The was a

light tank A light tank is a tank variant initially designed for rapid movements in and out of combat, to outmaneuver heavier tanks. It is smaller in size with thinner armor and a less powerful main gun, tailored for better tactical mobility and ease of ...

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 opposin ...

. It was a conversion of existing

Type 95 Ha-Go The was a light tank used by the Empire of Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War, at Battles of Khalkhin Gol, Nomonhan against the Soviet Union, and in the Second World War. It proved sufficient against infantry but, like the American M3 Stu ...

light tanks, re-fitted with the larger turret of the

Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tank 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. ...

History and development

The Type 4 Ke-Nu was a variant of the

light tank. The original

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 tank was armed with a low

muzzle velocity Muzzle velocity is the speed of a projectile (bullet, pellet, slug, ball/shots or shell) with respect to the muzzle at the moment it leaves the end of a gun's barrel (i.e. the muzzle). Firearm muzzle velocities range from approximately to i ...

57 mm tank gun. Operational experience against the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

Nomonhan Nomonhan is a small village in Inner Mongolia, China, south of the city of Manzhouli and near the China–Mongolia border. In the summer of 1939, it was the location of the Nomonhan Incident, as it is known in Japan, or the Battle of Khalkhin G ...

during the Soviet–Japanese border conflicts in 1939 revealed that this gun was inadequate against opposing armor, and a new higher velocity 47 mm tank gun was developed. This was installed in the Type 97 Chi-Ha with a larger turret to produce the Type 97-''kai'' ''Shinhoto'' version.History of War: Type 4 Ke-Nu Light Tank
/ref> This left a large number of surplus Type 97 Chi-Ha turrets, which were later retrofitted onto the hulls of the obsolete Type 95 Ha-Go light tank. The result was designated the Type 4 Ke-Nu. The retrofitting did decrease the problem of cramped turret place for the crew, which had been encountered in an earlier attempt to up-gun Type 95 tanks with a 57 mm tank gun in a modified turret of a prototype known as the Type 3 Ke-Ri light tank.History of War: Type 3 Ke-Ri
/ref> As for the Type 4 Ke-Nu, approximately 100 units were converted in 1944.

Design

Essentially a Type 95 light tank with a Type 97 medium tank

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 ...

, the Type 4 Ke-Nu had slightly better firepower, but the retrofitting increased the weight of the tank to 8.4 tons. This reduced the top speed of the tank to 40 km/h. Given the replacement turret had thicker armor, it did provide the crew with some additional protection in that area, but did nothing to alleviate the Type 95's greatest weakness of the lack of suitable armor protection for the hull. Maximum armor protection for the tank (25 mm) was provided by the Type 97 turret, but it was defeated by the 37 mm, 75 mm and 2-pounders mounted on Allied tanks.

Combat record

The conversion coming in 1944 was too late to make any impact on Japanese combat operations, and most of the Type 4 Ke-Nu were retained in 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 Chi ...

in anticipation of the projected American invasion. Some were assigned to units in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

and

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...

, and saw brief combat against Soviet

forces in the

Soviet invasion of Manchuria The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, formally known as the Manchurian strategic offensive operation (russian: Манчжурская стратегическая наступательная операция, Manchzhurskaya Strategicheskaya Nastu ...

. A surviving Type 4 Ke-Nu captured in Manchukuo is on display in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

at the

Kubinka Tank Museum The Kubinka Tank Museum (Центральный музей бронетанкового вооружения и техники - Tsentral'nyy Muzey Bronetankovogo Vooruzheniya I Tekhniki -Central Museum of Armored Arms and Technology) is a larg ...

Notes

References

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External links

History of War: Type 4 Ke-Nu Light Tank
{{WWIIJapaneseAFVs Type 4 Ke-Nu 4 Ke-Nu World War II light tanks Mitsubishi Military vehicles introduced from 1940 to 1944