The , officially known as the was the penultimate

tank destroyer A tank destroyer, tank hunter, tank killer, or self-propelled anti-tank gun is a type of armoured fighting vehicle, armed with a direct fire artillery gun or missile launcher, designed specifically to engage and destroy enemy tanks, often wi ...

developed by 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 ...

in 1945, during the closing stages of

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 ...

History and development

Towards the end of the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

, Japanese field commanders realized that nothing in the inventory of the Japanese Army would be able to withstand the increasingly advanced tanks and armored vehicles fielded by the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

, and that a more powerful version of the

Type 3 Ho-Ni III The was a tank destroyer and self-propelled artillery of Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. The Type 3 Ho-Ni III superseded the Type 1 Ho-Ni I and its variant the Type 1 Ho-Ni II in production, and gave better protection to the crew by havi ...

was necessary. Development was rushed through on a new design, which was completed in 1945. The Japanese Army immediately issued an order for 200 units to be completed in 1945. However, by that time production was impossible due to material shortages, and by the bombing of Japan in World War II, and testing was not yet completed by the end of the war.

Design

The Type 5 Na-To made use of the chassis and superstructure of the Type 4 Chi-So armored medium tracked carrier. The superstructure had an open top and rear, with an enclosed armored drivers cab. For the Type 5 Na-To there was added a "shielded platform" for its main gun. Its main anti-tank armament consisted of a

Type 5 75 mm tank gun The ''Type 5 75 mm tank gun'' was used as the main armament of the Imperial Japanese Army prototype Type 4 Chi-To medium tank. It was one of the largest tank guns to be fitted on a World War II Japanese tank. Due to late war shortage-induced ...

, which was the same gun mounted in the Type 4 Chi-To medium tank. The gun was a variant of the Japanese Type 4 75mm AA Gun.

Service record

Although the Type 5 Na-To tank destroyer was intended to become part of the defenses 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 Chi ...

against the projected Allied Invasion, only two units were completed by the

surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...

. Neither one was used in combat.

Notes

References

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External links

Taki's Imperial Japanese Army Page - Akira Takizawa
{{WWIIJapaneseAFVs Type 5 Na-To 5 Na-To History of the tank Mitsubishi Military vehicles introduced from 1945 to 1949