title: Occult

text: Recently scholars have offered perspectives on the occult as intertwined with media and technology. Examples include the work of film and media theorist Jeffrey Sconce and religious studies scholar John Durham Peters, both of whom suggest that occult movements historically utilize media and apparati as tools to reveal hidden aspects of reality or laws of nature. Erik Davis in his book "Techgnosis" gives an overview of occultism both ancient and modern from the perspective of cybernetics and information technologies. Philosopher Eugene Thacker discusses Agrippa's 'occult philosophy' in his book "In The Dust Of This Planet", where he shows how the horror genre utilizes occult themes to reveal hidden realities.


title: Music video

text: A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings.


title: Music video

text: Although the origins of music videos date back to musical short films that first appeared, they again came into prominence when Paramount Global's MTV based its format around the medium. These kinds of videos were described by various terms including "illustrated song", "filmed insert", "promotional (promo) film", "promotional clip", "promotional video", "song video", "song clip", "film clip" or simply "video".


title: Music video

text: Music videos use a wide range of styles and contemporary video-making techniques, including animation, live-action, documentary, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film. Combining these styles and techniques has become more popular due to the variety for the audience. Many music videos interpret images and scenes from the song's lyrics, while others take a more thematic approach. Other music videos may not have any concept, being only a filmed version of the song's live concert performance.


title: Music video

text: In 1894, sheet music publishers Edward B. Marks and Joe Stern hired electrician George Thomas and various artists to promote sales of their song "The Little Lost Child". Using a magic lantern, Thomas projected a series of still images on a screen simultaneous to live performances. This would become a popular form of entertainment known as the illustrated song, the first step toward music video.


title: Music video

text: With the arrival of "talkies" many musical short films were produced. Vitaphone shorts (produced by Warner Bros.) featured many bands, vocalists, and dancers. Animation artist Max Fleischer introduced a series of sing-along short cartoons called "Screen Songs", which invited audiences to sing along to popular songs by "following the bouncing ball", which is similar to a modern karaoke machine. Early cartoons featured popular musicians performing their hit songs on camera in live-action segments during the cartoons. The early animated films by Walt Disney, such as the "Silly Symphonies" shorts and especially "Fantasia", which featured several interpretations of classical pieces, were built around music. The Warner Bros. cartoons, even today billed as "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies", were initially fashioned around specific songs from upcoming Warner Bros. musical films. Live-action musical shorts, featuring such popular artists as Cab Calloway, were also distributed to theaters.


title: Music video

text: Blues singer Bessie Smith appeared in a two-reel short film called "St. Louis Blues" featuring a dramatized performance of the hit song. Numerous other musicians appeared in short musical subjects during this period.


title: Music video

text: "Soundies", produced and released for the Panoram film jukebox, were musical films that often included short dance sequences, similar to later music videos.


title: Music video

text: Musician Louis Jordan made short films for his songs, some of which were spliced together into a feature film, "Lookout Sister". These films were, according to music historian Donald Clarke, the "ancestors" of music video.


title: Music video

text: Musical films were another important precursor to a music video, and several well-known music videos have imitated the style of classic Hollywood musicals from the 1930s–50s. One of the best-known examples is Madonna's 1985 video for "Material Girl" (directed by Mary Lambert) which was closely modelled on Jack Cole's staging of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" from the film "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes". Several of Michael Jackson's videos show the unmistakable influence of the dance sequences in classic Hollywood musicals, including the landmark "Thriller" and the Martin Scorsese-directed "Bad", which was influenced by the stylized dance "fights" in the film version of "West Side Story". According to the Internet Accuracy Project, DJ/singer J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson was the first to coin the phrase "music video", in 1959.


title: Music video

text: In his autobiography, Tony Bennett claims to have created "...the first music video" when he was filmed walking along the Serpentine in Hyde Park, London, with the resulting clip being set to his recording of the song "Stranger in Paradise". The clip was sent to UK and US television stations and aired on shows including Dick Clark's American Bandstand.


title: Music video

text: The oldest example of a promotional music video with similarities to more abstract, modern videos seems to be the Czechoslovakia "Dáme si do bytu" ("Let's get to the apartment") created and directed by Ladislav Rychman.


title: Music video

text: In the late 1950s the Scopitone, a visual jukebox, was introduced in France and short films were produced by many French artists, such as Serge Gainsbourg, Françoise Hardy, Jacques Dutronc, and the Belgian Jacques Brel to accompany their songs. Its use spread to other countries, and similar machines such as the Cinebox in Italy and Color-sonic in the U.S. were patented. In 1961, for the Canadian-produced show "Singalong Jubilee", Manny Pittson began pre-recording the music audio, went on-location and taped various visuals with the musicians lip-synching, then edited the audio and video together. Most music numbers were taped in-studio on stage, and the location shoot "videos" were to add variety. In 1964, Kenneth Anger's experimental short film, "Scorpio Rising" used popular songs instead of dialogue.


title: Music video

text: In 1964, The Moody Blues producer Alex Murray wanted to promote his version of "Go Now". The short film clip he produced and directed to promote the single has a striking visual style that predates Queen's similar "Bohemian Rhapsody" video by a full decade. It also predates what the Beatles did with promotional films of their single "Paperback Writer" and B-Side "Rain" both released in 1966.


title: Music video

text: Also in 1964, the Beatles starred in their first feature film, "A Hard Day's Night", directed by Richard Lester. Shot in black-and-white and presented as a mock documentary, it interspersed comedic and dialogue sequences with musical tones. The musical sequences furnished basic templates on which numerous subsequent music videos were modeled. It was the direct model for the successful US TV series "The Monkees" (1966–1968), which was similarly composed of film segments that were created to accompany various Monkees songs. The Beatles' second feature, "Help!" (1965), was a much more lavish affair, filmed in color in London and on international locations. The title track sequence, filmed in black-and-white, is arguably one of the prime archetypes of the modern performance-style music video, employing rhythmic cross-cutting, contrasting long shots and close-ups, and unusual shots and camera angles, such as the shot 50 seconds into the song, in which George Harrison's left hand and the neck of his guitar are seen in sharp focus in the foreground while the completely out-of-focus figure of John Lennon sings in the background.


title: Music video

text: In 1965, the Beatles began making promotional clips (then known as "filmed inserts") for distribution and broadcast in different countries—primarily the U.S.—so they could promote their record releases without having to make in-person appearances. Their first batch of promo films shot in late 1965 (including their then-current single, "Day Tripper"/"We Can Work It Out"), were fairly straightforward mimed-in-studio performance pieces (albeit sometimes in silly sets) and meant to blend in fairly seamlessly with television shows like "Top of the Pops" and "Hullabaloo". By the time the Beatles stopped touring in late 1966, their promotional films, like their recordings, had become highly sophisticated. In May 1966 they filmed two sets of colour promotional clips for their current single "Rain"/"Paperback Writer" all directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who went on to direct "The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus" and the Beatles' final film, "Let It Be". The colour promotional clips for "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane", made in early 1967 and directed by Peter Goldman, took the promotional film format to a new level. They used techniques borrowed from underground and avant-garde film, including reversed film and slow motion, dramatic lighting, unusual camera angles, and color filtering added in post-production. At the end of 1967 the group released their third film, the one hour, made-for-television project "Magical Mystery Tour"; it was written and directed by the group and first broadcast on the BBC on Boxing Day 1967. Although poorly received at the time for lacking a narrative structure, it showed the group to be adventurous music filmmakers in their own right.


title: Music video

text: Concert films were being released in the mid-1960s, at least as early as 1964, with the "T.A.M.I. Show".


title: Music video

text: The monochrome 1965 clip for Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" filmed by D. A. Pennebaker was featured in Pennebaker's Dylan film documentary "Dont Look Back". Eschewing any attempt to simulate performance or present a narrative, the clip shows Dylan standing in a city back alley, silently shuffling a series of large cue cards (bearing key words from the song's lyrics).


title: Music video

text: Besides the Beatles, many other UK artists made "filmed inserts" so they could be screened on TV when the bands were not available to appear live. The Who featured in several promotional clips, beginning with their 1965 clip for "I Can't Explain". Their plot clip for "Happy Jack" (1966) shows the band acting like a gang of thieves. The promo film to "Call Me Lightning" (1968) tells a story of how drummer Keith Moon came to join the group: The other three band members are having tea inside what looks like an abandoned hangar when suddenly a "bleeding box" arrives, out of which jumps a fast-running, time lapse, Moon that the other members subsequently try to get a hold of in a sped-up slapstick chasing sequence to wind him down. Pink Floyd produced promotional films for their songs, including "", directed by Anthony Stern, "Scarecrow", "Arnold Layne" and "Interstellar Overdrive", the latter directed by Peter Whitehead, who also made several pioneering clips for The Rolling Stones between 1966 and 1968. The Kinks made one of the first "plot" promotional clips for a song. For their single "Dead End Street" (1966) a miniature comic movie was made. The BBC reportedly refused to air the clip because it was considered to be in "poor taste".


title: Music video

text: The Rolling Stones appeared in many promotional clips for their songs in the 1960s. In 1966, Peter Whitehead directed two promo clips for their single "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?" In 1967, Whitehead directed a plot clip colour promo clip for the Stones single "We Love You", which first aired in August 1967. This clip featured sped-up footage of the group recording in the studio, intercut with a mock trial that clearly alludes to the drug prosecutions of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards underway at that time. Jagger's girlfriend Marianne Faithfull appears in the trial scenes and presents the "judge" (Richards) with what may be the infamous fur rug that had featured so prominently in the press reports of the drug bust at Richards' house in early 1967. When it is pulled back, it reveals an apparently naked Jagger with chains around his ankles. The clip concludes with scenes of the Stones in the studio intercut with footage that had previously been used in the "concert version" promo clip for "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby". The group also filmed a color promo clip for the song "2000 Light Years From Home" (from their album "Their Satanic Majesties Request") directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. In 1968, Michael Lindsay-Hogg directed three clips for their single "Jumpin' Jack Flash" / "Child Of The Moon"—a color clip for "Child Of The Moon" and two different clips for "Jumpin' Jack Flash". In 1968, they collaborated with Jean-Luc Godard on the film "Sympathy for the Devil", which mixed Godard's politics with documentary footage of the song's evolution during recording sessions.


title: Music video

text: In 1966, Nancy Sinatra filmed a clip for her song "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'. Roy Orbison appeared in promotional clips, such as his 1968 hit, "Walk On".


title: Music video

text: During late 1972–73 David Bowie featured in a series of promotional films directed by pop photographer Mick Rock, who worked extensively with Bowie in this period. Rock directed and edited four clips to promote four consecutive David Bowie singles—"John, I'm Only Dancing" (May 1972), "The Jean Genie" (November 1972), the December 1972 US re-release of "Space Oddity" and the 1973 release of the single "Life on Mars?" (lifted from Bowie's earlier album "Hunky Dory"). The clip for "John, I'm Only Dancing" was made with a budget of just US$200 and filmed at the afternoon rehearsal for Bowie's Rainbow Theatre concert on August 19, 1972. It shows Bowie and band mimicking to the record intercut with footage of the Lindsay Kemp mime troupe, dancing on stage and behind a back-lit screen. The clip was turned down by the BBC, who reportedly found the homosexual overtones of the film distasteful, accordingly "Top of the Pops" replaced it with footage of bikers and a dancer. The "Jean Genie" clip, produced for just US$350, was shot in one day and edited in less than two days. It intercuts footage of Bowie and band in concert with contrasting footage of the group in a photographic studio, wearing black stage outfits, and standing against a white background. It also includes location footage with Bowie and Cyrinda Foxe (a MainMan employee and a friend of David and Angie Bowie) shot in San Francisco outside the famous Mars Hotel, with Fox posing provocatively in the street while Bowie lounges against the wall, smoking.


title: Music video

text: Country music also picked up on the trend of promotional film clips to publicize songs. Sam Lovullo, the producer of the television series "Hee Haw", explained his show presented "what were, in reality, the first musical videos", while JMI Records made the same claim with Don Williams' 1973 song "The Shelter of Your Eyes". Country music historian Bob Millard wrote that JMI had pioneered the country music video concept by "producing a 3-minute film" to go along with Williams' song. Lovullo said his videos were conceptualized by having the show's staff go to nearby rural areas and film animals and farmers, before editing the footage to fit the storyline of a particular song. "The video material was a very workable production item for the show," he wrote. "It provided picture stories for songs. However, some of our guests felt the videos took attention away from their live performances, which they hoped would promote record sales. If they had a hit song, they didn't want to play it under comic barnyard footage." The concept's mixed reaction eventually spelled an end to the "video" concept on "Hee Haw". Promotional films of country music songs, however, continued to be produced.


title: Music video

text: The Australian TV shows "Countdown" and "Sounds", both of which premiered in 1974, were significant in developing and popularizing what would later become the music video genre in Australia and other countries, and in establishing the importance of promotional film clips as a means of promoting both emerging acts and new releases by established acts. In early 1974, former radio DJ Graham Webb launched a weekly teen-oriented TV music show which screened on Sydney's ATN-7 on Saturday mornings; this was renamed "Sounds Unlimited" in 1975 and later shortened simply to "Sounds". In need of material for the show, Webb approached Seven newsroom staffer Russell Mulcahy and asked him to shoot film footage to accompany popular songs for which there were no purpose-made clips (e.g. Harry Nilsson's "Everybody's Talkin"). Using this method, Webb and Mulcahy assembled a collection of about 25 clips for the show. The success of his early efforts encouraged Mulcahy to quit his TV job and become a full-time director, and he made clips for several popular Australian acts including Stylus, Marcia Hines, Hush and AC/DC. As it gained popularity, "Countdown" talent coordinator Ian "Molly" Meldrum and producer Michael Shrimpton quickly realized that "film clips" were becoming an important new commodity in music marketing. Despite the show's minuscule budget, "Countdown"s original director Paul Drane was able to create several memorable music videos especially for the show, including the classic film-clips for the AC/DC hits "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" and "Jailbreak". After relocating to the UK in the mid-1970s, Mulcahy made successful promo films for several noted British pop acts—his early UK credits included XTC's "Making Plans for Nigel" (1979) and his landmark video clip for The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star" (1979), which became the first music video played on MTV in 1981.


title: Music video

text: In 1975, Queen employed Bruce Gowers to make a promotional video to show their new single "Bohemian Rhapsody" on the BBC music series "Top of the Pops". According to rock historian Paul Fowles, the song is "widely credited as the first global hit single for which an accompanying video was central to the marketing strategy". "Rolling Stone" has said of "Bohemian Rhapsody": "Its influence cannot be overstated, practically inventing the music video seven [sic] years before MTV went on the air."


title: Music video

text: At the end of the 1970s, the broadcasting of music videos on television became more and more regular, in several countries. The music videos are, for example, broadcast in weekly music programs or inserted into various programs. In the United States, for example, on terrestrial networks at the end of the 1970s, music videos were sometimes broadcast on music shows: "The Midnight Special", "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert", and occasionally on certain talk shows.


title: Music video

text: "Video Concert Hall", created by Jerry Crowe and Charles Henderson and launched on November 1, 1979, was the first nationwide video music programming on American cable television, predating MTV by almost two years. The USA Cable Network program "Night Flight" was one of the first American programs to showcase these videos as an art form.


title: Music video

text: In 1980, the music video to David Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes" became the most expensive ever made, having a production cost of $582,000 (equivalent to $ million in ), the first music video to have a production cost of over $500,000. The video was made in solarized color with stark black-and-white scenes and was filmed in different locations, including a padded room and a rocky shore. The video became one of the most iconic ever made at the time, and its complex nature is seen as significant in the evolution of the music video.


title: Music video

text: The same year, the New Zealand group Split Enz had major success with the single "I Got You" and the album "True Colours", and later that year they produced a complete set of promo clips for each song on the album (directed by their percussionist, Noel Crombie) and to market these on videocassette. This was followed a year later by the video album, "The Completion Backward Principle" by The Tubes, directed by the group's keyboard player, Michael Cotten, which included two videos directed by Russell Mulcahy ("Talk to Ya Later" and "Don't Want to Wait Anymore"). Among the first music videos were clips produced by ex-Monkee Michael Nesmith, who started making short musical films for "Saturday Night Live". In 1981, he released "Elephant Parts", the first winner of a Grammy for music video, directed by William Dear. "Billboard" credits the independently produced Video Concert Hall as being the first with nationwide video music programming on American television.


title: Music video

text: In 1981, the U.S. video channel MTV launched, airing "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles and beginning an era of 24-hour-a-day music on television. With this new outlet for material, the music video would, by the mid-1980s, grow to play a central role in popular music marketing. Many important acts of this period, most notably Michael Jackson, Adam and the Ants, Duran Duran and Madonna, owed a great deal of their success to the skillful construction and seductive appeal of their videos.


title: Music video

text: Two key innovations in the development of the modern music video were the development of relatively inexpensive and easy-to-use video recording and editing equipment, and the development of visual effects created with techniques such as image compositing. The advent of high-quality color videotape recorders and portable video cameras coincided with the DIY ethos of the new wave era, enabling much pop acts to produce promotional videos quickly and cheaply, in comparison to the relatively high costs of using film. However, as the genre developed, music video directors increasingly turned to 35mm film as the preferred medium, while others mixed film and video.


title: Music video

text: During the 1980s, music videos had become "de rigueur" for most recording artists. The phenomenon was famously parodied by BBC television comedy program "Not The Nine O'Clock News" who produced a spoof music video "Nice Video, Shame About The Song" (the title was a spoof of a recent pop hit "Nice Legs, Shame About Her Face").


title: Music video

text: In this period, directors and the acts they worked with began to discover and expand the form and style of the genre, using more sophisticated effects in their videos, mixing film and video, and adding a storyline or plot to the music video. Occasionally videos were made in a "non-representational" form, in which the musical artist was not shown. Because music videos are mainly intended to promote the artist, such videos are comparatively rare; three early 1980s examples are Bruce Springsteen's "Atlantic City", directed by Arnold Levine, David Mallet's video for David Bowie and Queen's "Under Pressure", and Ian Emes' video for Duran Duran's "The Chauffeur". One notable later example of the non-representational style is Bill Konersman's innovative 1987 video for Prince's "Sign o' the Times" – influenced by Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" clip, it featured only the text of the song's lyrics.


title: Music video

text: In the early 1980s, music videos also began to discover political and social themes. Examples include the music videos for David Bowie's "China Girl" and "Let's Dance" (1983) which both discussed race issues. In a 1983 interview, Bowie spoke about the importance of using music videos in addressing social issues, "Let's try to use the video format as a platform for some kind of social observation, and not just waste it on trotting out and trying to enhance the public image of the singer involved".


title: Music video

text: In 1983, one of the most successful, influential and iconic music videos of all time was released: the nearly 14-minute-long video for Michael Jackson's song "Thriller", directed by John Landis. The video set new standards for production, having cost US $800,000 to film. The video for "Thriller", along with earlier videos by Jackson for his songs "Billie Jean" and "Beat It", were instrumental in getting music videos by African-American artists played on MTV. Prior to Jackson's success, videos by African-American artists were rarely played on MTV: according to MTV, this was because it initially conceived itself as a rock-music-oriented channel, although musician Rick James was outspoken in his criticism of the cable channel, claiming in 1983 that MTV's refusal to air the music video for his song "Super Freak" and clips by other African-American performers was "blatant racism". British rock singer David Bowie had also recently lashed out against MTV during an interview that he did with them prior to the release of "Thriller", stating that he was "floored" by how much MTV neglected black artists, bringing attention to how videos by the "few black artists that one does see" only appeared on MTV between 2:00 a.m. until 6:00 a.m. when nobody was watching.


title: Music video

text: MTV also influences music video shows aired on other American TV channels, such as: "Friday Night Videos", launched in 1983 on the terrestrial network NBC and "MV3" launched in 1982.


title: Music video

text: On March 5, 1983, Country Music Television (CMT), was launched, created and founded by Glenn D. Daniels and uplinked from the Video World Productions facility in Hendersonville, Tennessee. The MuchMusic video channel was launched in Canada in 1984. In 1984, MTV also launched the MTV Video Music Awards (later to be known as the VMAs), an annual awards event that would come to underscore MTV's importance in the music industry. The inaugural event rewarded the Beatles and David Bowie with the Video Vanguard Award for their work in pioneering the music video.


title: Music video

text: In 1985, MTV's Viacom launched the channel VH1 (then known as "VH-1: Video Hits One"), featuring softer music, and meant to cater to the slightly older baby-boomer demographic who were out-growing MTV. Internationally, MTV Europe was launched in 1987, and MTV Asia in 1991. Another important development in music videos was the launch of "The Chart Show" on the UK's Channel 4 in 1986. This was a program that composed entirely of music videos (the only outlet many videos had on British TV at the time), with no presenters. Instead, the videos were linked by then state of the art computer graphics. The show moved to ITV in 1989.


title: Music video

text: The video for the 1985 Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing" made pioneering use of computer animation, and helped make the song an international hit. The song itself was a wry comment on the music-video phenomenon, sung from the point of view of an appliance deliveryman both drawn to and repelled by the outlandish images and personalities that appeared on MTV. In 1986, Peter Gabriel's song "Sledgehammer" used special effects and animation techniques developed by British studio Aardman Animations. The video for "Sledgehammer" would go on to be a phenomenal success and win nine MTV Video Music Awards. In the same year, Kraftwerk released the song Musique Non Stop. The video featured 3D animations of the group. It was a collaboration with Rebecca Allen of the New York Institute of Technology and ran continuously on MTV for a while.


title: Music video

text: In 1988, the show "Yo! MTV Raps" introduced; the show helped to bring hip hop music to a mass audience for the first time.


title: Music video

text: In November 1992, MTV began listing to Chris Cunningham, Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, Floria Sigismondi, Stéphane Sednaoui, Mark Romanek and Hype Williams all got their start around this time; all brought a unique vision and style to the videos they directed. Some of these directors, including, Gondry, Jonze, Sigismondi, and F. Gary Gray, went on to direct feature films. This continued a trend that had begun earlier with directors such as Lasse Hallström and David Fincher.


title: Music video

text: Two of the videos directed by Romanek in 1995 are notable for being two of the three most expensive music videos of all time: Michael and Janet Jackson's "Scream", which allegedly cost $7 million to produce, and Madonna's "Bedtime Story", which cost a reported $5 million. From this, "Scream" is the most expensive video to date. In the mid to late 1990s, Walter Stern directed "Firestarter" by The Prodigy, "Bitter Sweet Symphony" by The Verve, and "Teardrop" by Massive Attack.


title: Music video

text: During this period, MTV launched channels around the world to show music videos produced in each local market: MTV Latin America in 1993, MTV India in 1996, and MTV Mandarin in 1997, among others. MTV2, originally called "M2" and meant to show more alternative and older music videos, debuted in 1996.


title: Music video

text: In 1999 Mariah Carey's "Heartbreaker" became one of the most expensive ever made, costing over $2.5 million.


title: Music video

text: The website iFilm, which hosted short videos including music videos, launched in 1997. Napster, a peer-to-peer file sharing service which ran between 1999 and 2001, enabled users to share video files, including those for music videos. By the mid-2000s, MTV and many of its sister channels had largely abandoned showing music videos in favor of reality TV shows, which were more popular with its audiences, and which MTV had itself helped to pioneer with the show "The Real World", which premiered in 1992.


title: Music video

text: 2005 saw the launch of YouTube, which made the viewing of online video much faster and easier; Google Videos, Yahoo! Video, Facebook and Myspace's video functionality use similar technology. Such websites had a profound effect on the viewing of music videos; some artists began to see success as a result of videos seen mostly or entirely online. The band OK Go capitalized on the growing trend, having achieved fame through the videos for two of their songs, "A Million Ways" in 2005 and "Here It Goes Again" in 2006, both of which first became well-known online (OK Go repeated the trick with another high-concept video in 2010, for their song "This Too Shall Pass").


title: Music video

text: At its launch, Apple's iTunes Store provided a section of free music videos in high quality compression to be watched via the iTunes application. More recently the iTunes Store has begun selling music videos for use on Apple's iPod with video playback capability.


title: Music video

text: The 2008 video for Weezer's "Pork and Beans" also captured this trend, by including at least 20 YouTube celebrities; the single became the most successful of Weezer's career, in chart performance. In 2007, the RIAA issued cease-and-desist letters to YouTube users to prevent single users from sharing videos, which are the property of the music labels. After its merger with Google, YouTube assured the RIAA that they would find a way to pay royalties through a bulk agreement with the major record labels. This was complicated by the fact that not all labels share the same policy toward music videos: some welcome the development and upload music videos to various online outlets themselves, viewing music videos as free advertising for their artists, while other labels view music videos not as an advertisement, but as the product itself.


title: Music video

text: To further signify the change in direction towards Music Video airplay, MTV officially dropped the Music Television tagline on February 8, 2010 from their logo in response to their increased commitment to non-scripted reality programming and other youth-oriented entertainment rising in prominence on their live broadcast.


title: Music video

text: Vevo, a music video service launched by several major music publishers, debuted in December 2009. The videos on Vevo are syndicated to YouTube, with Google and Vevo sharing the advertising revenue.


title: Music video

text: As of 2017, the most-watched English-language video on YouTube was "Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran. As of 2018, the most-watched remix video on YouTube was "Te Bote" by Casper Mágico featuring Nio García, Darell, Nicky Jam, Bad Bunny, and Ozuna.


title: Music video

text: Following the shift toward internet broadcasting and the rising popularity of user-generated video sites such as YouTube around 2006, various independent filmmakers began films recording live sessions to present on the Web. Examples of this new way of creating and presenting a music video include Vincent Moon's work with The Take-Away Shows; In the Van sessions, a similar platform; and the Dutch VPRO 3VOOR12, which puts out music videos recorded in elevators and other small, guerrilla filmmaking type locations in a similar tradition called "Behind". All of these swiftly recorded clips are made with minimal budgets and share similar aesthetics with the lo-fi music movement of the early nineties. Offering freedom from the increasingly burdensome financial requirements of high-production movie-like clips, it began as the only method for little-known indie music artists to present themselves to a wider audience, but increasingly this approach has been taken up by such major mainstream artists as R.E.M. and Tom Jones.


title: Music video

text: In the late 2010s, some artists began releasing alternative vertical videos tailored to mobile devices in addition to music videos; these vertical videos are generally platform-exclusive. These vertical videos are often shown on Snapchat's "Discover" section or within Spotify playlists. Early adopters of vertical video releases include the number-one hits "Havana" by Camila Cabello and "Girls Like You" by Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B. "Idontwannabeyouanymore" by Billie Eilish is the most-watched vertical video on YouTube.


title: Music video

text: A lyric video is a type of music video in which the lyrics to the song are the primary visual element of the video. As such, they can be created with relative ease and often serve as a supplemental video to a more traditional music video.


title: Music video

text: The music video for R.E.M.'s 1986 song "Fall on Me" interspersed the song's lyrics with abstract film footage. In 1987, Prince released a video for his song "Sign o' the Times". The video featured the song's words pulsing to the music, presented alongside abstract geometric shapes, an effect created by Bill Konersman. The following year, the video for the Talking Heads single "(Nothing But) Flowers" composed of the song's lyrics superimposed onto or next to members of the band, was released. In 1990, George Michael released "Praying for Time" as a lyric video. He had refused to make a traditional music video, so his label released a simple clip that displayed the song's lyrics on a black screen.


title: Music video

text: Lyric videos rose to greater prominence in the 2010s, when it became relatively easy for artists to disperse videos through websites such as YouTube. Many do not feature any visual related to the musician in question, but merely a background with the lyrics appearing over it as they are sung in the song. In 2011, death metal band Krokmitën released the first lyric video for an entire album, "Alpha-Beta". The concept album video featured imagery pulsing to the music and stylized typography created by bandleader Simlev. The 2016 song "Closer" by The Chainsmokers, featuring vocalist Halsey, is the most-watched lyric video on YouTube.


title: Music video

text: As the concept and medium of a music video is a form of artistic expression, artists have been on many occasions censored if their content is deemed offensive. What may be considered offensive will differ in countries due to censorship laws and local customs and ethics. In most cases, the record label will provide and distribute videos edited or provide both censored and uncensored videos for an artist. In some cases, it has been known for music videos to be banned in their entirety as they have been deemed far too offensive to be broadcast.


title: Music video

text: The first video to be banned by MTV was Queen's 1982 hit "Body Language". Due to thinly veiled homoerotic undertones plus much skin and sweat (but apparently not enough clothing, save that worn by the fully clothed members of Queen themselves), it was deemed unsuitable for a television audience at the time. However, the channel did air Olivia Newton-John's 1981 video for the hit song "Physical", which lavished camera time on male models working out in string bikinis who spurn her advances, ultimately pairing off to walk to the men's locker rooms holding hands, though the network ended the clip before the overt homosexual "reveal" ending in some airings. The video for "Girls on Film" by Duran Duran, which featured topless women mud wrestling and other depictions of sexual fetishes was banned by the BBC. MTV did air the video, albeit in a heavily edited form.


title: Music video

text: Laura Branigan initially protested an MTV request to edit her "Self Control" video in 1984, but relented when the network refused to air the William Friedkin-directed clip, featuring the singer lured through an increasingly debauched, if increasingly stylized, series of nightclubs by a masked man who ultimately takes her to bed. In 1989, Cher's "If I Could Turn Back Time" video (where the singer performs the song in an extremely revealing body suit surrounded by a ship full of cheering sailors) was restricted to late-night broadcasts on MTV. The Sex Pistols' video for "God Save the Queen" was banned by the BBC for being "in gross bad taste". Mötley Crüe's video for "Girls, Girls, Girls" was banned by MTV for having completely nude women dancing around the members of the band in a strip club, although they did produce another version that was accepted by MTV.


title: Music video

text: In 1983, "Entertainment Tonight" ran a segment on censorship and "Rock Video Violence". The episode explored the impact of MTV rock video violence on the youth of the early 1980s. Excerpts from the music videos of Michael Jackson, Duran Duran, Golden Earring, Kiss, Kansas, Billy Idol, Def Leppard, Pat Benatar and The Rolling Stones were shown. Dr. Thomas Radecki of the National Coalition on TV Violence was interviewed accusing the fledgling rock video business of excessive violence. "Night Tracks"' producer Tom Lynch weighed in on the effects of the video violence controversy. Recording artists John Cougar Mellencamp, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of Kiss, along with directors Dominic Orlando and Julien Temple, provided a defense of their work. The episode's conclusion was that the controversy will continue to grow. Some artists have used censorship as a publicity tool. In the 1980s, the show "Top of the Pops" was censorious in its approach to video content, so some acts made videos that they knew would be censored, using the resulting public controversy to promote their release. Examples of this tactic were Duran Duran's aforementioned "Girls on Film" and Frankie Goes to Hollywood with "Relax", directed by Bernard Rose.


title: Music video

text: In 1991, the dance segment of Michael Jackson's "Black or White" was edited out because it showed Jackson "inappropriately" touching himself in it. His most controversial video, for "They Don't Care About Us", was banned from MTV, VH1, and BBC due to the alleged anti-Semitic messages in the song and the visuals in the background of the "Prison Version" of the video.


title: Music video

text: Madonna is the artist most associated with music video censorship. The controversy surrounding Madonna's marketing of her sexuality began with the video for "Lucky Star", and amplified over time due to clips such as "Like a Virgin". Outcry occurred over the subject matter (relating to teenage pregnancy) discussed in the video for the song "Papa Don't Preach". "Like a Prayer" courted heavy criticism due to its religious, sexual, and racially oriented imagery. In 1990, Madonna's music video for the song "Justify My Love" was banned by MTV due to its depiction of sadomasochism, homosexuality, cross-dressing, and group sex which generated a media firestorm. In Canada, the debate over the banning of "Justify My Love" by the music video network MuchMusic led to the launching in 1991 of "Too Much 4 Much", a series of occasional, late-night specials (still being aired in the early 2000s) in which videos officially banned by MuchMusic were broadcast, followed by a panel discussion regarding why they were removed.


title: Music video

text: In 1992, The Shamen's video for the song "Ebeneezer Goode" was banned by the BBC due to its perceived subliminal endorsement of the recreational drug Ecstasy. The Prodigy's 1997 video for "Smack My Bitch Up" was banned in some countries due to depictions of drug use and nudity. The Prodigy's video for "Firestarter" was banned by the BBC due to its references to arson.


title: Music video

text: In 1993, the Australian rock band INXS' song "The Gift" was banned by MTV due to its use of Holocaust and Gulf War footage, among images of famine, pollution, war, and terrorism. As well as this, metal band Tool's music video for "Prison Sex" was banned from MTV, as the video and lyrics touch on the sensitive matter of child abuse.


title: Music video

text: In 2000, the music video for "Rock DJ" by Robbie Williams caused controversy due to the graphic nature of the video which features Williams stripping naked then peeling off his skin to reveal bloody flesh, followed by ripping off his muscles and organs until he is nothing but a blood-soaked skeleton. The video was censored in the UK during daytime hours and was broadcast unedited after 10 pm. The video was banned in Dominican Republic due to allegations of satanism.


title: Music video

text: In 2001, Björk's video for "Pagan Poetry" was banned from MTV for depictions of sexual intercourse, fellatio, and body piercings. Her next single, "Cocoon", was also banned by MTV as it featured a nude Björk (though the nude body was usually a fitted bodysuit rigged with red string).


title: Music video

text: In 2002, t.A.T.u.'s video for "All the Things She Said" caused controversy as it featured the young Russian girls, Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova, embracing and eventually kissing. British TV presenters Richard and Judy campaigned to have the video banned claiming it pandered to “pedophiles” with the use of school uniforms and young girls kissing, although the campaign failed. Capitalizing on the controversy, the kiss was choreographed into their live performances. "Top of the Pops" aired the girls' performance with the kiss replaced by audience footage. NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" cut away from the girls' kiss to shots of the band. Throughout their promotional tour, t.A.T.u. protested by appearing in shirts reading "censored".


title: Music video

text: In 2004, Maroon 5's video for "This Love" generated controversy due to intimate scenes between the frontman Adam Levine and his then-girlfriend. Despite those particular scenes being shot at strategic angles, a censored version was released with a stream of computer-generated flowers added in to cover up more. The video for "(s)AINT" by Marilyn Manson was banned by their label due to its violence and sexual content. The following year, Eminem's video for "Just Lose It" caused controversy over its parody of Michael Jackson's 2005 child molestation trial, plastic surgery, and hair catching fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial. The video was banned from BET, and Jackson spoke out against the video, calling it "inappropriate and disrespectful to me, my children, my family, and the community at large". In 2004, many family groups and politicians lobbied for the banning of the Eric Prydz video "Call on Me" for containing women dancing in a sexually suggestive way; however, the video was not banned.


title: Music video

text: As of 2005, the Egyptian state censorship committee banned at least 20 music videos which featured sexual connotations due to Muslim moral viewpoints. The music video of "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" which featured Jessica Simpson in character as Daisy Duke, was controversial for featuring Simpson in "revealing" outfits and washing the General Lee car in her bikini. The controversy resulted in the music video being banned in some countries.


title: Music video

text: In 2008, Justice's video for their song "Stress" was boycotted by several major music television channels due to allegations of racism and violence; the video depicts several youths committing different crimes throughout the streets of Paris, with the youths mainly being of North African descent.


title: Music video

text: While country music has largely avoided controversy surrounding video content, it has never been immune. The music video for the 2003 Rascal Flatts song "I Melt" is a case in point, gaining notoriety for clips featuring guitarist Joe Don Rooney's bare butt, and model Christina Auria taking a shower nude. The video was the first aired on CMT to show nudity, and eventually reached #1 on the network's "Top Twenty Countdown" program. However, GAC banned the video when the group refused to release an edited version.


title: Music video

text: In 2010, Thirty Seconds to Mars' video "Hurricane" was censored due to its major elements of violence, nudity and sex. The short film was later released with a clean version that can air on television. The explicit version is available on the band's official website with a viewing certificate of 18+.


title: Music video

text: In 2010, a rumor circulated that Lady Gaga's video "Telephone" was banned by MTV, a rumour which reached some press outlets. The rumor claimed that MTV had banned the video because the content could not be shown within their programming. MTV denied the ban and showed the video frequently on European MTV programming. Lady Gaga's previous videos have also attracted criticism for their sexually suggestive content; the video for "LoveGame" was not played on the Australian music video program "Video Hits"; however, other Australian programs aired the video uncensored. The video for "Alejandro" was criticized by the Catholic League, for showing the singer dressed in a red latex fetish version of a nun's habit, simulating rape, and appearing to swallow a rosary.


title: Music video

text: Ciara's video for "Ride" was banned by BET, with the network citing that the video was too sexually charged. The video was also subsequently banned by all UK television channels.


title: Music video

text: In 2011, the video for "S&M", which features the Barbadian singer Rihanna whipping a tied-up white man, taking hostages and indulging in a lesbian kiss, was banned in eleven countries and was flagged as inappropriate for viewers that are under 18 on YouTube.


title: Music video

text: Music videos have been released commercially on physical formats such as videotape, LaserDisc, DVD and Blu-ray. Similar to an audio album, a video album is a long-form release containing multiple music videos on a disc. The market for video albums is considerably smaller than for audio albums and audio singles. Video albums are eligible for gold certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) after record labels shipped 50,000 units to retailers, while both audio albums and singles have to ship 500,000 units to achieve gold. One of the early video albums was "Eat to the Beat" (1979) by American rock band Blondie, a videocassette containing music videos of all tracks from their fourth studio album of the same name. It was produced by Paul Flattery for Jon Roseman Productions and directed by David Mallet. The music videos were recorded in New York and New Jersey, with some songs featuring the band playing in a concert fashion, and some others having scenarios based on the songs' lyrics. Another popular video album was "Olivia Physical" (1982) by Olivia Newton-John, which won the Video of the Year at the 25th Grammy Awards. The video collection features music videos of all songs from her ninth studio album, "Physical" (1981).


title: Music video

text: Due to the increase of video albums popularity, "Billboard" magazine introduced the weekly best-selling music video sales ranking in the United States, titled the Top Music Videocassette chart on March 30, 1985 (now known as Music Video Sales chart). Its first chart-topper was "Private Dancer" (1984), a videocassette by Tina Turner containing four music videos. The Official Charts Company began the similar chart in the United Kingdom on January 30, 1994, with Bryan Adams's "So Far So Good" reaching number one. According to the RIAA, the Eagles' "Farewell 1 Tour-Live from Melbourne" (2005) is the top-certified longform music video with 30-time platinum (three million units shipped), while the Rolling Stones' "Four Flicks" (2005) is the top-certified music video boxset with 19-time platinum (1.9 million units shipped).


title: Music video

text: A video single contains no more than three music videos in the form of a videotape, LaserDisc or DVD. In 1983, British synthpop band The Human League released the first commercial video single titled "The Human League Video Single" on both VHS and Betamax. It was not a huge commercial success due to the high retail price of £10.99, compared to around £1.99 for a 7" vinyl single. The VHS single gained higher levels of mainstream popularity when Madonna released "Justify My Love" as a video single in 1990 following the blacklisting of the video by MTV. "Justify My Love" remains the best-selling video single of all time.


title: Music video

text: The DVD single was introduced in the late 1990s as a replacement for the videotape single. Although many record companies in the United States refused to issue CD singles, they readily issued DVD singles, and some popular DVD singles include Kelly Clarkson's "A Moment Like This", Jessica Simpson's "With You", Beyoncé's "Crazy in Love", Christina Aguilera’s "Fighter", Britney Spears’s "Toxic" and Iron Maiden's "Satellite 15... The Final Frontier". According to the RIAA, a music video single is defined as 1-2 songs per video OR under 15 minutes running time. In 2003, the first certified platinum and gold music DVD singles were certified by the RIAA. Noteworthy early DVD singles in the United States include Sly and Robbie's "Superthruster" (1999), Björk's "All Is Full of Love" (1999), and Madonna's "Music" (2000).


title: Music video

text: In the United Kingdom where up to 3 physical formats are eligible for the chart, DVD singles are quite common (with the single available on DVD as well as CD and/or vinyl record). As with other single formats, DVD singles have a limited production run, often causing them to become collector's items. The DVD single never experienced a high amount of popularity in the United Kingdom because when artists started releasing them in the early 2000s, the CD single had started declining. They were also seen as expensive. Some artists would not release DVD singles and instead put their music videos as enhanced content on a CD single/album.


title: Music video

text: Beginning in the early 2000s, artists in Japan may release singles in the CD+DVD format. Japanese singer Ayumi Hamasaki has been credited as the "creator of the CD+DVD format"; one of the examples is her 2005 single "Fairyland". The CD+DVD format is more expensive and usually contains one or more music videos, and sometimes a "making of" section or other bonus material is included.


title: Music video

text: The Japanese music conglomerate Hello! Project released corresponding DVD singles for almost all of its CD single releases.The company calls them Single Vs. A Single V usually contains a music video for the title song plus several more of its versions and a making-of. Sometimes, an will be released at Hello! Project fan club events that will offer alternate shots of a promotional video, or bonus footage, like backstage footage or footage from a photoshoot not released anywhere else. As of 2017, Single Vs are no longer released; instead Hello! Project acts now put the music videos on DVDs included in a CD single's limited edition. The DVD singles are popular and chart in the generic Oricon DVD sales chart, due to the non-existence of a separate DVD single ranking in Japan.


title: Music video

text: Unofficial, fan-made music videos are typically made by synchronizing existing footage from other sources, such as television series or films, with the song. The first known fan video, or songvid, was created by Kandy Fong in 1975 using still images from "Star Trek" loaded into a slide carousel and played in conjunction with a song. Fan videos made using videocassette recorders soon followed. With the advent of easy distribution over the internet and cheap video-editing software, fan-created videos began to gain wider notice in the late 1990s.


title: Music video

text: A well-known example of an unofficial video is one made for Danger Mouse's illegal mashup from his "The Grey Album", of the Jay-Z track "Encore" with music sampled from the Beatles' "White Album", in which concert footage of the Beatles is remixed with footage of Jay-Z and hip-hop dancers.


title: Music video

text: In 2004, a Placebo fan from South Africa made a claymation video for the band's song "English Summer Rain" and sent it to the band. They liked the result so much that it was included on their greatest hits DVD.


title: Music video

text: In 2016, a Flash animation for song "Come Together" by the Beatles was included on The Beatles Blu-ray disc.


title: Panther tank

text: The Panther tank, officially Panzerkampfwagen V Panther (abbreviated PzKpfw V) with ordnance inventory designation: "Sd.Kfz." 171, is a German medium tank of World War II. It was used on the Eastern and Western Fronts from mid-1943 to the end of the war in May 1945.


title: Panther tank

text: On 27 February 1944 it was redesignated to just PzKpfw Panther, as Hitler ordered that the Roman numeral "V" be deleted. In contemporary English-language reports it is sometimes referred to as the "Mark V".


title: Panther tank

text: The Panther was intended to counter the Soviet T-34 medium tank and to replace the Panzer III and Panzer IV. Nevertheless, it served alongside the Panzer IV and the heavier Tiger I until the end of the war. It had excellent firepower, protection and mobility, although its reliability was less impressive.


title: Panther tank

text: The Panther was a compromise. While having essentially the same Maybach V12 petrol (690 hp) engine as the Tiger I, it had better gun penetration, was lighter and faster, and could traverse rough terrain better than the Tiger I. The trade-off was weaker side armour, which made it vulnerable to flanking fire and a weaker high explosive shell. The Panther proved to be effective in open country and long-range engagements.


title: Panther tank

text: The Panther was far cheaper to produce than the Tiger I. Key elements of the Panther design, such as its armour, transmission, and final drive, were simplifications made to improve production rates and address raw material shortages. Despite this, the overall design has still been described by some as "overengineered". The Panther was rushed into combat at the Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943 despite numerous unresolved technical problems, leading to high losses due to mechanical failure. Most design flaws were rectified by late 1943 and early 1944, though the bombing of production plants, increasing shortages of high-quality alloys for critical components, shortage of fuel and training space, and the declining quality of crews all impacted the tank's effectiveness.


title: Panther tank

text: Though officially classified as a medium tank, at 44.8 metric tons the Panther was closer to a heavy tank weight and the same category as the American M26 Pershing (41.7 tons), British Churchill (40.7 tons) and the Soviet IS-2 (46 tons) heavy tanks. The Panther's weight caused logistical problems, such as an inability to cross certain bridges, otherwise the tank had a very high power-to-weight ratio which made it highly mobile.


title: Panther tank

text: The naming of Panther production variants did not, unlike most German tanks, follow alphabetical order: the initial variant, Panther "D" ("Ausf. D"), was followed by "A" and "G" variants.


title: Panther tank

text: The Panther was born out of a project started in 1938 to replace the Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks. The initial requirements of the VK 20 series called for a fully tracked vehicle weighing 20 tonnes and design proposals by Krupp, Daimler Benz and MAN ensued. These designs were abandoned and Krupp dropped out of the competition entirely as the requirements increased to a vehicle weighing 30 tonnes, a direct reaction to the encounters with the Soviet T-34 and KV-1 tanks and against the advice of Wa Prüf 6. The T-34 outclassed the existing models of the Panzer III and IV. At the insistence of General Heinz Guderian, a special tank commission was created to assess the T-34. Among the features of the Soviet tank considered most significant were the sloping armour, which gave much improved shot deflection and also increased the effective armour thickness against penetration, the wide track, which improved mobility over soft ground, and the gun, which had good armour penetration and fired an effective high-explosive round. Daimler-Benz (DB), which designed the successful Panzer III and StuG III, and Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg AG (MAN) were given the task of designing a new 30- to 35-tonne tank, designated VK 30.02, by April 1942.


title: Panther tank

text: The "VK 30.02(DB)" design resembled the T-34 in its hull and turret and was also to be powered by a diesel engine. It was driven from the rear drive sprocket with the turret situated forward. The incorporation of a diesel engine promised increased operational range, reduced flammability and allowed for better use of petroleum reserves. Hitler himself considered a diesel engine imperative for the new tank. DB's proposal used an external leaf spring suspension, in contrast to the MAN proposal of twin torsion bars. Wa Prüf 6's opinion was that the leaf spring suspension was a disadvantage and that using torsion bars would allow greater internal hull width. It also opposed the rear drive because of the potential for track fouling. Daimler Benz still preferred the leaf springs over a torsion bar suspension as it resulted in a silhouette about shorter and rendered complex shock absorbers unnecessary. The employment of a rear drive provided additional crew space and also allowed for a better slope on the front hull, which was considered important in preventing penetration by armour-piercing shells.


title: Panther tank

text: The MAN design embodied a more conventional configuration, with the transmission and drive sprocket in the front and a centrally mounted turret. It had a petrol engine and eight torsion-bar suspension axles per side. Because of the torsion bar suspension and the drive shaft running under the turret basket, the MAN Panther was higher and had a wider hull than the DB design. The Henschel company's design concepts for their Tiger I tank's suspension/drive components, using its characteristic "Schachtellaufwerk" format – large, overlapping, interleaved road wheels with a "slack-track" using no return rollers for the upper run of track, also features shared with almost all German military half-track designs since the late 1930s – were repeated with the MAN design for the Panther. These multiple large, rubber-rimmed steel wheels distributed ground pressure more evenly across the track. The MAN proposal also complemented Rheinmetall's already designed turret modified from that of the VK 45.01 (H), and used a virtually identical Maybach V12 engine to the Tiger I heavy tank's Maybach HL230 powerplant model.


title: Panther tank

text: The two designs were reviewed from January to March 1942. "Reichsminister" Fritz Todt, and later, his replacement Albert Speer, both recommended the DB design to Hitler because of its advantages over the initial MAN design. At the final submission, MAN refined its design, having learned from the DB proposal apparently through a leak by a former employee in the "Wa Prüf 6", senior engineer Heinrich Ernst Kniepkamp and others. On 5 March 1942, Albert Speer reported that Hitler considered the Daimler-Benz design to be superior to MAN's design. A review by a special commission appointed by Hitler in May 1942 selected the MAN design. Hitler approved this decision after reviewing it overnight. One of the principal reasons given for this decision was that the MAN design used an existing turret designed by Rheinmetall-Borsig, while the DB design would have required a brand new turret and engine to be designed and produced, delaying the commencement of production. This time-saving measure compromised the subsequent development of the design.


title: Panther tank

text: A mild steel prototype of the MAN design was produced by September 1942 and, after testing at Kummersdorf, was officially accepted. It was put into immediate production. The start of production was delayed, mainly because of a shortage of specialized machine tools needed for the machining of the hull. Finished tanks were produced in December and suffered from reliability problems as a result. The demand for this tank was so high that the manufacturing was soon expanded beyond MAN to include Daimler-Benz (Berlin-Marienfelde, former DMG plant), Maschinenfabrik Niedersachsen Hanover (MNH, a subsidiary of Eisenwerk Wülfel/Hanomag) and the Tiger I's original designer, Henschel & Sohn in Kassel.


title: Panther tank

text: The initial production target was 250 tanks per month at the MAN plant at Nuremberg. This was increased to 600 per month in January 1943. Despite determined efforts, this figure was never reached due to disruption by Allied bombing, and manufacturing and resource bottlenecks. Production in 1943 averaged 148 per month. In 1944, it averaged 315 a month (3,777 having been built that year), peaking with 380 in July and ending around the end of March 1945, with at least 6,000 built in total. Front-line combat strength peaked on 1 September 1944 at 2,304 tanks, but that same month a record number of 692 tanks were reported lost.


title: Panther tank

text: According to rough estimates the labour hours n in comparison to the Panzer III stood at approximately 1 to 1.25, i.e. four Panther vehicles for every five Panzer III tanks built. Cost (without weaponry) PzKpfw


title: Panther tank

text: The Allies directed bombing at the common chokepoint for both Panther and Tiger production: the Maybach engine plant. This was bombed the night of 27/28 April 1944 and production halted for five months. A second factory had already been planned, the Auto Union Siegmar plant (the former Wanderer car factory), and this came on line in May 1944. The targeting of Panther factories began with a bombing raid on the DB plant on 6 August 1944, and again on the night of 23/24 August. MAN was struck on 10 September, 3 October and 19 October 1944, and then again on 3 January and 20/21 February 1945. MNH was not attacked until 14 and 28 March 1945.


title: Panther tank

text: In addition to interfering with tank production goals, the bombing forced a steep drop in the production of spare parts, which as a percentage of tank production dropped from 25–30 percent in 1943 to 8 percent in late 1944. This compounded the problems with reliability and with the numbers of operational Panthers, as tanks in the field had to be cannibalized for parts.


title: Panther tank

text: The Panther was the third most produced German armoured fighting vehicle, after the Sturmgeschütz III assault gun/tank destroyer at 9,408 units, and the Panzer IV tank at 8,298 units.


title: Panther tank

text: This compares with 82,500 RM for the StuG III, 96,163 RM for the Panzer III, 103,462 RM for the Panzer IV, and 250,800 RM for the Tiger I. These figures did not include the cost of the armament and radio. Using slave labour on the production lines greatly reduced costs, but also greatly increased the risk of sabotage. French-army studies in 1947 found that many Panthers had been sabotaged during production. The Germans increasingly strove for production methods that would allow higher production rates and lower cost. By comparison the total cost of the early production Tiger I in 1942–1943 has been stated to be as high as 800,000 RM.


title: Panther tank

text: The process of streamlining the production of German armoured fighting vehicles first began after Speer became a "Reichsminister" in early 1942, and steadily accelerated through to 1944; the production of the Panther tank coincided with this period of increased manufacturing-efficiency. At the beginning of the war, German armoured fighting vehicle manufacturers had employed labour-intensive and costly manufacturing methods unsuitable for the needs of mass production; even with streamlined production methods, Germany never approached the efficiency of Allied manufacturing during World War II.


title: Panther tank

text: The weight of the production model was increased to 45 tonnes from the original plans for a 35 tonne tank. Hitler was briefed thoroughly on the comparison between the MAN and DB designs in the report by Guderian's tank commission. Armour protection appeared to be inadequate, while "the motor mounted on the rear appeared to him correct". He agreed that the "decisive factor was the possibility of quickly getting the tank into production". On 15 May 1942, Oberst Fichtner informed MAN that Hitler had decided in favour of the MAN Panther and ordered series production. The upper glacis plate was to be increased from to . Hitler demanded that an increase to should be attempted and that at least all vertical surfaces were to be ; the turret front plate was increased from to .


title: Panther tank

text: The Panther was rushed into combat before all of its teething problems had been corrected. Reliability was considerably improved over time, and the Panther proved to be a very effective fighting vehicle, but some design flaws, such as its weak final drive units, were never corrected.


title: Panther tank

text: The crew had five members: driver, radio operator (who also fired the bow machine gun), gunner, loader, and commander.


title: Panther tank

text: The first 250 Panthers were powered by a Maybach HL 210 P30 V-12 petrol engine, which delivered 650 metric hp at 3,000 rpm and had three simple air filters. Starting in May 1943, Panthers were built using the 700 metric horsepower (690 hp, 515 kW) at 3,000 rpm, 23.1 litre Maybach HL 230 P30 V-12 petrol engine. To save aluminium, the light alloy block used in the HL 210 was replaced by a cast iron block. Two multistage "cyclone" air filters were used to improve dust removal. Due to the use of low grade petrol, the engine power output was reduced. With a capacity of of fuel, a fully fuelled Panther's range was on surfaced roads and cross country.


title: Panther tank

text: The HL 230 P30 engine was a very compact tunnel crankcase design, and it kept the space between the cylinder walls to a minimum. The crankshaft was composed of seven "discs" or main journals, each with an outer race of roller bearings, and a crankshaft pin between each disc. To reduce the length of the engine by an inch or so, and reduce unbalanced rocking moment caused by a normal offset-Vee type engine, the two banks of 6 cylinders of the V-12 were not offset – the "big ends" of the connecting rods of each cylinder pair in the "V" where they mated with the crankpin were thus at the same spot with respect to the engine block's length rather than offset; this required a "fork and blade" matched pair of connecting rods for each transversely oriented pair of cylinders. Usually, "V"-form engines have their transversely paired cylinders' connecting rods' "big ends" simply placed side by side on the crankpin, with their transverse pairs of cylinders offset slightly to allow the connecting rod big ends to attach side by side while still being in the cylinder bore centreline. This compact arrangement with the connecting rods was the source of considerable problems initially. Blown head gaskets were another problem, which was corrected with improved seals in September 1943. Improved bearings were introduced in November 1943. An engine governor was also added in November 1943 that reduced the maximum engine speed to 2,500 rpm. An eighth crankshaft bearing was added beginning in January 1944 to reduce motor failures.


title: Panther tank

text: The engine compartment was designed to be watertight so that the Panther could ford water obstacles; however, this made the engine compartment poorly ventilated and prone to overheating. The fuel connectors in early Panthers were not insulated, leading to the leakage of fuel fumes into the engine compartment, which caused engine fires. Additional ventilation was added to draw off these gases, which only partly solved the problem of engine fires. Other measures taken to reduce this problem included improving the coolant circulation inside the motor and adding a reinforced membrane spring to the fuel pump. Despite the risks of fire, the fighting compartment was relatively safe due to a solid firewall that separated it from the engine compartment.


title: Panther tank

text: Engine reliability improved over time. The average service life expectancy without the need to dismount the engine from the tank was about 2000 km, or around 100 working hours. A French assessment in 1947 of their stock of captured Normandy Panther A tanks concluded that the engine had an average life of and maximum life of .


title: Panther tank

text: The suspension consisted of front drive sprockets, rear idlers and eight double-interleaved rubber-rimmed steel road wheels on each side – in the so-called "Schachtellaufwerk" design, suspended on a dual torsion bar suspension. The dual torsion bar system, designed by Professor Ernst Lehr, allowed for a wide travel stroke and rapid oscillations with high reliability, thus allowing for relatively high speed travel over undulating terrain. The extra space required for the bars running across the length of the bottom of the hull, below the turret basket, increased the overall height of the tank. When damaged by mines, the torsion bars often required a welding torch for removal.


title: Panther tank

text: The Panther's suspension was overengineered, and the "Schachtellaufwerk" interleaved road wheel system made replacing inner road wheels time-consuming (though it could operate with missing or broken wheels). The interleaved wheels also had a tendency to become clogged with mud, rocks and ice, and could freeze solid overnight in the harsh winter weather that followed the autumn "rasputitsa" mud season on the Eastern Front. Shell damage could cause the road wheels to jam together and become difficult to separate. Interleaved wheels had long been standard on all German half-tracks. The extra wheels did provide better flotation and stability, and also provided more armour protection for the thin hull sides than smaller wheels or non-interleaved wheel systems, but the complexity meant that no other country ever adopted this design for their tanks.


title: Panther tank

text: In September 1944, and again in March/April 1945, MAN built a limited number of Panthers with overlapping, non-interleaved steel-rimmed 80 cm diameter roadwheels originally designed for Henschel's Tiger II and late series Tiger I Ausf. E tanks. These steel-rimmed roadwheels were introduced from chassis number 121052 due to raw material shortages.


title: Panther tank

text: From November 1944 through February 1945, a conversion process began to use sleeve bearings in the Panther tank, as there was a shortage of ball bearings. The sleeve bearings were primarily used in the running gear; plans were also made to convert the transmission to sleeve bearings, but were not carried out due to the ending of Panther production.


title: Panther tank

text: Steering was accomplished through a seven-speed AK 7-200 synchromesh gearbox from Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen (ZF), and a MAN single radius steering system, operated by steering levers. Each gear had a fixed radius of turning, ranging from for 1st gear up to for 7th gear. The driver was expected to judge the sharpness of a turn ahead of time and shift into the appropriate gear to turn the tank. The driver could also engage the brakes on one side to force a sharper turn. This was a much simplified design compared to the Tiger tanks.


title: Panther tank

text: The AK 7-200 transmission was capable of pivot turns but only when the ground resistance on both tracks was the same. This high-torque method of turning could cause failures of the final drive.


title: Panther tank

text: The overstressed transmission system led to premature stripping of the third gear. This was compounded by alloy shortages which made gears more brittle and prone to failure. To reach the final drive for repair, the entire driver's compartment and transmission had to be disassembled and lifted out.


title: Panther tank

text: The Panther's main weakness was its final drive unit. The problems stemmed from several factors. The original MAN proposal had called for the Panther to have an epicyclic gearing (planetary) system in the final drive, similar to that used in the Tiger I. Germany suffered from a shortage of gear-cutting machine tools and for mass-production numerous simplifications were made to the design and its manufacture, sometimes against the wishes of designers and army officers. Consequently, the final drive was changed to a double spur system; although simpler to produce, the double spur gears had higher loads, making them prone to failure.


title: Panther tank

text: A report by Dr. Puschel of MAN said "The main cause of these failures was fatigue of the compound intermediate gear due to the low-core strength of the material used and the absence of case hardening at the critical sections." and "the use of split ring dowels with only a few bolts to retain the main drive gear to its flange proved unsatisfactory. This difficulty was subsequently overcome by...fitting bolts."


title: Panther tank

text: German industry made a number of modifications to the final drive units on the Panther Ausf. G in September and October 1944 to increase the durability of the unit.


title: Panther tank

text: Jacques Littlefield, of the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation, which restored a Panther Ausf. A, said "we found that the alloy and gears used in their construction were as good as we could make them today. I suspect the main problem with the final drive was that they were designed for a much lighter version of the Panther...Once they started to up-armor the Panther, there was no room to beef up the final drives to handle the extra weight.


title: Panther tank

text: Initial production Panthers had a face-hardened glacis plate (the main front hull armour piece), but as armour-piercing capped rounds became the standard in all armies (thus defeating the benefits of face-hardening, which caused uncapped rounds to shatter), this requirement was deleted in March 1943. By August 1943, Panthers were being built only with a homogeneous steel glacis plate. The front hull had of armour angled at 55 degrees from the vertical, welded but also interlocked with the side and bottom plates for strength. The combination of moderately thick and well-sloped armour meant that heavy Allied weapons, such as the Soviet 122 mm A-19, 100 mm BS-3 and US 90 mm M3 were needed to assure penetration of the upper glacis at normal combat ranges.


title: Panther tank

text: The armour for the side hull and superstructure (the side sponsons) was much thinner (). The thinner side armour was necessary to reduce the weight, but it made the Panther vulnerable to hits from the side by all Allied tank and anti-tank guns. German tactical doctrine for the use of the Panther emphasized the importance of flank protection and German engineers tried to eradicate the issue by designing the Panther II. Although the 2nd Panther was almost past the design process, it was ultimately scraped after thick spaced armour or armoured skirts, known as "Schürzen" were added. intended to provide protection for the lower side hull from Soviet anti-tank rifles such as the PTRS-41, the armour was fitted on the hull side. "Zimmerit" coating against magnetic mines started to be applied at the factory on late Ausf D models beginning in September 1943; an order for field units to apply "Zimmerit" to older versions of the Panther was issued in November 1943. In September 1944, orders to stop all application of "Zimmerit" were issued, based on false rumours that hits on the "Zimmerit" had caused vehicle fires.


title: Panther tank

text: Panther crews were aware of the weak side armour and made augmentations by hanging track links or spare roadwheels onto the turret and/or the hull sides. The rear hull top armour was only thick, and had two radiator fans and four air intake louvres over the engine compartment that were vulnerable to strafing by aircraft.


title: Panther tank

text: As the war progressed, Germany was forced to reduce or eliminate critical alloying metals in the production of armour plate, such as nickel, tungsten and molybdenum; this resulted in lower impact resistance levels compared to earlier armour. In 1943, Allied bombers struck and severely damaged the Knaben mine in Norway, eliminating a key source of molybdenum; supplies from Finland and Japan were also cut off. The loss of molybdenum, and its replacement with other substitutes to maintain hardness, as well as a general loss of quality control, resulted in an increased brittleness in German armour plate, which developed a tendency to fracture when struck with a shell. Testing by U.S. Army officers in August 1944 in Isigny, France showed catastrophic cracking of the armour plate on two out of three Panthers examined.


title: Panther tank

text: The main gun was a Rheinmetall-Borsig 7.5 cm KwK 42 (L/70) with semi-automatic shell ejection and a supply of 79 rounds (82 on Ausf. G). The main gun used three different types of ammunition: APCBC-HE ("Pzgr. 39/42"), HE ("Sprgr. 42") and APCR ("Pzgr. 40/42"), the last of which was usually in short supply. While it was of a calibre common on Allied tanks, the Panther's gun was the most powerful of World War II, due to the large propellant charge and the long barrel, which gave it a very high muzzle velocity and excellent armour-piercing qualities — among Allied tank guns of similar calibre, none had equivalent muzzle energy. Only the British Sherman Firefly conversion's Ordnance QF 17-pounder gun, of 3 inch (76.2mm) calibre, and a 55 calibre long (L/55) barrel, with its availability to fire APDS shot had more potential armour perforation power but was considerably less accurate owing to disturbances caused by the separation of shot and sabot and at a cost of less severe damage inside the target after perforation of the armour. The flat trajectory and accuracy of the full bore ammunition also made hitting targets much easier, since accuracy was less sensitive to errors in range estimation and increased the chance of hitting a moving target. The Panther's 75 mm gun had more penetrating power than the main gun of the Tiger I heavy tank, the 8.8 cm KwK 36 L/56, although the larger 88 mm projectile might inflict more damage if it did penetrate. The 75mm HE round was inferior to the 88mm HE round used for infantry support, but was on par with most other 75mm HE rounds used by other tanks and assault guns.


title: Panther tank

text: The tank typically had two MG 34 armoured fighting vehicle variant machine guns featuring an armoured barrel sleeve. An MG 34 machine gun was located co-axially with the main gun on the gun mantlet; an identical MG 34 was located on the glacis plate and fired by the radio operator. Initial Ausf. D and early Ausf. A models used a "letterbox" flap enclosing its underlying thin, vertical arrowslit-like aperture, through which the machine gun was fired. In later Ausf. A and all Ausf. G models (starting in late November-early December 1943), a ball mount in the glacis plate with a K.Z.F.2 machine gun sight was installed for the hull machine gun.


title: Panther tank

text: Initial Ausf. D were equipped with the Nebelwurfgerät with the later Ausf. A and Ausf. G receiving the Nahverteidigungswaffe.


title: Panther tank

text: The front of the turret was a curved thick cast armour mantlet. Its transverse-cylindrical shape meant that it was more likely to deflect shells, but the lower section created a shot trap. If a non-penetrating hit bounced downwards off its lower section, it could penetrate the thin forward hull roof armour, and plunge down into the front hull compartment. Penetrations of this nature could have catastrophic results, since the compartment housed the driver and radio operator sitting along both sides of the massive gearbox and steering unit. Also, four magazines containing main gun ammunition were located between the driver/radio operator seats and the turret, directly underneath the gun mantlet when the turret was facing forward.


title: Panther tank

text: From September 1944, a slightly redesigned mantlet with a flattened and much thicker lower "chin" design started to be fitted to Panther Ausf G models, the chin being intended to prevent such deflections. Conversion to the "chin" design was gradual, and Panthers continued to be produced to the end of the war with the rounded gun mantlet.


title: Panther tank

text: The Ausf A model introduced a new cast armour commander's cupola, replacing the forged cupola. It featured a steel hoop to which a third MG 34 or either the coaxial or the bow machine gun could be mounted for use in the anti-aircraft role.


title: Panther tank

text: Powered turret traverse was provided by the variable speed Boehringer-Sturm L4 hydraulic motor, which was driven from the main engine by a secondary drive shaft, the same system as on the PzKpfw.VI Tiger. On early production versions of the Panther maximum turret traverse was limited to 6º/second, whilst on later versions a selectable high speed traverse gear was added. Thus the turret could be rotated 360 degrees at up to 6º/second in low gear independent of engine rpm (same as on early production versions), or up to 19º/second with the high speed setting and engine at 2000 rpm, and at over 36º/second at the maximum allowable engine speed of 3000 rpm. The direction and speed of traverse was controlled by the gunner through foot pedals, the speed of traverse corresponding to the level of depression the gunner applied to the foot pedal. This system allowed for very precise control of powered traverse, a light touch on the pedal resulting in a minimum traverse speed of 0.1 deg/sec (360 degrees in 60 min), unlike in most other tanks of the time (e.g. US M4 Sherman or Soviet T-34) this allowed for fine laying of the gun without the gunner needing to use his traverse handwheel.


title: Panther tank

text: Ammunition storage for the main gun was a weak point. All the ammunition for the main armament was stored in the hull, with a significant amount stored in the sponsons. In the Ausf D and A models, 18 rounds were stored next to the turret on each side, for a total of 36 rounds. In the Ausf G, which had deeper sponsons, 24 rounds were stored on each side of the turret, for a total of 48 rounds. In all models, four rounds were also stored in the left sponson between the driver and the turret. An additional 36 rounds were stored inside the hull of the Ausf D and A models – 27 in the forward hull compartment directly underneath the mantlet. In the Ausf G, the hull ammunition storage was reduced to 27 rounds total, with 18 rounds in the forward hull compartment. For all models, three rounds were kept under the turntable of the turret. The stowage of 52 rounds of ammunition in the side sponsons made this area the most vulnerable point on the Panther since penetration here usually led to catastrophic ammunition fires.


title: Panther tank

text: The loader was stationed in the right side of the turret. With the turret facing forward, he had access only to the right sponson and hull ammunition, and so these served as the main ready-ammunition bins.


title: Panther tank

text: The Panther had five crew members, the commander, gunner, loader, driver and radio operator. The commander, loader and gunner were in the turret, while the driver and radio operator were in the hull of the vehicle. The driver sat on the front-left side of the tank and next to him was the tank's machine gunner whose job it was to operate the radio.


title: Panther tank

text: Panthers were supplied to form "Panzer Abteilung" 51 (Tank Battalion 51) on 9 January, and then "Panzer Abteilung" 52 on 6 February 1943.


title: Panther tank

text: The first production Panther tanks were plagued with mechanical problems. The engine was dangerously prone to overheating and suffered from connecting rod or bearing failures. Petrol leaks from the fuel pump or carburettor, as well as motor oil leaks from gaskets, produced fires in the engine compartment; which resulted in the total write-off of three Panthers due to fires. Transmission and final drive breakdowns were the most common and difficult to repair. A large list of other problems were detected in these early Panthers, and so from April through May 1943 all Panthers were shipped to Falkensee and Nürnberg for a major rebuilding program. This did not correct all of the problems, so a second program was started at Grafenwoehr and Erlangen in June 1943. Reliability improved with the Ausf. A and later G of the Panther, with availability rates going from an average of 37% by end of 1943 to an average of 54% in 1944. By mid-1944, the Panther was at its peak performance and widely regarded as the most formidable tank on the battlefield.


title: Panther tank

text: The Panther tank was seen as a necessary component of Operation Citadel, and the attack was delayed several times because of their mechanical problems and to receive more Panthers, with the eventual start date of the battle only six days after the last Panthers had been delivered to the front. This resulted in major problems in Panther units during the Battle of Kursk, as tactical training at the unit level, coordination by radio, and driver training were all seriously deficient.


title: Panther tank

text: It was not until 23–29 June 1943 that a total of 200 rebuilt Panthers were finally issued to Panther Regiment von Lauchert, of the XLVIII Panzer Corps (4 Panzer Army). Two were immediately lost due to motor fires on disembarking from the trains. By 5 July, when the Battle of Kursk started, there were only 184 operational Panthers. Within two days, this had dropped to 40. On 17 July 1943, after Hitler had ordered a stop to the German offensive, Gen. Heinz Guderian sent in the following preliminary assessment of the Panthers:


title: Panther tank

text: A later report on 20 July 1943 showed 41 Panthers as operational, 85 as repairable, 16 severely damaged and needing repair in Germany, 56 burnt out because of enemy action, and two destroyed by motor fires.


title: Panther tank

text: Before the Germans ended their offensive at Kursk, the Soviets began their counteroffensive, and succeeded in pushing the Germans back into a steady retreat. Thus, a report on 11 August 1943 showed that the number of total write-offs in Panthers swelled to 156, with only nine operational. The German Army was forced into a fighting retreat, and increasingly lost Panthers in combat as well as from abandoning and destroying damaged vehicles.


title: Panther tank

text: The Panther demonstrated its capacity to destroy any Soviet armoured fighting vehicle from long distance during the Battle of Kursk, and had a very high overall kill ratio. It constituted less than seven percent of the estimated 2,400–2,700 total armoured fighting vehicles deployed by the Germans in this battle, and its effectiveness was limited by its mechanical problems and the in-depth layered defence system of the Soviets at Kursk. Its greatest historical role in the battle may have been a highly negative one—its contribution to the decisions to delay the original start of Operation Citadel for a total of two months, time which the Soviets used to build up an enormous concentration of minefields, anti-tank guns, trenches and artillery defences.


title: Panther tank

text: After the losses of the Battle of Kursk, the German Army went into a permanent state of retreat from the Red Army. The numbers of Panthers were slowly built up again on the Eastern Front, and the operational percentage increased as reliability improved. In March 1944 Guderian reported: "Almost all the bugs have been worked out", although many units continued to report significant mechanical problems, especially with the final drive. The greatly outnumbered Panthers came to be used as mobile reserves to fight off major attacks.


title: Panther tank

text: The highest total number of operational Panthers on the Eastern Front was achieved in September 1944, when some 522 were listed as operational out of a total of 728. Throughout the rest of the war Germany continued to keep the great majority of Panther forces on the Eastern Front, where the situation progressively worsened for them. The last recorded status, on 15 March 1945, listed 740 on the Eastern Front, of which 361 were operational. By this time the Red Army had entered East Prussia and was advancing through Poland.


title: Panther tank

text: In August 1944 Panthers were deployed during the Warsaw Uprising as mobile artillery and troop support. At least two of them were captured in the early days of the conflict and used in actions against the Germans, including the liberation of the Gęsiówka concentration camp on 5 August, when the soldiers of "Wacek" platoon used the captured Panther (named "Magda") to destroy the bunkers and watchtowers of the camp. Most of the Germans in the camp were killed; the insurgents had lost two people and liberated almost 350 people. After several days the captured tanks were immobilized due to the lack of fuel and batteries and were set ablaze to prevent them from being recaptured.


title: Panther tank

text: In February 1945 during the Lower Silesian offensive operation, one captured ex-German "Panther" tank with an experienced crew from under the command of the Hero of the Soviet Union Lt. was used in a reconnaissance mission. At dusk, the tank passed through the forest, attacked from the flank and destroyed three enemy "Panther" tanks, but then, during the retreat to Soviet positions, it was hit by enemy artillery and damaged. After the battle the tank was written off due to lack of spare parts and maintenance problems.


title: Panther tank

text: At the time of the invasion of Normandy in June 1944, there were initially only two Panther-equipped Panzer regiments in the Western Front, with a total of 156 Panthers between them. From June through August 1944, an additional seven Panther regiments were sent into France, reaching a maximum strength of 432 in a status report dated 30 July 1944.


title: Panther tank

text: The majority of the German tank forces in Normandy – six and a half divisions – were drawn into fighting the Anglo-Canadian forces of the 21st Army Group around the town of Caen. The numerous operations undertaken to secure the town became collectively known as the Battle of Caen. While there were areas of heavy wooded bocage around Caen, most of the terrain was open fields which allowed the Panther to engage the attacking enemy armour at long range — its combination of superior armour and firepower allowed it to engage at distances from which the Shermans could not respond. Conversely, by the time of the Normandy Campaign, British divisional Anti-tank Regiments were well equipped with the excellent 17-pounder gun, and some US-supplied M10 tank destroyers had their 3-inch gun replaced with the 17pdr (giving the 17pdr SP Achilles), making it equally as perilous for Panthers to attack across these same fields. The British had begun converting regular M4 Shermans to carry the 17-pounder gun (nicknamed Firefly) prior to the D-Day landings. While limited numbers meant that during Normandy usually not more than one Sherman in each troop of four tanks was a Firefly variant, the lethality of the gun against German armour made them priority targets for German gunners.


title: Panther tank

text: In the meantime, U.S. forces, facing one and a half German "panzer" divisions, mainly the "Panzer Lehr" Division, struggled in the heavy, low-lying bocage terrain west of Caen. Like the Sherman, the Panther struggled in the bocage country of Normandy, and was vulnerable to side and close-in attacks in the built-up areas of cities and small towns. The commander of the "Panzer Lehr" Division, Gen. Fritz Bayerlein, reported on the difficulties experienced by the Panther tank in the fighting in Normandy:


title: Panther tank

text: Bayerlein still appreciated the Panther's virtues when used in the right conditions, writing "An ideal vehicle for tank battles and infantry support. The best tank in existence for its weight".


title: Panther tank

text: Through September and October, a series of new "Panzerbrigades" equipped with Panther tanks were sent into France to try to stop the Allied advance with counter-attacks. This culminated in the tank battles around Arracourt (18–29 September 1944), in which the mostly Panther-equipped German forces suffered heavy losses fighting against the 4th Armored Division of Patton's Third Army, which were still primarily equipped with 75 mm M4 Sherman tanks and yet came away from the battle with few losses. The Panther units were newly formed, poorly trained and tactically disorganized; most units ended up stumbling into ambushes against seasoned U.S. tank crews.


title: Panther tank

text: A status report on 15 December 1944 listed an all-time high of 471 Panthers assigned to the Western Front, with 336 operational (71 percent). This was one day before the start of the Battle of the Bulge; 400 of the tanks assigned to the Western Front were in units sent into the offensive.


title: Panther tank

text: The Panther once again demonstrated its prowess in open country, where it could hit its targets at long range with near-impunity, and its vulnerability in the close-in fighting of the small towns of the Ardennes, where they suffered heavy losses. A status report on 15 January 1945 showed only 97 operational Panthers left in the units involved in the operation, out of 282 still in their possession. Total writeoffs were listed as 198.


title: Panther tank

text: The Operation Greif commando mission included five Panthers assigned to "Panzerbrigade 150," disguised to look like M10 Tank Destroyers by welding on additional plates, applying US-style camouflage paint and markings. This was carried out as part of a larger operation that involved soldiers disguised as Americans to attack US troops from the rear. The disguised Panthers were detected and destroyed.


title: Panther tank

text: In February 1945, eight Panzer divisions with a total of 271 Panthers were transferred from the West to the Eastern Front. Only five Panther battalions remained in the west.


title: Panther tank

text: One of the top German Panther commanders was "SS-Oberscharführer" Ernst Barkmann of the 2nd SS-Panzer Regiment "Das Reich". By the end of the war, he had some 80 tank kills claimed.


title: Panther tank

text: Historian Steven Zaloga observed that the Panther's performance in the Ardennes operation against American M4 Shermans was disappointing for a vehicle of its technical specifications, given the Panther's superior armour and armament to the Sherman. Zaloga argues that this was down to the fact that at this point in the war, the quality of German tank crews had fallen and most Panther crews were inexperienced with minimal training. The lack of training exacerbated the Panther's technical weaknesses (poor power train durability and a lack of fuel and spare parts), resulting in many Panthers breaking down which were unable to be salvaged. Thus while a Panther was superior to a Sherman in the hands of an experienced crew, inadequate training, coupled with Sherman numerical superiority, resulted in a poor combat performance for the vehicle during the offensive.


title: Panther tank

text: From 1943, Panther turrets were mounted in fixed fortifications; some were normal production models, but most were made specifically for the task, with additional roof armour to withstand artillery fire. Two types of turret emplacements were used; ("Pantherturm III – Betonsockel" — concrete base) and ("Pantherturm I – Stahluntersatz" — steel sub-base). They housed ammunition storage and fighting compartment along with crew quarters. A total of 182 of these were installed in the fortifications of the Atlantic Wall and Siegfried Line ("Westwall"), 48 in the Gothic Line and Hitler Line, 36 on the Eastern Front, and two for training and experimentation, for a total of 268 installations by March 1945. They proved to be costly to attack, and difficult to destroy.


title: Panther tank

text: From September 1943, one "Panzer" battalion with 96 Panthers constituted the "Panzer" regiment of a 1943 organization "Panzer-Division".


title: Panther tank

text: From 3 August 1944, the new "Panzer-Division 44" organisation called for a "Panzer" division to consist of one "Panzer" regiment with two "Panzer" battalions – one of 96 Panzer IVs and one of 96 Panthers. Actual strengths tended to differ, and became far lower after losses.


title: Panther tank

text: The first Panthers saw combat at Kursk in summer 1943, revealing reliability issues beyond that typically expected for a new weapon system. This was improved through 1943; the Panther's operational rate went from 16 percent at the end of July 1943 to 37 percent by December 1943.


title: Panther tank

text: An improved version, the "Panther Ausf. A", entered production in August 1943. This received improvements from the "Panther Ausf. D", including a better turret with a new commander's cupola and increased turret traverse speed. More improvements began to have an effect on the combat-ready rate of the tanks deployed on the Eastern Front, which increased from 37 percent in February, to 50 percent in April, and 78 percent by the end of May 1944.