Edited sentence: 15, 1944 listed an all time high of 471 Panthers assigned to the Western Front, with 336 operational (71 percent).A status report on Dec.By the beginning of September, only four Panzer Regiments with Panthers were left in France, the rest having been essentially wiped out during the retreat through the Falaise Gap, with most of the armored vehicles having to be abandoned.Panther-equipped forces were rebuilt again, this time in secret, on German territory, for the Ardennes Offensive.This was one day before the start of the Battle of the Bulge