Not necessarily a can of worms, but perhaps a needle in the haystack? According to a quoted source from Jentz’s “Germany’s Panther Tank”, production of the Ausf A started in Aug. of 1943 with only 3 being completed that month. Difficult to guesstimate just how many early A’s left the factories sans zimmerit as the official application dates vary so widely. It does knock out I./Pz. Rgt. 4 as a possibility as they were sent to Italy in February 1944 to counter the Anzio landings.
I may have another contender, though more recent research may come along to debunk it. This one takes it’s setting in southern Russia with Schweres Panzerregiment Bäke. A photo appears on page 9 of Squadron’s Panther in Action. More info and a dedicated build here:
Before this thread runs completely off the edge, I would just like to state that I have no evidence there were any non-zimmed Ausf A in Italy at all. The stupid drawing in Osprey’s Anzio 1944 started this goose-chase by depicting a naked Ausf A in a two page color spread and being familiar with the actual photo, I ran with it. Upon finding the photo in question and realising the Osprey drawing is bogus, I’ve got no game. The time period is close enough, the shipment of early model Ausf A’s are in the right period, but without records of Fgst. Nr. and where they were shipped, one can only hope to find a photo, otherwise this is like trying to prove/disprove God.
Anyways, in the link Jack posted is the photo in question from page 62 of Jentz’s Panther Tank. Great news! Now we know what unit it is from! The caption under it in Jentz’s book states it was built on or about Oct 1st from the D-Benz factory. Production figures on page 60 state that 50 Ausf A were built at DB prior to this vehicle, since it doesn’t have Zim, I highly doubt the previous 50 did either, then there are the other 3 factories outputs as well. So I’m going to say there were at least 50 Ausf A without Zim. The introduction of Zimmerit was scheduled for Sept 7th, but all factories did not start at the same time. Only 3 Ausf A total were completed before Sept of 1943 at all 4 factories, production did not start in earnest until Sept…
Even though the shipment of 76 Panthers to 1/PzRg 4 wasn’t until Feb of 44, it still had some Ausf D included, be they rebuilds (probably, since there were so many problems with them ) or new, I don’t know, but the Ausf A were early production models, as seen by the initial horizontal jack placement in photos, and other features as well. Besides, Squadron misidentifies this as a Ausf D, which it is not, because we know the Fgst.Nr. is 151951, which can actually be seen in the photo in Jentz’s book.
Time to check out Panzerregiment Bäke… Schweres Panzer-Regiment Bäke was formed on 23 Jan 1944, so just about the same time as the actions in Italy.My guess is if a non-zim Ausf A can show up in Russia at this late date, maybe Italy too? I would like to know how this Ausf A was identified as belonging to Schweres Panzer-Regiment Bäke? I’m not saying it doesn’t belong to Bake, I’d just like to know, as it might shed some light as to the rest of the non-zims…however many there actually are. Since Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 503 is part of this unit and I have the Combat History of sPzAbt 503 I’ll see if there are any photos or info there…Searching for II/ Panzer regiment 23 isn’t yielding much.
Alas I am confused, this is some tough work finding these non zim tanks. So perhaps there may have been no zim Ausf A’s in Italy and in Russi… what of the 438 in the Ardennes? Could this possibly be in Russia?
Don’t you just love it when a simple question grows into something ridiculous? [*-)]
Squadron’s Panther in Action, page 14 caption says 438 is in the Ardennes. It also states it is a Ausf D…well, in Mr Jentz I trust, all others take a back seat. 438 most certainly is not a Ausf D, the diagram on page 57 of Panther Tank, Quest for Combat Supremacy clearly shows the difference in the interlocking turret joints of a Ausf A vs a Ausf D, which can be seen in the photo, so Squadron is wrong about that. I looked in my copy of the 544 page Battle of the Bulge, Then and Now to see if I could confirm 438’s location, but could not find the photo. The fact that it is a Bundesarchiv photo helps a lot, as we should be able to track down and confirm it’s location, assuming I can remember which website will do this type of search.
Well, thats closure enough for me. I’ll model my Panther Ausf A based on the idea that there were a couple more like the 438 and 435 seen in the pictures and stick it onto a diorama in the Ardennes. I still can’t make out the camo pattern on them though. Cheers for the help Ixion!
This is said to be one of the few existing photographs of a panther Ausf.A without zimmerit. It is a model, the 701, the panzer regiment 23 belonging to the Heavy Panzerregiment Bake on the Russian front in early 1944. According to this source A few are without zimmerit, practically only those produced in August 1943 and that the production of that month has been assigned to all 23 panzerregiment.
Personally I believe this is another tank from the link jgeratic posted.
I think this is a late D, not an early A. If I remember my research correctly, the cast cupola was fitted to the last of the D production. I believe the binocular gunners periscope in the mantlet is the giveaway. I’m doing this from memory so correct me if I’m wrong guys
The monocular (T.Z.F.12a) gun sight did not replace the binocular (T.Z.F.12) until late Nov. / early Dec, well into Ausf A production. (See Jenzt, Germany’s Panther Tank, Quest for Combat Supremacy, page 64, note 4.3.7.) The Ausf A pictured on page 66 has the binocular sight.
Liam, it appears you have solved the mystery of where these unzimmed Ausf A ended up. Where did you find this image? I looked all over but didn’t find any of this info, so obviously I’m missing something here. [:O]
