Type 2 Ho-I
In service 1944 - 1945
Based onType 1 Chi-He (derived from)
A turreted close-support tank mounting a short 75 mm howitzer, conceived to blast bunkers for Chi-Ha and Chi-He units in the way the German Panzer IV Ausf. A supported panzer companies.
Built byMitsubishi Heavy Industries
Development history
Japanese doctrine, like German and British doctrine, called for a companion vehicle firing a heavy high-explosive shell at short range. The Ho-I used the Chi-He turret ring and hull with a stubby 75 mm Type 99 howitzer derived from a mountain gun. Trials in 1942 were satisfactory and about thirty vehicles were built from 1944, but by then there were no offensives left to support. All were kept in Japan for home defence and none saw combat. The Ho-I matters as evidence that Japanese armoured doctrine was developing along recognisable lines even as the industrial base to support it collapsed.