The Sumida M.2593 (Type 91) was an armoured car produced by the

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...

in the 1930s. It could operate on both the roadway and railway lines.

History

Sumiya (often simplified to , sometimes styled ) was the designated red light district () in Kyoto, and was later also a geisha district (). Established in 1640, Shimabara, following the outlawing of sex work in Japan became defunct as a red-light dis ...

firm, beginning in 1933 the M.2593 was produced at the Ishikawajima Motor Works. A defining feature of this vehicle is that its six road wheels could be exchanged for flanged railway wheels. When not in use, the tires would be secured to the sides of the hull. The vehicle had four built-in jacks for use when the wheels were changed. It would take ten to twenty minutes to change the wheels. The front and rear sets of wheels could even be adjusted to various

rail gauge In rail transport, track gauge (in American English, alternatively track gage) is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many d ...

s. The car was capable of 25 mph (40 km/h) on road and traveling at higher speeds on rails, going up to 37 mph (60 km/h). The car was successful in covering great distances in the 1937 invasion of China. They were also used in Manchuria, to "guard railway lines". They could be coupled together and operate on the rails like "rolling stock". This led them to be used in joint operations with trains and were used for reconnaissance by the army. The M.2593 had a crew of six men, and was armed with either one 6.5 mm machine gun or one 7.7 mm

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

Variants

One version of the Type 91 armoured railroad car was produced without a main fixed machine gun for armament. A second variant produced by Ishikawajima was known as the Sumida Model P armored car. It was used by the

Special Naval Landing Forces The Special Naval Landing Forces (SNLF; ja, 海軍特別陸戦隊, Kaigun Tokubetsu Rikusentai) were naval infantry units of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and were a part of the IJN Land Forces. They saw extensive service in the Second Sino ...

(SNLF) of the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

(IJN).Taki's Imperial Japanese Army: Sumida Model P Armored Car
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Gallery

File:Type 91 Broad-gauge Railroad Tractor, with street wheels.jpg, Side view of a Sumida M.2593 File:Type 91 Broad-gauge Railroad Tractor hooked to another Type 91 Broad-gauge Railroad Tractor.jpg, Sumida M.2593 hooked in tandem to another Type 91 (1933) File:SumidaM2593 3.jpg, Sumida Model P armored car of the SNLF File:Sumida Model P armoured car.jpg, Sumida Model P armored car of the SNLF on patrol

Notes

References

* *Trewhitt, Philip, and Chris McNab (2004). ''Fighting Vehicles of the World: over 600 Tanks and AFVS of the World''. London: Amber.

External links

Taki's Imperial Japanese Army Page - Akira Takizawa
{{WWIIJapaneseAFVs Armoured cars of Japan Isuzu Armoured cars of the interwar period World War II armoured fighting vehicles of Japan Military vehicles introduced in the 1930s Military draisines Rail and road vehicle