List of Type 97 Chi-Ha variants
This is a list of vehicles developed from the Japanese Type 97 Chi-Ha tank.
Type 97 Chi-Ha
Amphibious tanks
- Amphibious tank derived from the Type 1 Chi-He Chassis, armed with a 47 mm main gun and two 7.7 mm machine guns.[1]
Type 4 Ka-Tsu
- Amphibious cargo and troop carrier developed by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The engine component and electric devices were watertight and it could be carried underwater attached to a submarine.[2]
- Amphibious tank armed with one 47 mm and one 25 mm Type 1 gun and two 7.7 mm Type 97 machine guns. The turret was a modified version of the one used on the Type 97 Shinhoto Chi-Ha with a Type 5 Chi-Ri hull.[3]
- Type 4 Ka-Sha
- Amphibious vehicle based on the Chi-To or Chi-Ri Chassis. Not produced, even as a prototype.
Engineering vehicles
- Experimental Trench Excavator
- Derived from the Type 97 Chi-Ha Tank, it had a trench digging plow in the stern. This vehicle was made around 1941-42 for service in Manchuria. Some examples were sent to Wewak on the north coast of Papua-New Guinea for use by the Japanese 6th Div AIF.
Medium tanks
Type 97 ShinHoTo Chi-Ha
- Experimental Medium Tank Type 98 Chi-Ho
- Prototype medium tank produced in 1939. It had a similar chassis to the Type 97.
- Type 97 ShinHoTo Chi-Ha or Chi-Ha Kai
- Type 97 with a new larger turret armed with the Type 1 47 mm gun.[4]
- Type 1 Chi-He Medium Tank
- This tank was a successor to the Chi-Ha. The speed and the armor were better than the Chi-Ha, but it still had only a 47 mm main gun.[5]
Type 3 Chi-Nu
- Type 3 Chi-Nu Medium Tank
- This tank was developed in order to cope with M4 Sherman. Its hull is the same of Chi-He and its Type 3 75 mm gun was converted from the 75 mm Type 90 field gun. It had a large new hexagonal gun turret and a commander's cupola. The Chi-Nu was deployed in Japan proper to counter to expected Allied invasion.[6][7]
Gun tanks
Type 2 Ho-I gun tank
- Type 2 Ho-I Medium Gun Tank
- The Imperial Japanese Army called closed fire support tanks as "gun tanks". The experimental model was based on the Chi-Ha and the production model was based on Chi-He. Ho-I mounted a short barrel Type 99 75 mm tank gun. They was deployed in the gun tank company of the tank regiment. There is no record a Ho-I was used in action as they were deployed in Japan to defend against the expected Allied invasion.[7][8]
IJN Short Barrel 120 mm Gun tanks
- Type 97 ShinHoTo Chi-Ha Short Barrel 120 mm Gun Tank
- Late in World War II, this Type 97 ShinHoTo Chi-Ha variant was produced for the Imperial Japanese Navy. The standard 47 mm main gun was replaced with a short barrel naval 12 cm (120 mm) "anti-submarine" gun with a muzzle brake added. Produced in a small number of "about a dozen" for deployment by the Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces.[9]
Self propelled guns
Type 1 Ho-Ni I
- Type 1 Ho-Ni I 75 mm SP AT Gun
- Turret removed and 75 mm gun installed in an open casemate to create a self-propelled gun. They were organized along similar lines as artillery units.[10]
- Type 1 Ho-Ni II 105 mm SPG
- A Type 91 105 mm gun installed on the same chassis as the Ho-Ni I with a slightly changed superstructure as far as the side armor with re-positioned observation visors.[11]
- Type 3 Ho-Ni III 75 mm SP AT gun
- The Ho-Ni III had a Type 3 75 mm tank gun mount in a fully enclosed fighting compartment and was deployed in tank regiments as a tank destroyer.[6][10]
Type 4 Ho-Ro
- Type 4 Ho-Ro 15 cm SP Howitzer
- This SPG with Type 38 15 cm (149.1 mm) Howitzer in Type 97 medium tank chassis, similar to Ho-Ni I SPG with a front gun shield.[12]
- Experimental Type 5 15 cm SPG Ho-Chi or Ho-Chi Sha
- This SPG with Type 96 15 cm (149.1 mm) Howitzer in Type 97 chassis, similar to Ho-Ni/Ho-Ro SPGs.
- Naval 12 cm SPG or Long Barrel 120 mm SPG
- This SPG developed by the Imperial Japanese Navy with a naval Type 10 120 mm AA gun on a Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tank chassis.
Other variants
Se-Ri
- Se-Ri
- Armoured recovery vehicle on a Type 97 chassis with a collapsible crane powered by a 240 hp diesel engine. The winch was located over the rear deck of the engine compartment. The Se-Ri also had "external stowage ranks" on each side of the hull. A machine gun turret replaced the main gun turret used on the Type 97 tank.[13]
- "Mine Clearing Tank G" ("Chi-Yu" Mineplow Tank)
- Type 97 Medium Tank "Chi-Ha" fitted with 2 revolving drums carrying rows of chains for mine-plowing. Essentially a copy of the British mine flail tanks.
Ho-K
- Ho-K
- An armored lumberjack vehicle which was a Type 97 with the turret removed and a steel prow mounted for creating paths through forests. Used in Manchuria to aid the fight against the Soviet Union. One group was sent to New Guinea for use in the construction of an airfield there.[14][15]
- Ka-So
- Observation tank with dummy main gun.
- Type 97 Shi-Ki
- Command tank with a machine gun in the turret and a 37 mm gun on the hull. Recognized by the rail-antenna on its turret, it had long-range communications and superior optics.[16]
- "High-Voltage Dynamo Vehicle" Ka-Ha
- The Ka-Ha was a Type 97 tank. The main gun was a dummy and there was no machine gun. It carried a dynamo which could generate a high voltage (10,000 Volt) current.[17]
- Type T-G bridge layer
- A Type 97 with the turret removed with rollers which support the "bridging span carrier" over the top of the chassis.[18]
- Type 97 Chi-Ha "Special Attack Vehicle"
- As Chi-Ha Tank special modification in combat front, unarmed, packed with explosive charges with crew of 1 or 2, for Kamikaze used in collision strikes against Allied tanks or infantry assaults.
Notes
- ↑ Tomczyk 2003, p. 32.
- ↑ Taki's Imperial Japanese Army: Type 4 Amphibious Vehicle "Ka-Tsu"
- ↑ Tomczyk 2003, pp. 32, 33, 43.
- ↑ Zaloga 2007, pp. 13, 14.
- ↑ Tomczyk 2007, p. 20.
- 1 2 Tomczyk 2005, p. 3.
- 1 2 Zaloga 2007, pp. 21, 22.
- ↑ Taki’s Imperial Japanese Army: Type 2 "Ho-I"
- ↑ Zaloga 2007, p. 21.
- 1 2 Zaloga 2007, p. 19.
- ↑ Tomczyk 2007, pp. 10, 20.
- ↑ Zaloga 2007, p. 20.
- ↑ Tomczyk 2003, p. 76.
- ↑ Taki's Imperial Japanese Army: Armored Lumberjack "Ho-K"
- ↑ Tomczyk 2003, p. 77.
- ↑ Taki's Imperial Japanese Army: Command Tank "Shi-Ki"
- ↑ Taki's Imperial Japanese Army: "High-Voltage Dynamo Vehicle 'Ka-Ha' "
- ↑ Tomczyk 2003, p. 80.
References
- Tomczyk, Andrzej (2003). Japanese Armor Vol. 3. AJ Press. ISBN 978-8372371287.
- Tomczyk, Andrzej (2005). Japanese Armor Vol. 4. AJ Press. ISBN 978-8372371676.
- Tomczyk, Andrzej (2007). Japanese Armor Vol. 5. AJ Press. ISBN 978-8372371799.
- Zaloga, Steven J. (2007). Japanese Tanks 1939–45. Osprey. ISBN 978-1-8460-3091-8.
External links
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