[chascbv]

This Panther arrived yesterday in my collection.

The model represents an early G version, and is correct in both proportions and details. As this is an earlier mould, small details are not as sharp as in Dragon's Shermans, for instance, and details such as handles and lift rings are solid blobs. However, this does not detract much from the model's excellent looks.

As this is an early G in September 1944, of course the original vehicle had a factory-applied coat of zimmerit, which Dragon has not reproduced. This is a pity since Panthers are the only Dragon models where zimmerit is adequately done, meaning that the tanks still keep their full complement of tools, cables, supports, etc., and no oversimplifications are apparent.

The model is based on the profile included below, found in Concord's second volume on the 4.Panzer Division (no photograph of this vehicle is included in said volume, maybe in another title from Concord that I still do not have...). The profile represents a vehicle from Pz.Rgt 35, 4.Pz Div, somewhere in Courland (Latvia) during September 1944. Two features are characteristic of this tank, and both have been noted by the manufacturer - the dark mottled gun barrel, and the peculiar way track links are attached to the turret sides (a longitudinal segment, rather than the usual vertical lengths); however, Dragon has used two parts for each track segment, and thus the white number is not at the centre, but on the rearmost length. Also, the model has side skirts, which the vehicle in the profile has not.

4.Pz Div was transported from Poland to Latvia in August 1944. Operation Bagration, the massive Soviet offensive for the summer, was ongoing since June, and had been successful on all fronts. German resistance had collapsed everywhere, and the extent of success for Soviet armies even surprised Soviet commanders themselves. Soon, on October 10, 1944 the Soviets reached the Baltic Sea at Memel, and cut off a number of German units - including PzRgt 35 - from the rest of German Armies: the battle for the Courland pocket had just begun! The remnants of Army Group North were renamed Heeresgruppe Kurland, and these German troops, facing vastly superior enemy forces, successfully - heroically maybe - fought off Soviet attacks in what would be the last German victories of WW2. When Germany surrendered, Admiral Dönitz ordered the surrender of all German divisions in Courland. Around 190,000 German troops were then taken into captivity. But 4.Pz Div was no longer there - it had been transferred to West Prussia in January 1945, where it finally surrendered to the Soviets in April.

But for now we see our tank in September, somewhere in Latvia, getting ready for the upcoming onslaught among worrying, pesimistic news from all fronts.