With no doubt, the Panther is the most famous German tank of WWII. The first serial variant was Pz. V Ausf. D. The mass production began in January 1943. Panther Ausf. D tanks received the baptism of fire during the "Citadel" operation in summer 1943. The German tank was employed as the base of some special vehicles. One of them was the armored recovery vehicle Bergepanther (Sd. Kfz. 179) Early machines were made on the base of Panther Ausf. D tanks. They had not yet the winch. Bergepanther ARVs were widely used for repair and recovery of all types of German tanks since summer 1943.
