Throughout the history of mobile warfare, weapons designers have always been confronted with an ongoing dilemma. And that is: how to create tremendous killing power and armor protection, without sacrificing speed, maneuverability, and fuel efficiency at the same time.

Very few times in history has such a challenge been overcome. Yet, the Germans, during the latter half of the Second World War, managed to do just that. They designed and built one of the most advanced and most dangerous weapons ever to appear on any battlefield, anywhere, anytime. They called it, the Mark V Panzer, or Panther, and it represented the best of both worlds.

Contrary to popular myth, German tanks during the early years of the Second World War were not immense in size and stature. Nor, did they possess awesome firepower, either. Rather, they were quite small and compact, speedy and maneuverable, light weight with narrow tracks, and highly fuel efficient. They were designed to strike quickly, pierce an enemy defense line at a single point [Sometimes no more than the width of a two-lane road], drive far to the rear, wreaking endless havoc as they raced along, then surround large enemy formations with gigantic pincer movements, forcing their eventual capitulation.

This style of warfare, termed, “Blitzkrieg” by Western journalists, was perfectly suited for the early German tanks. They were in no way, shape, manner, or form designed to engage enemy tanks in all-out slugging matches. In Poland, Belgium, Holland, North Africa, ad France, this strategy proved virtually flawless, and the German Army won tremendous victories as a result. However, when the Germans attacked the Soviet Union on June 22nd, 1941, “Blitzkrieg” in general, and German tanks in particular began encountering serious trouble. That’s because the Russians, unbeknownst to German Military Intelligence, had produced a medium battle tank during the late 1930’s called the T 34/76.

Actually based upon a design by the American engineer Walter Christie, that was rejected by the U.S. Army, the T 34/76 was an outstanding weapon in practically every way, shape, manner, and form. It contained sloping frontal armor, extra-wide tracks, and a medium velocity, five-foot long, 76 mm main gun. The sloping frontal armor was augmented by 45 mm o steel which could easily deflect the 50 mm shells of the Mark III Panzer, Germany’s main battle tank at the time. In addition, the extra-wide tracks allowed the T 34 to negotiate mud, slush, and marshy ground far better, far quicker, and much more easily than the German tanks could. In addition, the medium velocity gun could destroy any German tank or armored vehicle at almost a 1/2 mile range.