major model. I will not be purchasing anymore of this Osprey series.