Type 4 Ho-Ro
In service 1944 - 1945
Based onType 97 Chi-Ha (derived from)
A Chi-Ha chassis carrying a heavy 150 mm howitzer of 1905 vintage behind a small frontal shield, built in tiny numbers for bombardment work.
Built byOsaka Arsenal
Development history
The Type 4 Ho-Ro was improvisation at its most obvious: an obsolete Meiji-era Type 38 150 mm howitzer bolted onto a Chi-Ha hull with a shield covering the front and nothing else. Rate of fire was poor, at roughly five rounds a minute, and the recoil punished the chassis. Only a dozen or so are firmly documented, though some accounts run as high as 25. Vehicles were issued in ones and twos to units in the Philippines, where at least one was knocked out on Luzon, and to Okinawa, where they were used as static artillery. An example captured on Luzon survives in the United States collection at Aberdeen.
Notable actions
- Philippines 1944-1945
- Okinawa