Type 2 Ho-I

Type 2 Ho-I
Type 2 Ho-I
	Type 2 Ho-I gun tank
Type	Infantry support tank
Place of origin	Empire of Japan
Service history
Used by	Imperial Japanese Army
Production history
Produced	1944
No. built	31
Specifications
Mass	16.1 tons
Length	5.73 m (18 ft 10 in)
Width	2.33 m (7 ft 8 in)
Height	2.58 m (8 ft 6 in)
Crew	5
Armor	12–50 mm
Main; armament	75 mm Type 99 Gun
Secondary; armament	1 x 7.7 mm Type 97 machine gun
Engine	Mitsubishi Type 100 air cooled; V-12 diesel; 240 hp (179 kW)
Power/weight	14.9 hp/tonne
Suspension	Bell crank
Operational; range	100 km
Maximum speed	44 km/h (27 mph)

The Type 2 Gun tank Ho-I (二式砲戦車ホイ, Ni-shiki hōsensha Ho-I) was a derivative of the Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tanks of the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. Similar in concept to the early variants of the German Panzer IV, it was designed as a self-propelled howitzer to provide the close-in fire support for standard Japanese medium tanks with additional firepower against enemy anti-tank fortifications.^[2]

History and development

Design work on the Type 2 Ho-I began in 1937, after experience in Manchukuo taught Japanese war planners that an armored vehicle with a larger weapon would be useful against fortified enemy positions such as pillboxes, against which the standard low-velocity 57mm and high-velocity 47mm tank guns were ineffective. Since this vehicle was to be able to keep up with the rest of an armored formation, the Japanese began work on mounting a Type 41 75 mm Mountain Gun onto the chassis of the Chi-Ha medium tank. The adapted mountain gun, known as the Type 99 75 mm tank gun, was completed in 1940. The gun could fire an assortment of ammunition, including a 6.6kg (14.5lb) armor-piercing shell and had a muzzle velocity of 445mps. By 1942 the Type 99 75 mm gun was fitted into a Type 97-Kai Shinhoto Chi-Ha turret, which resulted in the designated Type 2 Ho-I gun tank.^[1]^[2] The Type 2 Ho-I gun tank was intended to be part of a fire support company in each of the tank regiments.^[1]

Design

The 1941 prototype model, known as the Experimental Type 1 Ho-I, used the Type 97 Chi-Ha chassis.^[3] The production model utilized the chassis of the Type 1 Chi-He medium tank, which was itself a modified Type 97 Chi-Ha hull.^[4]

The main armament of the Type 2 Ho-I was a Type 99 75 mm tank gun, and secondary armament was a single 7.7 mm Type 97 Light Machine Gun in the hull.^[3] The short barreled 75 mm Type 99 Gun was mounted in a gun turret of the type used for the Type 97 Shinhoto Chi-Ha tank with modifications to accommodate the gun used and the addition of a large rear hatch.^[1]^[5]

Service history

As with other tanks and self-propelled guns, production was hampered by material shortages, and by the bombing of Japan in World War II. All 31 Type 2 Ho-I tanks produced were conversions from existing Type 1 Chi-He medium tanks.^[6] There is no record of a Type 2 Ho-I being used in combat prior to the end of the war.^[2]^[3]

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Zaloga 2007, p. 21.
^ ^a ^b ^c History of War: Type 2 Ho-I Gun Tank
^ ^a ^b ^c Taki’s Imperial Japanese Army: Type 2 "Ho-I"
^ Zaloga 2007, pp. 20, 21.
^ Tomczyk 2007, pp. 21, 22.
^ Zaloga 2007, pp. 20–22.

References

Tomczyk, Andrzej (2007) [2002]. Japanese Armor Vol. 2. AJ Press. ISBN 978-8372371119.
Zaloga, Steven J. (2007). Japanese Tanks 1939–45. Osprey. ISBN 978-1-8460-3091-8.