The Jagdpanther (German: "hunting panther"), Sd.Kfz. 173, was a tank destroyer built by Germany during World War II based on the chassis of the Panther tank. It entered service in 1944 during the later stages of the war on the Eastern and Western Fronts. The Jagdpanther combined the 8.8 cm Pak 43 cannon, similar to the main gun of the Tiger II, and the armor and suspension of the Panther chassis. During the last stages of the war, limited German production resulted in small production numbers, shortage of spare parts, and shortened crew training periods of younger operators.
A total of 415 Jagdpanthers were produced from January 1944 by three manufacturers, planned production was between a hundred and two-hundred a month, but the disruption to German manufacturing made this goal unachievable. The last 'production' Jagdpanthers were produced at the factory by German staff just after the end of World War II under the supervision of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME). Nine Panthers and a dozen Jagdpanthers were produced, then shipped to England for evaluation.
Jagdpanther equipped heavy antitank battalions and served mainly on the Eastern Front. In the West, they were encountered in very small numbers late in the Battle of Normandy; the German 654 schwere Panzerjager-Abteilung ("654th Heavy Antitank Battalion") deployed about twelve Jagdpanthers against the British armed forces. Later, significant numbers were concentrated in the West for the Ardennes Offensive.