The  Panther Bergepanzer, Late was produced starting in mid-1943 and continued until the end of the war.  There were many variations and many companies involved in the manufacture of these vehicles.  Some had a 40 ton winch and others did not.  The concept was to use this vehicle as a tow truck to pull disabled heavy tanks like the Panther and Tiger series.  Sometimes several of these would be used in series to make a particularly difficult two.   Tank battalions were often assigned two, three, or four of these useful vehicles.