A medium tank deployed by NaziGermany in World War II from mid-1943 to the end of the European war in 1945. It was intended as a counter to the SovietT-34, and as a replacement for the Panzer III and Panzer IV. While never replacing the latter, it served alongside it and the heavier Tiger I until the end of the war.
Until 1944, it was designated as the Panzerkampfwagen V Panther and had the ordnance inventory designation of Sd.Kfz. 171. On 27 February 1944, Adolf Hitler ordered that the Roman numeral V be deleted from the designation.
