The was an improved version of the

Type 97 Chi-Ha The was a medium tank used by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Battles of Khalkhin Gol against the Soviet Union, and the Second World War. It was the most widely produced Japanese medium tank of World War II. T ...

medium tanks of the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. It had a more powerful main gun, engine and thicker armor. It was the first Japanese tank to have a communication radio as standard equipment. Production of the tank did not begin until 1943, due to the higher priority of steel allocated to the Imperial Navy for

warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster ...

construction. A total of 170 units were built. All of the tanks produced were allocated for the defense of the

Japanese home islands The Japanese archipelago (Japanese: 日本列島, ''Nihon rettō'') is a group of 6,852 islands that form the country of Japan, as well as the Russian island of Sakhalin. It extends over from the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast to the East Chin ...

, against the anticipated Allied Invasion.

History and development

After 1941, the Imperial Japanese Army quickly realized that its 1930s designed medium tank, the Type 97 Chi-Ha, was inferior to the 1940s generation of Allied armor, such as the

M4 Sherman } The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most widely used medium tank by the United States and Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman proved to be reliable, relatively cheap to produce, and available in great numbers. It ...

. Since the Type 97’s low-velocity 57 mm main gun was designed for infantry support in 1938, it could not penetrate the 1940s generation of Allied armor, whereas its own thin armor made the Type 97 vulnerable to most adversaries equipped with anti-armor capabilities. In response, a new series of tanks based on an improved Type 97 design was conceived. The first of this new series was the Type 1 Chi-He. Work on the design began in 1941. However, production did not begin until 1943, due to the higher priority of steel allocated to the Imperial Navy for

construction. A total of 170 units were built from 1943–44, and they did not see any combat.History of War: Type 1 Chi-He Medium Tank
/ref>

Design

Compared to the Type 97, the Type 1 Chi-He was slightly longer and taller. Its angled, thicker frontal armor was welded, as opposed to riveted. The adding of the frontal armor and a fifth crewman increased the weight, but the "streamlining" of the hull reduced the increase to only 1.5 tons. The Mitsubishi Type 100

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

at 240 hp generated 70 horsepower more than the Mitsubishi Type 97 diesel engine, and was thus more than able to compensate for the additional weight in armor. The Type 1 Chi-He's 47 mm high-velocity gun had a barrel length of 2.250 mm, a muzzle velocity of , and a penetration capability of 55 mm/100 m, 40 mm/500, 30 mm/1,000 meters; over double that of the Type 97s low-velocity main gun. It was more reliable and more accurate, with the gun barrel having a 16 groove rifling and an improved firing mechanism. The gun did require the installation of elevation gear (on the earlier Type 97 the gunner had to physically move the gun up or down on his shoulder). In light of these improvements, the gun was adequate against Allied armor. The ammunition was the same as used with the anti-tank version of the gun. The tanks carried 120 rounds of ammunition with both armor-piercing and armor-piecing high explosive shells. The gun was placed in a three-man turret, which had space for the commander, gun-layer and loader. The gun could be elevated and depressed between +20 and -15 degrees. This gun was used in the

Type 97 Shinhoto Chi-Ha Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * T ...

tank, and on the

Type 3 Ka-Chi The was an amphibious medium tank developed by the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II. The Type 3 Ka-Chi was based on an extensively modified Imperial Japanese Army Type 1 Chi-He medium tank (it had 2 more road-wheels and two more return roll ...

Amphibious Tank. The Type 1 Chi-He was also the first Japanese tank to carry a

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

as standard equipment in each tank, eliminating the need to use

signal flag Flag signals can mean any of various methods of using flags or pennants to send signals. Flags may have individual significance as signals, or two or more flags may be manipulated so that their relative positions convey symbols. Flag signals allo ...

Combat record

All Type 1 Chi-He tanks were allocated to the

to defend against the projected Allied Invasion. Despite Type 1's superiority in terms of armor and firepower over the earlier Type 97, it still underperformed in comparison to the American

, leading to a new medium tank design known as the

Type 3 Chi-Nu was a medium tank of the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. Like the Type 1 Chi-He, this tank was an improved version of the Type 97 Chi-Ha. It incorporated a Type 3 75 mm tank gun, one of the largest Japanese tank guns during the war. Th ...

Variants

The

medium tank retained the same chassis and

suspension Suspension or suspended may refer to: Science and engineering * Suspension (topology), in mathematics * Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics * Suspension of a ring, in mathematics * Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspende ...

of the Type 1 Chi-He, with the addition of an enlarged turret ring for the new large hexagonal

gun turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechani ...

with a commander's cupola. The more powerful main armament, a

Type 3 75 mm tank gun The Type 3 75 mm tank gun was used as the main armament of the Imperial Japanese Army Type 3 Chi-Nu medium tank. It was one of the largest guns ever to be fitted on a World War II Japanese tank. Design and use The Type 3 had a caliber of , barr ...

, was based on the Japanese Type 90 field gun. A more direct variant was the Type 97 Ka-So command tank. It was built to replace the older Type 97 Shi-Ki. It was based on the Type 1 Chi-He and had additional radios in its turret. A wood dummy main gun was placed in the turret. This way the Ka-So did not stand out from the regular tanks like the older Shi-Ki models, which had a machine gun in the turret and a 37 mm gun on the hull.Taki's Imperial Japanese Army: Command Tank "Shi-Ki"
/ref> Another variant designed in 1944 was the Type 2 Ku-Se self-propelled gun (SPG). It used the Type 1 Chi-He chassis and was armed with a 75 mm gun in an open casemate with light frontal armour only.

Notes

References

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External links

Taki's Imperial Japanese Army Page - Akira Takizawa
{{WWIIJapaneseAFVs Type 1 Chi-he 1 Chi-he World War II medium tanks Mitsubishi Military vehicles introduced from 1940 to 1944