By the later stages of the war the lack of any production or repair facilities let alone any raw materials, meant a huge loss of equipment and little in the way of offensive capability to what remained of the German forces - ingenuity was still abundant and when one of your best tanks becomes mechanically inoperable it can still be a formidable, ready made, defensive position.
 
Our new dug in panther perfectly represents the last desperate efforts to keep machines in the fight!