Papiermodelle

M10 GMC - In the US Army tank destroyers were seen as a separate branch of armour and had their own Tank Destroyer Command. It was decided to convert a M4A2 hull powered by twin GM diesels and combine it with an open-topped welded turret mounting a converted 3-inch(76.2 mm)anti-aircraft gun. The top of the M4A2 hull was flattened to reduce height slightly and armour was reduced to save weight and improve its mobility. After a while the balance of the turret was improved by adding counterweights to the rear. There was no hull machine gun although a 0.50(12.7 mm)machine gun could be pintle-mounted on the turret side. The result was the Gun Motor Carriage M10 standardized in June 1942. About 7,000 were built some 2,600 of them based on the M4A3 chassis and known as the M10A1. The latter batch was never sent overseas and were used either for training or were converted to M35 prime movers for heavy artillery. Production ceased in December 1943 as attentions were switched to the M36. The original M10s saw hard action in the Normandy campaign. M10s were part of the Lease-Land arrangements with the United Kingdom a further 52 were sent to the Soviet Union. In British service the M10 was known as the Wolverine but the 3-inch gun was replaced by the same 17-pounder anti-tank gun used in the Sherman Firefly and Archer tank destroyer.
The Panther (Panzerkampfwagen V, SdKfz 171) was a German tank in World War II that served from mid-1943 to the end of the European war in 1945.It was intended as a counter to the T-34, and to replace the Panzer IV and III. The Panther was excellent combination of firepower, mobility, and protection served as a benchmark for other late war and immediate post-war tank designs and it is frequently regarded (along with the Soviet T-34-85) as the best tank design of World War II.