Panther/M10

Panther_M10 (Stock)

Totals

5750 Price

1300 Hit Points

45.89 / 49 kgWeight

Crew

1. Commander

Armor

85/50/40Hull Armor(front/sides/rear, mm)

100/45/45Turret Armor(front/sides/rear, mm)

Maneuver

700 h.p.Engine Power

46 km/hSpeed Limit

38 deg/secTraverse Speed

Firepower

135 Standard Shell Damage

150 mmStandard Shell Penetration

4.5 Time for Complete Loading

38 deg/secTurret Traverse Speed

Communication

350 mView Range

710 mSignal Range

Panther/M10

VII

5750

During the Ardennes Offensive several Panthers assigned to Panzerbrigade 150 were disguised as M10 Wolverine tank destroyers. This was a part of a larger operation aimed to cause confusion in the rear of the Allied lines. On February 1945 disguised Panthers encountered the 120th Infantry Regiment (United States). One vehicle was destroyed, three were captured.

Contrary to what the ingame description says, the Panther/M10 actually saw action on 21 December 1944, not February 1945.

PzKpfw IIG 0-Serie

Stock

	Level	Turret	Weight (t)	Turret Armor (front/sides/rear, mm)	Gun Traverse Speed (deg/s)	View Range (m)
	VII	PzKpfw-V-Turm Ausf. G	8500	100/45/45	38	350

	Level	Gun	Weight (t)	Average Penetration (mm)		Rate of Fire	Dispersion at 100 m	Aiming Time
	VI	7.5 cm KwK L70	955	150/194/38	135/135/175	13.33	0.35	2.3

	Level	Engine	Weight (t)	Engine Power (h.p.)	Chance of Fire on Impact
	VIII	Maybach HL 230 P 30	1400	700	20

	Level	Suspension	Weight (t)	Load Limit	Traverse Speed (deg/s)
	VII	PzKpfw-V-Ketten Ausf. 1943	12500	49	38

	Level	Radio	Weight (t)	Signal Range (m)
	VI	FuG 7 Ausf. F	0	710

Compatible Equipment

Compatible Consumables

Player Opinion

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Great accuracy for its tier, and decent accuracy on the move - even without the benefit of a Vertical Stabilizer
• Excellent mobility and traverse
• Decent acceleration
• Excellent turret traverse
• Low repair cost and high credit income

Cons:

• Mediocre thickness on the armor
• Retains the thin lower glacis weakpoint from the Panther. When penetrated, the tanks tends to light on fire (cover this as mu
• Low alpha damage, though normal for a tier 7 German medium
• Barely sufficient penetration, expect plenty of non-penetrating hits in tier 7-8 battles
• Inferior to even a stock Panther in almost every aspect

Performance

Anyone that has driven a Pz.Kpfw. V Panther will feel right at home. The Panther-M10 is basically a Panther without the magnificent 75mm L/100 gun, 50 less horsepower (which is barely noticeable), and a larger turret. No less of a good tank, the Panther-M10 has an improved aim and reload time with the well proven 75mm L/70 gun and it is still able to put its weight into fights. The tank's low repair costs and high credit income makes it more cost-effective compared to the regular Panther.

The Panther/M10 is the first tank to sport a different color from the rest of the tanks of its nation. Instead of German grey, it is American olive drab; and as of 8.6, it sports the American star rather than the Iron Cross. As of 8.9, American camouflage patterns and inscriptions are available for it.

With this tanks strengths and weaknesses it can take on most tier 7's and under with minimal help, but only a teammate or two will help you do a bit more damage or prevent them from circling around. A big problem for this tank is its low alpha, making this tank very weak against most tier 8 heavy's with their large health pools and high powered weaponry. Even though this tank has only an average of 135 damage per shot, you can still deal a good amount of damage even to tanks such as the T29 or Tiger II if you aim for their weak spots and disable critical modules allowing you to gain control of the situation.

You must always keep in mind that with this tank you are a support unit, with your role being to assist your teammates in battle. As a result, always aim for the enemies tracks, engine, or any other vulnerable parts of the vehicle that can disabled to make it easier to allow your team to finish the job. With its fire rate and accuracy, you are guaranteed to be able to continually disable them. Also, as a support unit, you should always be watching the flanks and trying to keep up with the movements of your enemies if possible, since you do not want to be the person that misses the scouts breaking through your lines of defense. Here, the good turret traverse, RoF, and accuracy make it excellent at tracking and killing scouts.

The Panther/M10 should not be driven head on against heavy tanks as the damage it inflicts can be rather low. This tank excels as a sniper or support unit, and it is very maneuverable, being able to assist tanks quickly on separate fronts, and can lay waste to any tier 7 (or lower) medium and light tanks with little effort. Keep in mind that heavy tanks are frequently encountered in tier 7 and 8 battles, so putting the M10 on the front lines can result in almost certain death.

This tank excels especially when played in a wolfpack of two or more mediums in a platoon. A wolfpack is able to deal considerable damage to enemy tanks that have been separated from their allies.

Do not judge its armor too harshly - it is able to bounce shots from many vehicles in a similar fashion to the original Panther in game, even being able to occasionally bounce the KV-1S/IS' 122mm guns with a good angle. The Panther/M10 also lacks a cupola; it was historically removed as part of disguise. This is reflected in its view range, but makes it good in hull-down locations. The gun mantlet has a habit of taking 0 damage from shots, but don't trust it too much. Due to its high profile, hiding from behind a bush will still reveal the tank's position even when sniping from long range (depending on an enemy tank's view range). Unless you're a dedicated sniper, training the Camouflage skill as early as possible is a must.

Historical Info

Note false final drive housing at bottom of bow.

In late 1944, Hitler was planning one last desperate offensive to attempt to obtain a separate peace from the Western Allies. The Wacht am Rhein plan was designed to split the British and American armies as well as capture Antwerp. This battle, of course, became known as the Battle of the Bulge in the West. As a part of the Wacht am Rhein plan was Operation Greif under the command of Otto Skorzeny. English speaking German commandos in American uniforms and using as much American equipment as possible would infiltrate American positions to seize bridges across the Meuse. This unit, innoculously entitled Panzer Brigade 150 was supposed to consist of 3,300 men, 15 Sherman tanks, 32 armored cars (U.S.), 198 trucks, and 147 jeeps which had been requisition from OB West. Unfortunately for the brigade, the required equipment never materialized. Panzer Brigade 150 went into battle with only about 2,500 men and a dozen tanks and assault guns. Several of the tanks were Panther usf. 's extensively modified to look like U.S. M-10 tank destroyers.

Vehicle modifications

Turret

Panther tank disguised as U.S. M10 gun carriage, showing hatch covers used in place of turret

The turret was disguised by using five pieces of sheet metal, two of which were cut to resemble the distinctive sides of the M10 turret and then were flanged on the edges, bent to shape, and stiffened with small angle iron. The gun shield was carefully formed from another sheet to the exact shape of the M10 shield, and a hole was made to the right of the gun hole in the shield for the co-axial M.G. 34, a hole which does not exist in the M10 shield. Two pieces of sheet metal made up the rear of the turret, one representing the bottom slant surface of the rear and one representing the counterweight. The pieces representing the sides and rear were joined together and braced with angle iron, and the whole was attached to the turret. The false gun shield was attached to the Panther gun shield, and all the lifting rings, brackets, extra-armor studs, etc., found on the M10 turret were carefully duplicated and welded to the false turret.

False Bow

Approximately four pieces of sheet metal, shaped to imitate as closely as possible the contours of the M10 bow, made up the false bow, necessary because the Panther bow is bulkier than the M10. The false bottom was shaped to give the characteristic appearance of the front drive sprocket housing of the M10, and the top was shaped carefully and various component pieces attached to the front of the tank. All the brackets, lifting rings, towing devises, etc., of the M10 bow were also imitated. A square opening was cut in the false bow to permit the use of the bow M.G. 34, but a removable cover attached with a small chain was made for this opening.

False Rear and Sides

Panther/M10, eventually all were destroyed by enemy fire

The false rear was made of sheet metal. It was a faithful duplicate of the M10 rear except for two holes to permit the twin exhaust elbows of the Panther to protrude. An attempt was made to imitate the skirting armor of the M10 which appears to hang lower than the side armor of the Panther and is bevelled in at the bottom. A long flat strip of sheet metal was attached to the sides parallel to the ground, and a vertical sheet strip was attached at right angles to this strip to give the appearance of low skirting armor. While a few of the jeep commando teams easily slipped through American sentries and roamed freely behind American lines, but the rest of the unit languished with Sixth Panzer Armee. When it became apparent that no breakthrough was going to occur, the "Ersatz M-10's" were committed along with the rest of the brigade as a normal combat unit. Ultimately all of the vehicles were destroyed or disabled in the fighting.

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