The Jagdpanther was a German WWII tank destroyer. The first prototypes of the vehicle were created in 1943, and serial production continued in the period 1944-1945, ending with the production of 392 cars. The Jagdpanther was powered by a 700hp Maybach HL 230 P30 single engine. It was armed with 1 88mm PaK 43 L / 71 gun and 1 7.92mm MG34 machine gun.
The Jagdpanther was created in response to the demand announced in August 1942 by the German army for a new tank destroyer. In response to this demand, the cooperating plants Krupp and Daimler-Benz developed a preliminary technical specification based on the chassis of the PzKpfw V Panther tank and models that were approved by the German army. The new tank destroyer had powerful armament, capable of destroying any enemy vehicle in the period 1944-1945, as well as well-profiled armor - especially at the front of the vehicle. The disadvantages were the complicated production process and high unit costs of the vehicle, which effectively slowed down serial production. Jagdpanther made his debut on the battlefield in the summer of 1944 in Normandy, then fought against the Western Allies in France and in the Ardennes operation at the turn of 1944-1945. It appeared on the Eastern Front in the fall of 1944, successfully fighting both the T-34 and the heavy IS-2. After World War II, Jagdpanther served in the French army until the 1960s!
In the course of World War II, German sapper units (German: Pioniere) were assigned in the strength of the battalion to each infantry, armored, mountain, grenadier and panzer grenadier divisions. At the end of the war, they were also assigned to the Volkssturm division. The full-time sapper battalion consisted of, among others, a staff, two companies of sappers, a company of motorized sappers and a motorized bridge column. It is worth adding that the units of sappers (pioneers) in the Wehrmacht, and also in the Waffen SS, were abundantly equipped with machine guns and other support weapons, and the soldiers serving in them had good, and often very good, training. In addition to performing typical engineering and sapper tasks, they were also perceived as assault units (German: Sturmpioniere) intended to attack heavily fortified objects and permanent resistance points. It is worth adding that the Sturmpioniere units very often collaborated with other types of armed forces on ordinary infantry and ending with aviation.