On those panthers...This as well as the previous text are from the same source, that I had put here om 18.8.
Gen. Knobelsdorf, the corps commander of XLVIII Panzer Corps, had attached all 200 of the new Panther tanks to the Panzergrenadier Division Grossdeutschland. As the corps war diary makes clear, he expected that this mass of armor would quickly break through the Soviet defenses and capture the ground to the north. Instead, the result was a case study in the ability of a dense minefield, properly covered by fire, to completely stop a major attack and force a change in plans. Soon after jumping off, the Panthers encountered a minefield and had to call for engineers to clear lanes. Soviet artillery and anti-tank fire concentrated on the stranded Panthers and the engineers working to extricate them. Some 40 Panthers were knocked out by mines or by hostile fire. Meanwhile the infantry, who had been waiting for support by the Panthers, attacked the Soviet positions without tank support and were thrown back with heavy casualties. Consequently, the attack was abandoned, and those Panthers which could be extricated were shifted to support the main body of the division to the east. This change in plans caused a delay of several hours. As a result of these and other delays, the corps advance was slowed considerably. Although the corps did succeed in breaking through the First Soviet Defense Belt on July 5, it advanced only 5-6 km instead of the planned 15-20 km and was not in a position to assault the Second Belt the next day as planned.
Doesnīt this mean that as only 40 panthers were left after those that didnīt work, there are none left now? Yet Iīd like to know more what happened to them. The search continues...
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