Reich : World War 2 Through German Eyes by James Lucas

'The Panzer V (Panther) was one vehicle which showed the effect of Hitler’s direct
interference. Drawings and prototypes of tanks heavier than the Panzer IV had been produced
by several companies, but the Supreme Command had shown no interest, declaring that there
was no need for them. The T-34 soon proved the OKW’s declaration to be untrue. There was a
need for a heavier German tank and that need was urgent. Production of the Panzer V began
during November 1942, and the first vehicles to be produced showed weaknesses resulting
from rushed development. Guderian warned, during his lecture, that the fundamental faults in
the Panzer V were of so serious a nature that the vehicle could not enter troop service until July
1943. Hitler was impatient to bring the new machine into service and actually postponed
Operation ‘Citadel’, the German offensive against Kursk, in order to use the Panther as the
principal weapon in that operation. The routes of advance to the Kursk battlefield were marked
with broken-down Panthers whose transmissions had not been able to cope with the great
weight they had to bear, and other tanks which had caught fire because of faults in the cooling
system. The poor performance of the Panthers was acknowledged in a High Command
memorandum which went on to highlight the fault of German production methods: ‘The demand
for replacement parts [for the Panzer V] could not be met … without interfering with production
of the vehicles…’