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List of Type 97 Chi-Ha variants

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Type 97 Chi-Ha

This is a list of vehicles developed from the Japanese Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tank and its direct lineage.

Amphibious tanks and armoured carriers

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Type 3 Ka-Chi amphibious tank
Amphibious tank derived from a modified Type 1 Chi-He chassis, armed with a Type 1 47 mm main gun and two 7.7 mm machine guns.[1]
Amphibious, armoured, cargo/troop tracked carrier that was 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] The twin drive propeller shafts were designed to retract "into their ducts" once the vehicle reached shore.[3]
Amphibious tank armed with one 47 mm gun, 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. Only one prototype was built.[4]

Engineering vehicles

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Experimental obstacle clearance vehicle
  • Experimental obstacle clearance vehicle
Based on the Type 97 Chi-Ha, development began in March 1941. It was designed to destroy obstacles such as barbed wire fence and impenetrable undergrowth with a launched cylinder charge. At the center of the tank chassis was mounted a launcher. The launcher had two torpedo type tubes from which the cylinder-shaped charges would be fired. After being launched, a cylinder charge could travel about 10 meters. One prototype was made, after which the project was cancelled in July 1943.[5]
Experimental charge layer vehicle
  • Experimental charge layer vehicle
Derived from the Type 97 tank, it had a telescopic lattice arm that was mounted on the turret. The telescopic arm could extend out to 12 meters. It was designed to carry a high explosive charge at the end of the extended arm for destroying pillboxes and bunkers.[5]
Experimental trench excavator vehicle
  • Experimental trench excavator vehicle
Derived from the Type 97 tank, it had a trench digging plow in the stern section of the tracked vehicle. This vehicle was produced around 1941-42 for service in Manchuria. At least one example was sent to Wewak on the north coast of Papua-New Guinea for field testing.[6]
Type 97 Shinhōtō Chi-Ha medium tank with dozer blade
  • Type 97 tank with dozer blades
This consisted of a standard Type 97 medium tank with a bulldozer style blade attached onto its front end. The variant was intended mostly for use in airfield construction. The blade could be detached for combat use of the tank, which occurred during the Philippines campaign (1944–1945). In total, there was only a limited number of blades that were produced by the end of the war.[7] A post-war variant was produced by Mitsubishi, where the turret and guns were removed. The post-war variant vehicle was used for reconstruction in Japan.[8]

Medium tanks

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Type 3 Chi-Nu medium tank
Prototype medium tank produced in 1939. It had a similar chassis to the Type 97.
Type 97 tank with a new larger gun turret and armed with the Type 1 47 mm gun.[9]
A successor to the Chi-Ha. The speed and the armor were better than the Chi-Ha, but it still had only a Type 1 47 mm main gun.[10]
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 the expected Allied invasion.[11][12] It was the last design based directly on Type 97 lineage.[13]

Gun tanks

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Type 2 Ho-I gun tank
Short barrel 120 mm gun tanks
The Imperial Japanese Army called close fire support tanks, "gun tanks". The experimental model was based on the Chi-Ha and the production model was based on the Chi-He. The Ho-I mounted a short barrel Type 99 75 mm tank gun. They were intended to be deployed in a fire support company in each of the tank regiments.[14] There is no record a Ho-I was used in action as they were deployed in Japan to defend against the expected Allied invasion.[15]
Late in World War II, this Type 97 ShinHōtō 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. A limited number of "about a dozen" were produced for deployment by the Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces.[14]

Self propelled guns

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Type 1 Ho-Ni II self-propelled 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.[16] They saw combat action, being first deployed at the Battle of Luzon in the Philippines in 1945.[17]
Type 91 105 mm gun installed on the same modified Type 97 chassis as the Ho-Ni I with a slightly changed superstructure as far as the side armor with re-positioned observation visors.[18]
The Ho-Ni III had a Type 3 75 mm tank gun mount in a fully enclosed casemate and was deployed in tank regiments as a tank destroyer.[16] Most were stationed within the Japanese home islands to defend against the projected Allied Invasion.[19]
Type 4 Ho-Ro self-propelled gun
SPG with Type 38 15 cm (149.1 mm) howitzer on a modified Type 97 chassis, similar to Ho-Ni I SPG with a front gun shield, which only extended a very short distance on the sides.[20] They were deployed in a piecemeal fashion, seeing combat during the Philippines Campaign and the Battle of Okinawa.[21][22]
A one-off SPG developed by the Imperial Japanese Navy with a naval Type 10 120 mm gun mounted on a modified Type 97 tank chassis.[23]
  • Experimental Type 5 15 cm SPG Ho-Chi
SPG with a Type 96 15 cm (149.1 mm) howitzer on a modified Type 97 chassis. Similar to Ho-Ni and Ho-Ro SPGs with an open casemate. Stage of development unknown.[24]
  • Chinese 75 MM SPG
SPG using a Type 94 75 mm mountain gun developed by the Republic of China in 1948 using captured Type 97 Chi-Ha chassis and Japanese mountain guns in order to provide firepower lacking after US deliveries of equipment were stopped. Additionally armed with two Chinese made ZB vz. 26 machine guns, they were used in the Chinese Civil War.[25]

Other variants

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Armoured recovery vehicle Se-Ri
  • Se-Ri
Armoured recovery vehicle on a modified Type 97 chassis with a collapsible crane powered by a Type 100 240 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 Chi-Ha tank. Introduced in 1939, three were produced.[26][27]
Type 97 Chi-Yu mine flail tank
Type 97 Chi-Ha fitted with 2 revolving drums with rows of chains mounted on glacis plates and linked to the drive wheels for clearing a mine-field.[26] The prototype copied the design of the British mine flail tanks.
Type 97 mine clearing tank GS fitted with rocket launchers
  • Type 97 mine clearing tank GS
Type 97 Chi-Ha fitted with rocket launchers. First produced in 1943. A rocket would be launched with detonating cords affixed from its engine deck. The tank also had a rocket launcher at the rear MG position on the turret. It launched a Bangalore torpedo affixed to a rocket.[28]
Type 97 experimental flamethrower tank number 2
  • Type 97 experimental flamethrower tank number 2
Type 97 chassis fitted with two large, elongated fuel tanks and two flamethrowers on each side of the hull. It utilized an electric flame igniter system. Not such is known about this prototype, but a U.S. military chemical weapons report with photos was produced after examination of the vehicle. This was not the first Type 97 prototype flamethrower tank developed. An earlier version replaced the hull machine gun with a flamethrower.[29][30]
Ho-K armoured lumberjack vehicle
  • Ho-K
An armoured lumberjack vehicle on a modified Type 97 ShinHōtō Chi-Ha chassis 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.[31][32]
  • Lumber sweeper Basso-Ki
A lumberjack vehicle on a modified Type 97 chassis. It was used to remove severed trees and stumps generated by the work of the Ho-K.[33]
  • Shi-Ki
Command tank on a Type 97 chassis. It had a machine gun in the turret and a 37 mm gun on the hull. Recognized by its different sized turret with the rail-antenna, it had long-range communications and superior optics. "Mainly" used at the tank training schools.[34]
  • Ka-So
Command tank to replace the older Type 97 Shi-Ki. It was based on the Type 1 Chi-He and had additional radios inside its turret. A wood dummy main gun was placed in the turret so the tank did not stand out from other tanks.[35]
  • Type T-G bridge layer
Type 97 with the turret removed; equipped with rollers, which support the "bridging span carrier" over the top of the chassis.[36]
  • Experimental anti-aircraft tank Ta-Ha
A planned anti-aircraft tank based on the Type 1 Chi-He chassis in 1944. The design called for the tank turret to be replaced by a rotatably mounted anti-aircraft gun in a twin mount behind a gun shield. One prototype tank was under construction at the end of the war.[37]

Notes

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  1. ^ Tomczyk 2003, p. 32.
  2. ^ Zaloga 2007, p. 24.
  3. ^ Tomczyk 2003, p. 33.
  4. ^ Tomczyk 2003, pp. 32, 33, 43.
  5. ^ a b Taki's Imperial Japanese Army: Articles on Japanese tank (Japanese text only)
  6. ^ Taki's Imperial Japanese Army: Q&As about Imperial Japanese Army
  7. ^ Ness 2014, p. 268.
  8. ^ Taki's Imperial Japanese Army: Articles on Japanese tank (Japanese text only)
  9. ^ Zaloga 2007, pp. 13, 14.
  10. ^ Tomczyk 2007a, p. 20.
  11. ^ Tomczyk 2005, p. 3.
  12. ^ Zaloga 2007, pp. 21, 22.
  13. ^ Zaloga 2007, pp. 17, 21.
  14. ^ a b Zaloga 2007, p. 21.
  15. ^ Taki’s Imperial Japanese Army: Type 2 "Ho-I"
  16. ^ a b Zaloga 2007, p. 19.
  17. ^ Zaloga 2007, pp. 19, 37–39.
  18. ^ Tomczyk 2007b, pp. 10, 20.
  19. ^ Tomczyk 2007b, p. 8.
  20. ^ Zaloga 2007, pp. 19, 20.
  21. ^ Zaloga 2007, pp. 19, 38, 39.
  22. ^ Trewhitt 1999, p. 108.
  23. ^ Taki's Imperial Japanese Army: Long Barrel 12cm SP Gun
  24. ^ Tomczyk 2007b, p. 10.
  25. ^ Sino Records: Chi-Ha SPG — Chinese Mystery Tank
  26. ^ a b Tomczyk 2003, p. 76.
  27. ^ Taki's Imperial Japanese Army: Armored Recovery Vehicle "Se-Ri"
  28. ^ Taki's Imperial Japanese Army: Mine-clearing Vehicle "GS"
  29. ^ Taki's Imperial Japanese Army: Articles on Japanese tank (Japanese text only)
  30. ^ Taki’s Imperial Japanese Army: Flame Work Vehicle
  31. ^ Taki's Imperial Japanese Army: Armored Lumberjack "Ho-K"
  32. ^ Tomczyk 2003, p. 77.
  33. ^ Taki's Imperial Japanese Army: Lumber Sweeper "Basso-Ki"
  34. ^ Taki's Imperial Japanese Army: Command Tank "Shi-Ki"
  35. ^ Tomczyk 2007a, p. 21.
  36. ^ Tomczyk 2003, p. 80.
  37. ^ 原乙未生 (Hara Otomi), 日本の戦車 (Japanese Tanks), 出版協同社 (Shuppan Kyodosha), 1978, p. 146.

References

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  • Ness, Leland (2014). Rikugun: Guide to Japanese Ground Forces, 1937-1945. Volume 2, Weapons of the Imperial Japanese Army & Navy Ground Force. Helion and Company. ISBN 978-1909982758.
  • Trewhitt, Philip (1999). Armoured Fighting Vehicles. Dempsey-Parr. ISBN 978-1840843286.
  • Tomczyk, Andrzej (2007a) [2002]. Japanese Armor Vol. 2. AJ Press. ISBN 978-8372371119.
  • 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 (2007b). Japanese Armor Vol. 5. AJ Press. ISBN 978-8372371799.
  • Zaloga, Steven J. (2007). Japanese Tanks 1939–45. Osprey. ISBN 978-1-8460-3091-8.
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