Foreign Panthers: The Panzer V in British, Soviet, French and other service 1943–58

Osprey New Vanguard #313

by Thomas Seignon, M.P. Robinson, Henry Morshead (Illustrator)

The little-known career of Germany's Panther, perhaps the greatest tank of World War II, in foreign hands both during and after the war.

The Panther was arguably the most successful medium tank design of World War II, demonstrated by the number of Germany's enemies that used them after, and even during the war.

While some were used by the Western Allies, the Russians used the greatest number of captured Panthers against Nazi Germany, though they did not find much favor thanks to their mechanical unreliability and difficulty in acquiring spare parts. After the war, they were mostly passed on to satellite states such as Bulgaria and Romania. The French army also used them in significant numbers after the war with approximately 50 in service from 1946 to 1950, and they were a significant influence on future French tank design.
Using detailed artwork and contemporary photographs, this fascinating book tells the little-known story of the Panther tank in foreign hands in World War II and beyond.

48 pages, Paperback

Published November 22, 2022

Reviews

[Mike O'Brien · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book with high expectations. Expecting that the Soviets, the Syrians, maybe even the Egyptians or Israelis might have used this vaunted tank, in the case of the Soviets maybe even in large numbers. Spoiler alert, the amount of mechanical problems with the Panther prevented little more than piecemeal use of limited numbers of vehicles.

The book is certainly useful, especially for someone doing a diorama or painting for a few small use scenarios, and thus worth the price for the number of color prints and as a starting point for some different kinds of encounters.

[Shrike58 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Curiosity about how the French made use of these vehicles post-1945 was my main interest in acquiring this booklet, but the authors do attempt to touch on all non-German use of the Panther. The short version is that the use of captured Panthers was not as common as period Western intelligence services thought; these machines were just too hard to keep operating. Apart from that, if I see Thomas Seignon's name on a book going forward, I'm making note of it for future reading.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very brief but fantastic book, um? I mean booklet, well written, a good read, worth having.

[Garrett Olinde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for the topic.