Before 1944, it was marked as Panther 5 tank, and was numbered Sd by the War Department. Kfz。 ? 17 1。 1On February 27th, 944, Hitler ordered it to be renamed as "Leopard Tank".
Leopard was undoubtedly made for Soviet T-34 tanks, because the performance of T-34 tanks far exceeded the third and fourth tanks owned by Germany at that time. At the strong request of German general guderian, the high command sent a unit to the eastern front to evaluate the enemy's T-34 tanks.
The most thoughtful design of Soviet tanks is its inclined armor, which not only increases the possibility of bouncing off incoming shells, but also increases the density of armor, making it difficult for incoming shells to penetrate. In addition, the wider track and larger wheels greatly improve the maneuverability on soft ground, and a machine gun is also equipped. Daimler-Benz? (DB company) and Maschinenfabrik? Augsburg-Nuremberg? AG(MAN) was ordered to design a new type of 30-35 tonnage tank, and the designated development number was VK3002. The two companies just showed their design drawings on Hitler's birthday in April, 1942.
In the scheme proposed by 1942 in April, Daimler-Benz designed almost a copy of T-34, which is different from the complicated design in the past. Daimler-Benz tried to realize a simple design similar to the Soviet T-34 tank in the aspects of car body, turret, diesel engine, drive system, suspension system and crawler belt. MAN's design conforms to the traditional German concept: the rear end of the spacious car body is equipped with a solid turret, a gasoline engine, a torsion bar suspension system and a typical German tank cabin. Although Hitler intended to adopt Daimler-Benz's design, in the end, Mann gained the appreciation of the German Military Ministry, and its design was adopted in May 1942. The first test model of Leopard tank produced by Mann Company was released in September 1942, and was adopted by the military after testing. As a result, the Germans immediately put the tank into production, but its formal production was delayed again and again-because the roof needed to be made by machinery, which Germany lacked, so the final tank was officially put into production in February of the same year. This kind of tank is in great demand in Germany. Therefore, after 1943, the production of Leopard tanks is no longer a patent of MAN, but is jointly owned by Daimler-Benz, MNH and HS. According to JENTZ's book, the production time of a leopard is 2000 hours.
During the manufacturing process, many design problems were found, including that the engine horsepower could not bear the extra weight added by the car body, the engine caught fire due to poor design of the cooling system, and the outer edge of the wheel was faulty. MAN initially expected to produce 250 Leopard tanks per month, but in June1943 65438+1October, it raised the target to 600. However, no matter how hard it tries, human beings can't meet this expectation because of allied bombing, production problems (such as its gasoline engine and complicated design) and other difficulties. During the period of 1943, only 148 Panther tanks were produced on average in one month, but the output increased by 67 in 1944. Until the end of the war, Germany always produced more than 6,000 Leopard tanks. It should be noted that Germany's military production was too late to mobilize, and it needed to build a large number of submarines and local air defense forces, so it could not put all its strength into the production of the army and the front-line air force like the Soviet Union (the Chelyabinsk factory, the largest production place of Soviet T-34 tanks, produced locomotives before the war, and almost all Soviet railway equipment came from wartime assistance). Therefore, it is wrong to simply attribute the tank output lower than that of the Soviet Union to the design.
If the extra installed artillery and inclined armor in front of the car body are excluded, the leopard is undoubtedly the most common tank design in Germany. The weight of the tank was increased from 35 tons to 43 tons, and a Maibakh HL230P30, which can provide 700 horsepower and is driven by gearbox and control system, was installed. V- 12 gasoline engine is generally considered to be able to withstand the load of continuous driving for 2000 kilometers. In order to minimize engine failure, the developer specially installed a governor to reduce the engine speed to 2500 rpm. In addition, the installation of the governor also reduced the speed of the leopard from 55 km/h to 46 km/h.
Leopard bearing system adopts the design of staggered road wheels connecting torsion bars, which can be said to be the best design of German tanks in World War II and also used by the French in the design of AMX50 heavy tanks after the war. However, when this design is used in the Soviet battlefield in winter, it often happens that the load-bearing wheel freezes and the tank cannot move, so the load-bearing wheel inside must be removed first, which increases the inconvenience of maintenance. Leopard suspension system consists of a front drive sprocket, a rear guide wheel and eight rubber-coated steel wheels, and two torsion bars are added to each damping arm as another part of its suspension system. Therefore, the leopard is expensive and time-consuming, but it also brought it irreplaceable off-road performance at that time. Leopard control system is based on 7-speed AK designed by ZF company. 7-200 synchronous meshing gear box and MAN, which consists of a single-axis control system driven by a control rod. Its control system allows each gearbox to be driven by a fixed shaft. The larger the gear, the larger the radius of rotation. If its radius is larger than required, then the steering braking system can be used to tighten the rotation of the gear. Due to the design of hydraulic disc brake system and circulating gear system, Leopard tank can independently stop a track as needed without stopping all power. So the biggest weakness of the Leopard tank is its final driving component. This is because during the war, Germany lacked machinery to make gears, and the machinery that happened to produce this part also lacked the necessary gears, which led to this embarrassing situation. And the life of this component is only 150 km.
The crew of this tank consists of five people: the driver, the correspondent, the gunner, the loader and the conductor. Its large oblique armor is made of homogeneous steel plate, which becomes stronger after welding and locking. There are only two openings in the whole armor, which are provided to the gunner and the driver respectively. The original Leopard tank only had a diagonal armor of 60 mm, but it was quickly thickened to 80 mm. Later Leopard D model strengthened the turret armor to the upper limit 120 mm to protect the front end of the turret. The turret is also oblique armor, and the internal space is narrow, but a good top tower is designed for the captain. The turret has two openings for machine guns and gunners to aim at. There are 5 mm thick skirts on both sides of the tank to protect the tank from enemy magnetic mines.
The main gun of Leopard tank is produced by Rheinmetall, carrying 79 rounds (82 rounds for G-type) and 75mm semi-automatic KwK42? L70 artillery. This main gun uses three different types of ammunition: APBCC-HE, HE and APCR, which are in short supply. At this time, the 75 mm cannon is not a large caliber gun, but the leopard main gun is one of the most powerful guns in World War II. Its long barrel and powerful driving force provide it with high-speed firing ability. In addition, due to the low sensitivity of the sight on the tank, it is easier for the leopard tank to hit the enemy. Plus the penetration of this gun is 88 mm KwK36? L56 gun is high, and can penetrate armor with thickness of 1000m 140mm, making the Leopard tank a killing machine on the battlefield. After the war, the gun, as a French CN-75-50 gun, continued to play a role in the Israeli M50 super Sherman tank. Moreover, it is equipped with two MG34 machine guns, which are installed on the turret and on the inclined plane of the car body respectively, which is helpful for removing infantry and air defense purposes.
Leopard style attracted much attention in the European battlefield of World War II. On average, before a Leopard tank was destroyed, five M4 Shermen were destroyed, just like the Tiger tanks in Germany. In addition, its fatal wound-the engine is easy to overheat and burn-has been solved, which makes it one of the most efficient armored tanks in Germany, but there are some problems in logistics. Leopard has also been highly praised by the enemy-in the later period of the war, the Soviet Union captured many Leopard tanks, incorporated them into the war against Germany, and translated the operating instructions on the vehicles into Russian and provided them to all personnel. The French army in post-war reconstruction was also organized into a leopard tank force.
The first large-scale battle that Leopard tanks participated in was1the Kursk campaign launched against the Soviet Union on July 5, 943. In the early days, the drivers of Leopard tanks were troubled by some mechanical problems: the track and suspension system of tanks were often damaged; And the engine of the tank often catches fire because of overheating. So at the beginning of the war, many Leopard tanks were unable to fight because of these weaknesses. For example, in the reports of the German 48th Armored Regiment in July 1943 and 10, it was pointed out that 13 1 of the 200 tanks invested by the regiment had to be repaired after the outbreak of the Battle of Kursk; Only 38 planes can take part in the battle. At that time, German general guderian, who did not advocate Hitler's early engagement with Leopard tanks, pointed out that Leopard tanks had excellent firepower and defense capabilities. Although many Leopard tanks were damaged due to mechanical problems, a large number of Soviet tanks were destroyed.
1on March 23rd, 944, when evaluating and comparing the German tanks with the new Soviet T-34/85 and IS-2 tanks, the German army pointed out that the front firepower of the Leopard tank far exceeded that of the Soviet T-34/85, and the firepower on both sides and the rear was almost the same. As for its front-end firepower, it is also stronger than IS-2, but the firepower on both sides and rear is not as good as IS-2, so guderian's assessment is correct. During the period from 1943 to 1944, the Leopard tank can easily smash any enemy tank within the range of 2000m, even if the hit rate is only 90%. According to the statistics of the US military, an ordinary Leopard tank can destroy five M4 Sherman tanks or about three Soviet T-34/85s.
After the Battle of Kursk, the Germans learned a lesson and solved all the mechanical problems of the Leopard tank, making the Leopard tank a terrible war machine. Until the end of the war, leopard tanks still accounted for the majority of German tanks. However, the German military later discovered that Kwk was installed. 40? The No.4 tank of the L/48 artillery is more economical and practical than the Leopard tank, which is convenient for the Germans to produce the two tanks together. In addition, the main reason why Germany continues to produce the No.4 tank is that the reorganization of the German arsenal can not meet the needs of Germany for the time being, and Germany began to turn to the Leopard tank at a disadvantage, so it chose the No.4 tank which is easy to produce.
Leopard tanks were mainly used on the eastern front, but they were also stationed in France after the allied forces landed in Normandy in 1944. Since then, nearly half of the German tanks stationed in France are also leopard tanks.
In the battle of the bulge, leopard tanks were assembled like American M 10 Wolverine self-propelled anti-tank guns. In some large-scale operations, leopard tanks often collude with German soldiers disguised as American soldiers. During this period, the enemy captured a large number of Leopard tanks and became their armored forces (the number of Leopard tanks and No.3 assault guns captured by the Soviet Union can be equipped with one division).
The first design work of Leopard II tank began in February 1943. Its main purpose is to make it more replaceable with the latest Tiger II heavy tank, so as to relieve the pressure of tank production. For example, the shell of Leopard 2 is very similar to the shell of Tiger I tank B, and both use the same wheels, tracks, suspension system and braking system. Only Leopard 2 has a smaller bulletproof shield.
In addition to the chassis, the development of Leopard II has not developed further at this time. In the later period of the war,1March, 944, the German army started the research work of Leopard II, and installed the Leopard tank turret with narrow front view on the experimental model, which made Germany develop the long and narrow turret in the later period of the war and became the later Leopard G turret.
At the same time, the development of Leopard Tank F has also started, and it is planned to be put into production in April of 1945. It is worth noting that this type of Leopard tank is equipped with this new turret, but it is also equipped with turret armor and expanded roof, which makes its armor weak. And its roof was jointly developed by Daimler-Benz (DB) and Rothschild-Hettingen (RH).
Leopard tank and Leopard II tank only have the running speed of gears and the protection of armor, and both turrets adopt this new turret. In addition, Leopard II is equipped with Leopard 75mm KwK? L70 tank gun, not the expected new 88mm KwK? L7 1 tank gun. There are other variants of the leopard, such as the cheetah self-propelled anti-tank gun (see the table below for other models).
model
Year of construction
brief introduction
A special program in which all the actors participate in the performance.
Leopard tank type a
1942 1 1 month
Test-fired type, also known as Leopard Tank A 1.
20 cars
D leopard tank
1943 65438+10-September
not have
842 vehicles
Leopard tank type a
65438+August 0943-65438+June 0944
Sometimes called Leopard Tank A2.
2 192 vehicles
Leopard tank G type
65438+March 0944-65438+April 0945
not have
2,953 vehicles
Befehlspanzer？ leopard
(Pz？ Bef？ Working group)
65438+May 0943-65438+February 0945
Additional communication equipment was installed.
329 vehicles
(converted from a leopard tank)
Beobachtungspanzer？ leopard
(Pz？ Beob？ Working group)
1944 - 1945
Add two machine guns and fake artillery.
4 1 car
(converted from a leopard tank)
Berger panser
1943 - 1945
Convert it into a repair car
347 cars
passenger
Five people.
Engine fuel consumption
3.5 1 liter per kilometer
weight
44.8 metric tons
Engine fuel capacity
720 liters
Length of freight car
8.66 meters
Transmission model
ZF？ AK？ 7-200
Body width
3.42 meters
Transmission type
Hand synchronous occlusion
height
2.99 meters
gearing
7/ 1
Travel speed
(3000 rpm)
55 km/h
Steering system
MAN single-axis steering system
Travel speed
(2500 rpm)
46 km/h
grasp
Saslag? 3/70H
Range of travel
200 kilometers
Transmission ratio of steering mechanism
1: 1.5
Reptilian model
Kgs？ 64/660/ 150
Main gun model
KwK？ Forty two.
Track width
660 mm
Main gun type
Tank gun
Track length
3.92 meters
Main gun caliber
7.5 cm
Suspension system
Double torsion bar
damper
On the second or seventh damping arm on both sides of the car body.
Length of main gun barrel
70? ability
You can pass through vertical obstacles
0.9 m
Maximum muzzle velocity of main gun
1120m/s,? Use Pzgr40/42 armor-piercing projectile.
You can cross the ditch
1.9 m
Main gun breech
semiautomatic
Passing water level
1.7m。
Main gun rotation angle
360,24 times per second
Engine model
Maibakh HL230P30
Main gun lifting angle
+ 18/-8
Engine model
V 12？ Four stroke
Carrying shells
79 rounds, 82 rounds of G type
Engine horsepower
700 horsepower
Visual model
Lai Ci? TZF？ 12? (type d), TZF? 12a？ (type a and g)
engine displacement
29.095 liters
Line of sight amplification
2.5x and 5x zoom
Engine compression ratio
6.8: 1
field of vision
28 and 14
engine fuel
Gasoline drive
Communication equipment
Fu? 5? Transmitter and receiver, Fu2 receiver