Panther PANTHER The Panzer Mk V tank See armor See also anti-tank guns; Ardennes offensive; Kursk; Normandy campaign PANTHER LINE “Pantherstelling.” The central and northern sections of the Wehrmacht defensive position first prepared in autumn 1943 and known as the Ostwall The southernmost end was called the Wotan Line or position The Panther position was not finally breached until July 1944 See Leningrad, siege of PANZERARMEE “Panzer Army.” A new Wehrmacht term for what was called a Panzergruppe until December 31, 1941 By the middle of 1942, the term already did not fit the actual, reduced formations that the Wehrmacht was able to field: all “Panzerarmee” were significantly reduced in numbers of tanks from their prewar and subsequently refined paper complements They lacked Panzergrenadier support and mobility of the kind seen before 1942 Most critically, they were short of fuel and spare parts They became shorter still of veteran replacements each time they departed fresh combat PANZER ARMY See Panzerarmee; Panzergruppe PANZERBLITZ German term for any anti-tank, air-to-ground rocket Far more were fired at the Germans than by them PANZERFAUST “Armor fist.” A nonreloadable firing tube fitted with a finstabilized, oversize warhead It was first issued to German infantry in July 1943, in a small (“klein”) version As a single shot, throw away anti-tank weapon, it was genuinely revolutionary in design and effect It was cheap to make, easy to use, and in plentiful supply in the last year of the war It was a real killer of Soviet and Western Allied tanks, even in the hands of barely trained boys from the Hitlerjungend or old men of the Volkssturm Its hollow-charge warhead could cut through 200 mm of armor It was later produced in four large (“grosse”) types, each of which fired the same projectile to different preset ranges (30, 60, 80, and 150 meters) and at varying final velocities Over eight million of all types were produced, with the model 60 seeing the widest use Attempts to mount large Panzerfäuste to fixed-wing aircraft were brutally ineffective and quickly abandoned See also Panzerschreck PANZERGRENADIER German motorized and mechanized infantry who accompanied Panzers (tanks and other armored vehicles), riding in lightly armored, tracked vehicles or in “soft-skin” trucks The U.S Army term for comparable troops was armored infantry See also keil und kessel 828