Development of Japanese tanks in World War II
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Japan was not quite so "armor less" as most people might believe. In fact, Japan had at it's disposal a wide variety equipment. People tend to use Soviet or German tanks when making comparisons of armor power, protection, and quality. It should be remembered that each started the war with much smaller tanks and firepower.
Japan produced its first home-grown tank in 1922 which was a multi-turret design and weighed 22 tons. Later, the Japanese purchased some Vickers 6 ton tanks and the Carden-Loyd tankette and used these as a basis for further development on their part.
The difference in development was application and terrain. Japan's conquests, with the exception of China, were mostly jungle which did not favor large armor formations. It was felt that there was less need to develop a large armored force or heavy tanks. Armor development was hindered by steel production and military priorities. Armor Tactics were generally under developed as a result. Considering the thin armor protection that Japanese tankers had to put up with, along with cramped fighting conditions, Japanese tankers acquitted themselves well in combat.
In 1925, the Japanese Army decided to establish the tank force. They planned to form their light tank battalions and one heavy tank battalion. However, the problem was how to prepare tanks for these units. In those days, there were only 16 tanks in Japan. The Japanese Army sent a mission to Europe in order to import more tanks from UK or France. They requested new models of the tank, but European countries would not sell new models because they were not yet enough produced. After all, only available model was the old Renault FT17 tank. The Japanese Army was reluctantly importing them for their tank force.
After WWI Japan showed an interest in tanks and obtained a variety of models. These units included the British Heavy Mk V and the Medium A. Japan also purchased the French FT-17 which they called Ko-Gata Sensha. In 1927 they purchased its successor, the Renault NC-1 from the French which they called the Otsu-Gata Sensha (Sensha = "battle wagon"). Both of these models were still in active Japanese service in 1940. Additional units and parts came from the takeover of French holdings in South East Asia.
To know this course, young engineers in the Japanese Army Technical Bureau got angry and insisted that the tank should be made in Japan and they could do it. General Suzuki, the chief of the Japanese Army Technical Bureau made a protest against the Ministry of War and made its decision cancelled. After it, they were allowed to develop a tank, but it was a heavy bet for them. Until that time, Japanese Army engineers had developed only a few kinds of truck and one kind of tractor. Of course, no one had an experience to develop the tank. Moreover, they had to achieve it only in two years. If they could not do it within this period, the budget for the development would be cancelled.
The development of the Japanese tank started in June 1925. Four engineers in the motorcar group of the Japanese Army Technical Bureau participated in the development. One of them was young officer Tomio Hara. Later, he became a general and the leader of the Japanese tank development. They started to design a tank and worked hard day after day. There was no previous example of the design of tank in Japan, so they had to design everything, even one bolt and one nut. They drew plans for 10,000 pieces of parts.
Major Tomio Hara designed a bellcrank scissors suspension which paired the bogie wheels and connected them to a coil spring mounted horizontally outside the hull. This suspension became almost a standard on many Japanese models and can easily be seen on the Type 89 medium tank
In May 1926, the design was finished and it was ordered to the Osaka Arsenal. In those days, Japanese technical level of the motorcar was very low and no motorcar company nor factory existed in Japan. The Osaka Arsenal had solved many technical problems one by one with much effort. In Feb. 1927, the first Japanese tank was finally finished within the required period. It was big news that the tank was made in Japan. Many Japanese Army generals requested to attend the test of the first Japanese tank. On June 21st, the first Japanese tank run smoothly in the front of attendant generals. The generals applauded it, because they had been afraid that it would really run. In the test of the next day, the tank showed a satisfactory performance on the movement in rough terrains and slopes. The first Japanese tank was a great success. It proved that Japan could develop the tank by themselves. After that, it became Japanese Army policy that the tank be made in Japan. Another tank development center, Sagami Arsenal, were charged with the design and manufacture of assorted types of armoured vehicles and tanks.
By 1937, Japan fielded 1,060 tanks in 8 regiments. Even with the success of the tank in China, the Japanese still did not see the tank as a battle winner. Tanks were rarely allowed independent action and were largely tied to infantry units in the French system of tank deployment. The standard thought was to use them as mobile pillboxes. Once the grave mistake was realized as to the true potential of the tank, the Japanese were completely unable to catch up.
In the period between 1931 and 1938 the Japanese built nearly 1,700 new tanks and this made them the 4th largest tank producer in the world. The peak of Japanese tank production was in 1942 but declined afterward owing to war material priorities.
Some 3,000 Type 97 Chi-Ha s were produced by Mitsubishi during this model's "run". The following specialized tanks were produced: recovery, flail mine clearers, engineer, bridge layers, 20 mm and 75 mm anti-aircraft, and self propelled guns. These vehicles made very little impact on daily operations owing to their small numbers. Late in the war the Navy installed a 120 mm gun in a limited number of these tanks. From 1942 onwards, the Model 97 was armed with the high velocity 47 mm cannon. This model was also known as the Shinhoto Chi-Ha. Mounting this cannon required a larger turret design. This design was probably the best tank Japan produced up to 1945.
Genrikh Samoilovich Lyushkov was a military advisor in Manchukuo and warned the Japanese Kwantung Army not to underestimate Soviet military strength, he estimating based in your knowledge that at least 4,000 tanks would be needed for an attack on the Soviet Union. This was an impossible figure for the Japanese army to achieve.
Throughout the war, Germany envoyed papers, technological support and some weapon examples to Japan according to agreements signed within the Axis Powers alliance. Japan received new material for making other Armored Transports and Tanks, for example:
- Type 3 Medium Tank "Chi-Nu" equivalent to German Panzer III-IV series
- Type 4 "Chi-To" Medium Tank with Type 4 75 mm AA Gun was inspired in German Panzer V Panther
- Type 5 "Chi-Ri" Medium Tank with Type 99 88 mm AA Gun was based in German Panzer VI Tiger I
- Type 1 Half-Track "Ho-Ha" was inspired possibly in German SdKfz 251/1 HANOMAG
- Type 98 Light Tank "Ke-Ni"(Experimental Model Ke-Ni B) poses resemblances with German PzKpfw II Ausf.L Lynx for use of Christie suspension and your co-axial MG.
- Super-Heavy Tank "O-I" and Experimental Ultra Heavy Tank "O-I" was equal to German Panzer VIII Maus
- Amongst proper Type 97 Medium Tank "Chi-Ha" possibly based in German Panzer I and was equal to Panzer II
In 1942, new medium tank Chi-He had been developed. It was better than Chi-Ha on the speed or armor, but the Japanese Army had little interest in this new tank. The 47 mm gun of Chi-He was already mounted on Chi-Ha and the factories were mass-producing the Chi-Ha. Almost two years after its development, the production of Chi-He was started. However, Chi-He was not produced even for one year because the production of Chi-Nu started.
The O-I experimental heavy tank, had three turrets and weighed 120 tons. It was 10 meters long by 4.2 meters wide with a overall height of 4 meters. The armor was 200 mm at its maximum. The tank had a top speed of 25 km/h. This version had two gasoline engines developing 550 PS/1500 rpm. The O-I had 1 x 105 mm Cannon, 1 x Type 1 37 mm (in a forward mounted sub turret), and 3 x Type 97 7.7 mm (one mounted in a forward sub turret) whereas the Experimental version also mounted a Type 1 37 mm in a rear facing sub turret. It has been reported the one copy of the O-I was manufactured before the end of the war and was shipped to Manchuria according to a engineer concerned with the project. Crew: 11. such Heavy armored and heavy armed tank was It is related that one prototype was being manufactured when WWII ended. However, according to an engineer concerned with it, it had been completed and was disassembled for dispatching to Manchuria. No images O-I have been found, only some drawings exist.
Type 3 Medium Tank Chi-Nu was urgently developed to cope with the M4 Sherman. Originally, the next tank to Chi-He was the Type 4 Medium Tank Chi-To. However, the development of Chi-To and Chi-Ri delayed and a stopgap tank was required. The development of Chi-Nu started in May 1944 and it was finished in Oct. It took only a half year, as Japanese engineers rushed work. Chi-Nu was produced until the war ended. Chi-Nu was the last tank that was deployed in the Japanese tank forces.
Japan had to develop some experimental and operative Armor vehicles and Tank types throughout the war such as:
- Type 89 Medium Tank "Yi-Go"
- Type 92 Heavy Combat Car/Type 92 Light Tank "Ju-Sokosha"
- Type 93 Light Tank
- Type 94 Tankette "TK"
- Type 95 Heavy Tank
- Type 95 So-Ki Rail Tank
- Type 95 Ke-Go Light Tank
- Type 95 Light Tank "Ha-Go"
- Type 97 Tankette "Te-Ke"
- Type 97 Chi-Ni
- Type 97 Medium Tank "Chi-Ha"
- Type 97-improved Medium Tank "Shinhoto Chi-Ha"
- Type 97 Shi-Ki Command Tank
- Type 98 Light Tank "Ke-Ni"
- Type 1 Ti-Ho Medium Tank
- Type 1 Medium Tank "Chi-He"
- Type 2 Medium Tank
- Type 2 Hoi Infantry Support Tank
- Type 2 Light Tank "Ke-To"
- Type 2 Amphibious Tank "Ka-Mi"
- Type 3 Amphibious Tank "Ka-Chi"
- Type 3 Medium Tank "Chi-Nu"
- Type 3 Ke-Ri Light Tank
- Type 4 Ke-Hy Light Tank
- Type 4 Medium Tank "Chi-To"
- Type 4 Light Tank "Ke-Nu"
- Type 5 Light Tank Ke-Ho
- Type 5 Medium Tank "Chi-Ri"
- Anti-Aircraft Tank "Ta-Se"
- Super-Heavy Tank "O-I"
- Experimental Ultra Heavy Tank O-I
- Special No.3 Flying Tank "So-Ra" or "Ku-Ro"
- Type 98 Armored Ammunition Carrier "So-Da"
- Type 1 APC "Ho-Ki"
- Type 1 Half-Track "Ho-Ha"
- Type 98 AA Halftrack "Ko-Hi" (Made by Isuzu)
- SRII Amphibious Tank
- Type 4 "Ka-Sha" Amphibious Tank
- Type 5 "To-Ku" Amphibious Tank
- Type 1 "Mi-Sha" Amphibious Tank
- Type 4 Amphibious Vehicle "Ka-Tsu"
- F-B Swamp Armored Vehicle
- 120 mm Short Barrel Gun Tank
- Experimental Tank - Number 1
- Experimental Type 91 Heavy Tank
- Experimental Medium Tank Chi-Ho
- Experimental Type 98 Medium Tank
- Experimental Medium Tank (unknown model)
- Experimental Light Armored ATG Carrier So-To
- Captured M3 Light Tank (for evaluative use)
- Type 2592 Osaka HoKoKu-Go Armored Car
- Type 2592 "Kokusan" Armored Car
- Type 2592 "Chokei Sensha" Armored Car
- Type 2592 Chiyoda Armored Car
- Model 92 "Chiysda" Armored Car
- Type 2593 "Sumida" Armored Car
- Model 92 Naval Armored Car
- Model 95 4x4 Scout Car Kurogane ("Black Medal")
- Model 94 3/4 Ton Tracked Trailer
