HISTORY:
** The Panzer V was the most advanced and best-balanced medium tank of World War Two. Captured Panthers were coveted by the Allies, and the Panzer V would become an important design influence on the post war generation of main battle tanks.
This book is the first to survey the Panther’s career in foreign hands. Bold Polish and French resistance soldiers, and British and Soviet tankers, turned a famous handful of these tanks against Germans, largely with success. But Panthers were difficult to maintain without spares and trained technicians, so their careers were inevitably brief. Evaluation of captured Panthers continued after the war in Britain, America, France, Czechoslovakia and Sweden, but with the German supply chain destroyed, efforts to adopt surviving vehicles as standard types in France and Czechoslovakia were problematic.
Using detailed new artwork and rare photographs, this fascinating study pieces together the story of the Panther in Allied hands, and reassess the overstated stories of the Panther’s supposed post war use**
** Quoted from the back cover of the book.
THE BOOK:
Osprey Publications has released Foreign Panthers - The Panzer V in British, Soviet, French and other service, 1943-58 as Number 313 in the New Vanguard series. It is a 48-page soft cover book. Included with the text are black and white and color photographs, color illustrations, detailed captions, and more. It has a 2022 copyright, a publication date of November 22, 2022, and the ISBN is 978-1-4728-3181-1.
THE CONTENTS:
Introduction
Panthers in the Service of Axis Allies
Assessing the Threat: Allied Evaluations 1943-44
- Soviet Evaluation
- British Evaluation
- American Evaluation
In Combat
- The Red Army
- Resistance Panthers
- The British Army: 'Deserter' and 'Cuckoo'
Panthers in Post-War Service
- Bulgaria
- Romania
- Czechoslovakia
- The French Army
The Panther as a Template
Bibliography and Sources
Index
THE TEXT:
Authors M.P. Robinson and Thomas Seignon provide a well written text detailing the history of the capture, evaluation and use of German Panzer V Panther tanks by militaries other than Germany such as the Soviet Union, Britian, America, Poland, France as well as the resistance during World War II and the post war period by countries such as Romania, Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia. The history of specific Panthers is provided such as the German military unit they were assigned to at the time of their capture, the detail of their capture and the changes and modifications made including changes of the vehicle’s tactical markings and the final disposition of the tanks. The text goes into great detail in all areas of the book as outlined on the contents page. M.P. Robinson and Thomas Seignon provide the information in an easy-to-read format which the detail-oriented reader will benefit from. In addition to their own words M.P. Robinson and Thomas Seignon have also provided quotes from official reports detailing things such as the problem of spare parts and the solution for that, test results from target practice on the Panther with various weapons and types of ammunition and German prisoner warnings regarding mechanical issues with the Panther. The text in the book is nicely written and well detailed. As I read through the text, I didn’t notice any spelling or grammatical errors. Grammar and spelling might not be an important factor to everyone however it is something that I take notice of and pass on my findings. I feel that if the text is well written then it shows that the author has taken the time to be professional with their writing. Anyone wanting to add an excellent reference and history book on the German Panzer V Panther tank, and it’s use by militaries other than Germany during World War II and the post war period to their personal library will be pleased with this informative and interesting book.
THE PHOTOGRAPHS:
A total of 39 black and white photographs and 1 color photograph are included in this volume. The photographs range from wide angle photographs to close-up detailed photographs. They contain a combination of in-action photographs, photographs which appear to have been removed from motion pictures to photographs that have been staged for the photographer. The main focus of the photographs are of the Panther tank as one would expect. The photographs also include images of military markings, modifications, and changes made to the tanks, tank crewmembers and other such subjects. The majority of the photographs are clear and easily viewable; however, a few have an out of focus look to them and some appear to be too dark, and others appear too light. This is typical for the discussed period of history and the quality of the photographs are of no fault of the authors and do not take anything away from the book. Authors M.P. Robinson and Thomas Seignon stuck to the title of the book and chose subject specific photographs and did not include photographs that strayed from the main subject of the book. The majority, if not all, of the photographs will prove to be a wealth of information to the scale modeler and scratch-builder and anyone interested in the history of the German Panzer V Panther tank and it’s use by militaries other than Germany during World War II and the post war period due to the details they contain.
THE ILLUSTRATIONS:
There are 8 plates with a total of 15 color illustrations with detailed captions included by illustrator Henry Morshead. The illustrations are very well done, nicely detailed and are of:
Plate A
Soviet T-V Pantera
- A one-page color illustration depicting a captured Panther tank in use by the Soviet Union in March of 1945. The Panther has Soviet markings and belongs to the 366th Guards Heavy Artillery SP Regiment.
Plate B
Polish Home Army Panther Ausf Gs
- Dual color illustrations on one page depicting captured Panthers in use by the Polish military. The two Panthers shown are:
- Panther Ausf G ‘Magda’
- Panther Ausf G ‘Felek’
Plate C
French Army ‘Dauphine’ and ‘Normandie’
- Dual color illustrations on one page depicting captured Panthers in use by the French military. The two Panthers shown are:
- ‘Dauphine’
- ‘Normandie’
Plate D
‘Deserter’, in service with the Royal Armoured Corps, Italy 1944/45
- A one-page color illustration depicting a captured Panther G in use with the 21st Tank Brigade’s 145th Battalion, Royal Armoured Corps (145th RAC)
Plate E
Panther Ausf G ‘Cuckoo’
- Dual color illustrations on one page depicting right and left views of a captured Panther in use by the HQ Squadron, 4th Battalion Coldstream Guards, 6th Guards Tank Brigade, in the Netherlands in January 1944.
Plate F
Bulgarian Army T-5s
- Dual color illustrations on one page depicting captured Panthers in use by the Bulgarian military. The two Panthers shown are:
- Captured Panther belonging to the Bulgarian 1st Company, 1st Tank Battalion in March 1945.
- Retired captured Panther turret emplaced as a frontier fortification on the Bulgarian-Greek border in the 1950s.
Plate G
Czechoslovakian Army VT-42 and Hungarian Army Ausf D
- Dual color illustrations on one page depicting captured Panthers in use by the Czechoslovakian Army and the Hungarian Army. The two Panthers shown are:
- Captured Panther belonging to the Czechoslovakian Army being used as a turretless recovery tractor in the 1950s
- Captured Panther belonging to the Hungarian 2nd Armoured Division that was used by them in combat in late 1944.
Plate H
Romanian Panther T-5 Ausf. D
- Dual color illustrations on one page depicting captured Panthers in use by the Romanian military which were supplied to them by the Russian military in early 1945. They were placed in the 1st Armoured Brigade which was later incorporated into the Tudor Vladimirescu-Debretin Armoured Division.
THE CAPTIONS:
The captions are well written and explain the accompanying photographs and illustrations in great detail eliminating any doubt as to what is shown. The captions go into very specific detail as to the specific Panther shown, the military unit to which it belonged, the country which had taken possession of the tank, military markings, modifications, and changes made to the tank and they reason why, dates, locations and other such pertinent information. As I read through the captions, I didn’t notice any spelling or grammatical errors. M.P. Robinson and Thomas Seignon’s captions will be helpful to the reader due to their detailed content as opposed to other captions that I have seen that are very brief and lacking in detail.
Osprey Publishing also offers Foreign Panthers - The Panzer V in British, Soviet, French and other service, 1943-58 as:
Ebook (PDF) ISBN: 978-1-4728- 3199-6
and
Ebook (Epub) ISBN: 978-1-4728- 3200-9
Osprey Publishing’s, Foreign Panthers - The Panzer V in British, Soviet, French and other service, 1943-58 is also available as an electronic Kindle version through Amazon.com.
PRICE:
UK £11.99 / US $19.00 / CAN $25.00
This book was provided to me by Osprey Publishing. Please mention that you saw the book reviewed here on the KitMaker Network when you make your purchase. Thank you.
