The Panzer V Panther tank was a medium tank fielded by the German Wehrmacht in 1943. It was fielded during the heat of World War II in 1943 to counter the Soviet T-34. The T-34 and KV-1 had proven to be two Russian tanks that the Wehrmacht had had difficulty defeating since the beginning of Operation Barbarossa in 1941. The Panther was thus built as an answer mainly to the T-34 medium tank. It supplemented the Panzer IV tank (in fact, it was supposed to replace the Panzer IV but was never produced in enough numbers to accomplish this) and also served alongside the Tiger I and Tiger II tanks. It made good use of slopped armor which proved itself much to the Germans dismay by the T-34's in the Russian steppes. It had excellent firepower, mobility and firepower and is often regarded as the be