Japanese World War 2 Tanks That Need Adding to War Thunder

Toreno

In this 6th episode of my series looking at World War 2 Tanks That Need Adding to War Thunder, we take a look at Japanese tanks of the World War 2 period!  So join me as we take a look at some light tanks that were supposed to suplant the Type 95 Ha-Go, the various iterations of the Type 4 Chi-To, a potential super heavy tank and many odd 1 off designs that Japan developed in preparation for the Allied Invasion of Japan.  Support me at ⬇️ ☕Buy me a Coffee➡️ buymeacoffee.com/Toreno  Social Media ⬇️ 🦋Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/toreno.bsky.social 🌍Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Toreno4 📸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toreno170 🐘Mastodon: Toreno17@mastodon.social 🧵Threads: https://www.threads.net/@toreno170  Sources ⬇️ Estes, K. (2014) Super-Heavy Tanks of World War II. Osprey Publishing. Hara, T. (1972) Japanese Medium Tanks. No.49. Profile Publications Ltd. Hara, T. (1973) Japanese Combat Cars, Light Tanks & Tankettes. No.54. Profile Publications Ltd. Hellmuth, H. (Der letzte Blockadebrecher: Die geheime Mission der MS "Osorno" 1941-1944 Hogg, I.V (2002) German artillery of World War Two. Greenhill Books. (Pages 200-201). Hogg, I.V (2013) German artillery of World War Two. Frontline Books. (Pages 423-427). International Military Tribunal for the Far East. (1946). Report of Interview of Colonel Paul Niemoeller. Found at: http://imtfe.law.virginia.edu/collections/tavenner/3/2/report-interview-colonel-paul-niemoeller. Accessed on: 22/07/2025. Ministry of Supply. Ammunition Bulletin No45. Found at: : https://archive.org/details/AmmunitionBulletinNo21/Ammunition_Bulletin_No_45/ Accessed on: 20/07/2025. National Film Archive of Japan. 試製七糎半自動車高射砲發射時之狀况 於春木射場 大正十四年七月五日 (Trial production of the seven semi-automobile anti-aircraft guns was launched at Haruki Range, July 5, 1923). Found at: https://filmisadocument.jp/films/view/95 Ness, Leland. (2014). Rikugun. Volume 2: Weapons of the Imperial Japanese Army & Navy Ground Forces. Helion & Company. SADJ Staff. (2023). Secret Mission: How the Germans Brought Hollow-Charge Technology to Japan. Found at:  https://sadefensejournal.com/secret-mission-how-the-germans-brought-hollow-charge-technology-to-japan/ (Accessed 15/07/2025). Taki's Home Page: Imperial Japanese Army Page. Found at: http://www3.plala.or.jp/takihome/ Tank Encyclopedia. War Thunder for ingame stats. War Department. German Technical Aid To Japan. Found at: https://archive.org/details/GermanTechnicalAidToJapan-nsia/mode/2up. Accessed on: 18/07/2025. War Office. (1940). Handbook Of Enemy Ammunition Pamphlet No 14. Found at: https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.284814/page/n1/mode/2up (Page 94 for No 14). Accessed on: 20/07/2025. Felton, M. (2005). Yanagi. Pen and Sword Zaloga, S. J. (2008) Japanese Tanks 1939-1945. Osprey Publishing.  🎮 Game: War Thunder  ⬅️

Transcript

00:00Continuing my series on WWII tanks that need adding to War Thunder, we now come to Japanese

00:05WWII tanks. And while you might think there can't be many of these tanks to add, there are still a

00:10few major tanks that haven't been added, as well as some cool and interesting designs that were

00:15produced in small numbers towards the end of the war. So like in previous episodes, we will start

00:20off by looking at Japanese light tanks, with Japan's main light tank in 1939 being the Type 95

00:27Hargo, with this having a good 37mm gun and good mobility, while also being built in large numbers.

00:34However, one sticking point was its thin armour, with 12mm of armour being present for most of the

00:40tank, meaning it was vulnerable to most anti-tank guns. Now this wasn't a problem at first because

00:46most enemy tanks were also vulnerable to it in turn, but more alarmingly, infantry support weapons like

00:51the M2 Browning 50k machine gun could pose a threat to it, which was not exactly ideal.

00:57Thus in 1938 a project had been started to produce a successor, the Type 98 Kini, which was to have the

01:05same weight but increased armour. This led to two prototypes being produced, these being the Type

01:1098 Kini A from the Hino Boater Company, which is already in game, and the Type 98 Kini B from Mitsubishi,

01:18which is what we are looking at. There are some similarities between the two tanks,

01:22with them having 3 crew, a 37mm gun and a coaxle 7.7mm machine gun, these being the first Japanese

01:30tank designed to have a coaxle machine gun and not one mounted elsewhere in the turret.

01:34They should also have the same armour, though my sources say it's supposed to be 16mm, while in game

01:40it seems to be mostly 12mm, and I'll discuss why I think that is the case in a little bit.

01:46However, there are some differences, and the main one that you will notice straight away is the

01:50suspension, with the Kini B having a Christie suspension designed in America by Walter Christie,

01:56with this being the first Japanese tank designed to utilise it. As despite Japanese tank designer

02:01Tommy Ohara viewing a Christie tank with the suspension in 1932, it had not been adopted at the time.

02:08In testing, the Type 98 A suspension was found to be superior versus the Christie suspension,

02:13with the A having a top speed of 31mph or 50kmh, but the B should still be able to get ground off-road

02:20terrain decently enough, and should have a slight advantage when on-road. Unfortunately, while many

02:26Christie designs did allow for the tracks to be removed so the tank could run on wheels only,

02:32I haven't found any indication this would be the case with the Type 98B, but if implemented,

02:37this would potentially boost its speed on road even more, and making this an even more unique tank.

02:43There are also some minor changes to the hull front, with the armour at the nose of the tank

02:47being more angular compared to the rounded hull of the Type 98A, while the crew compartment is also

02:53changed, seeming to be more narrow and angular, and defenders seem to droop down a little bit more,

02:59providing marginal protection for the tracks, at least from machine gun fire.

03:04In game I could see the Type 98B being added at 1.0, as an early premium or event tank,

03:10as it has very similar stats to the Type 98A, while also having the unique Christie suspension system,

03:16which might allow it better mobility when on-road, which would be especially useful on city maps,

03:22while also giving us a good alternative premium tank for tier 1, and I think it would be a very nice

03:27design to have in War Thunder. In real life the Type 98B would not be adopted,

03:32with the Type 98A instead chosen to be put into production. So you might be wondering how many

03:38were built by 1941 and Japan's entry into the war, well the answer to that is 1. Basically the

03:45Japanese army was still mostly happy with the Type 95 Hargo, with 2300 being built from 1936 to 1943.

03:55However, with Japan's entry into the war, the whole problem of the Type 95 Hargo being too vulnerable to

04:00enemy weapons, cropped up again, so the Type 98 Keeney was finally ordered into production.

04:07Now as mentioned earlier, the Type 98 Keeney is technically already in game, and this does look

04:13like the Type 98A prototype, but when in production there seems to have been some changes. For example,

04:19the fighting compartment is now more angular and narrow at the front, much like on the Type 98B,

04:24while the turret also appears to be different. More like that of the Type 2 Kami amphibious tank,

04:30or maybe even the same turret, as they both went into production in 1942 and it would make sense to

04:35try and share designs where possible. And I suspect this is also where the thinner armor comes from.

04:40I suspect maybe they used the thinner 12mm of armor for the prototype, while the production version

04:46actually had the full 16mm of armor, because of course the whole point of the design was to

04:51increase the protection of the tank. Now maybe this is technically a different variant, but I think

04:56it's more likely that a redesign was carried out in the four years between testing and production.

05:02Now when it comes to adding this tank, it could be added as an event tank or folded with the Type 98

05:07that's already in game, or maybe we could have the Type 98 that's in game remodeled. It would have to

05:12depend on how Gaijin would like to implement this vehicle, but it would be nice to see the Type 98

05:18Kini represented properly in game. So the Kini was now in production, but not many tanks were made,

05:24with only 104 made from 1941 to 1943. And a large part of this was due to a reluctance by the army to

05:32introduce a new light tank into service. And in the post-war period, Tommy O'Hara who helped design the

05:38Type 98 did express regret that this was the case, so it seems that at least he felt in hindsight that

05:44this tank should have been put into production sooner. However, another large reason for why this

05:49production was so low was that priority was now moving away from tanks and towards ships for the navy,

05:56leading to a cut in production for tanks across the board. However, development didn't completely halt,

06:02and the Kini would be succeeded by the Type 2 Kito, which was designed in 1941 and is

06:08essentially just a variant of the Kini, but with that cylindrical turret that I mentioned earlier

06:12that looks like it's from the Type 2 Kami, and an improved Type 1 37mm gun, which in-game has a

06:19penetration of 39mm at 500m with its APHE shell, versus 32mm for the Type 100 37mm gun on the Type 98.

06:29In-game I would folder this with the Type 98, as the tank is very similar to the Kini, and while the

06:35more powerful gun is welcome, I doubt it would make a substantial difference in-game, but nonetheless

06:40I would still like to see it added in-game. In real life the Type 2 Kito would go into production in

06:451944, and even less of these were built than the Type 98, with just 34 being built over 2 years,

06:52and it doesn't seem to have seen any combat, which frankly was very lucky for the crew as by this point

06:58it would have been hopelessly obsolete as a combat tank, and to be honest it probably should never have

07:03gone into production in the first place, considering its obsolescence by 1944.

07:08So the Type 98 and Type 2 were the last major Japanese light tanks to go into any form of mass

07:13production, but as mentioned neither of them were built in any large numbers, and even by 1943 would

07:19have been hopelessly obsolete, and neither of them saw any combat, leaving the now aging Type 95 Hargo to

07:26soldier on as Japan's principal light tank, but even this was out of production after 1943.

07:32Naturally with its successors not panning out, there were attempts to upgrade the Type 95 itself,

07:37with one of these attempts leading to the Type 3 Kiri, which is essentially just a regular Type 95,

07:43but with the 37mm gun replaced by the 57mm gun from the Type 97 Chi Ha medium tank.

07:50Now this upgrade is a bit of a mixed bag, as the original 37mm gun can penetrate 27mm at 500m,

07:58versus 19mm for the 57mm gun, making this a bit of a downgrade. However, the 57mm gun can also fire

08:06the Type 3 Heatshell, which can penetrate 55mm, giving a massive boost to the anti armour capabilities

08:14of the Type 95, though the muzzle velocity maxes out at 380m a second, versus 575m a second for the

08:2237mm gun, and potentially leading to this tank being used for closing engagements in game.

08:28Unfortunately, fitting the 57mm gun into the original turret left very little room for the crew,

08:34which would no doubt lead to a reduced fire rate, which is 4.3 seconds on both the Hargo and Chi Ha,

08:41but due to the lack of space in the turret, the Kiwi would be firing far slower, balancing out the

08:47increase in firepower. Other than the main armament, the rest of the stats should remain the same,

08:53with a 7.7mm machine gun in the bow, 3 crew, maximum armour of 30mm at the mantlet and 9 to 12mm for the

09:00rest of the tank, and a top speed of 30mph or 48kmh versus 25mph or 40kmh for the Chi Ha.

09:09In War Thunder, I could see this tank being added at 1.3 in the light tank line after the Type 2 Kami,

09:15as we now have a Hargo that has been given a decent boost in firepower over the original,

09:20whilst still retaining its faster top speed over the Chi Ha, allowing this tank to continue being a

09:25good flanking vehicle for Japanese players, albeit one that will still be very vulnerable to

09:30return fire from the enemy. In real life a prototype of the Type 3 Kiwi was made,

09:35but problems quickly arose from the lack of space in the turret due to the new larger gun,

09:40so it doesn't appear to have progressed beyond this point. However, this was not the end of attempts

09:45to upgun the Type 95 Hargo, as a new design would be produced that would incorporate not just the 57mm gun,

09:53but the entire turret from the Chi Ha, which was especially useful as there was now a surplus of these

09:59turrets, as the Type 97 was being upgraded with a new three man turret with the improved 47mm gun.

10:06Now until a few years ago, this tank was referred to as the Type 4 Kino, but it seems that further

10:11research in recent years has revealed it was possibly called the Type 3 Ki Roo, though I've also seen

10:17other sources saying that the name is just not known. And unlike the Ki Ri, the changes made to this tank are

10:23a bit more substantial, as the turret ring has had to be enlarged from 39.3 inches to 52 inches,

10:30and the turret now extends over the driver's compartment and bow machine gun position,

10:35making it a larger and theoretically easier target to hit. Like with the Ki Ri, it will now have all of

10:41the advantages of the 57mm gun, but due to the larger turret it won't have the longer reload rate,

10:48while the Chi Ha turret's armour also maxes out at 32 to 35mm for the mantlet and 25mm for the rest of

10:54the turret, again making this a decent improvement over the Hargo's turret. Unfortunately this does

11:00increase the total weight by about a tonne, which will presumably affect the top speed of 30mph or 48

11:06kilometres an hour, or at the very least the acceleration of the tank, making it a bit less

11:11mobile as a result. Lastly, despite the turret housing two crew on the Chi Ha, the crew count on

11:17the Ki Ri appears to remain at 3, presumably due to a lack of space within the hull itself,

11:23leaving the Ki Ri vulnerable to crew losses. In-game I would folder the Ki Ri with the Ki Ri at 1.3,

11:30as these tanks ultimately have had very similar upgrading capabilities, with the Ki Ri having a

11:35slight advantage in extra armour for the turret, but also reduced mobility due to the extra weight,

11:41but I would still like to see and use this rather interesting Hargo Chi Ha hybrid in-game.

11:47In real life this design did far better than the Ki Ri, with possibly up to 100 Type 95s being

11:53converted, with most of these being kept on the Japanese home islands in anticipation of the

11:57Allied invasion, though some may have seen combat against Soviet forces in Manchuria at the end of

12:03the war. So Japanese efforts to improve their light tanks up to this point had been rather ineffective,

12:09being underarmoured, undergunned and outnumbered by existing Type 95 Hargos, which by now were proving to be

12:16rather ineffective against modern allied tanks, while still suffering from the aforementioned

12:20vulnerability issues, though now to an even worse degree. So in 1942 a new light tank design was

12:26started from scratch, which was to be better armed and armoured, which resulted in the Type 5 Ki Ho design.

12:33Unfortunately there aren't any real life photos of this tank, so I'm having to rely on drawings and how it's

12:39implemented in World of Tanks. From the very start the Ki Ho was designed to be fitted with a 47mm gun,

12:46which was initially intended to be a short 47mm gun, but ultimately it seems it was fitted with the

12:52Type 1 47mm gun from the Type 97 Chi Ha Kai, and this has a much better performance against enemy armour

13:00compared to the previous 37mm guns, being capable of penetrating 67mm at 500m with an APHE shell,

13:08versus 27mm for the Type 95's gun, so this is a good improvement over that tank.

13:14According to Tommy O'Hara, it was also fitted with one 7.7mm machine gun in the bow, though some

13:21sources mention another being fitted towards the rear of the turret, giving it a bit of defence against

13:26soft skinned vehicles on that flank. Armour was also improved, but not to a massive degree,

13:32now maxing out at 20mm, making the Ki Ho mostly but not entirely immune to machine guns like the M2

13:39Browning at most combat ranges, but it is still easy prey for any dedicated anti-tank weapons,

13:45so shouldn't be relied on. All these upgrades would increase the total weight of the tank to 9 tons,

13:51which you would expect to slow down the tank compared to previous designs,

13:55but with a 150hp Type 100 air-cooled diesel engine, the Ki Ho was still able to reach a top speed of

14:0231mph or 50kmh, so ever so slightly faster than the Hargo, making this a good tank for capping points

14:10or getting into flanking positions across the battlefield. Lastly, the crew was to be 4,

14:15making the Ki Ho less vulnerable to crew losses, unlike the Hargo which only has 3 crew.

14:20In game, I think the Type 5 Ki Ho could be added at battle rating 2.0 at tier 2, as this tier currently

14:27doesn't have any light tanks, allowing Japanese players to use a light tank that now has decent

14:33firepower and good mobility, whilst still being pretty vulnerable due to its very thin armour,

14:38but assuming you were able to avoid enemies, this should make for a good flanking or hit and run

14:44recon tank. In real life a single prototype was built, and seems to have done pretty well,

14:49however it wouldn't be ordered into production until 1945, by which point it was far too late,

14:55and so only the one prototype was ever made. So that is all of Japan's light tanks,

15:01and as you can see there are still quite a lot of them that need to be added, but for now we can move

15:06on to Japanese medium tanks, and in 1939 the main Japanese medium tank was the Type 97 Chi Ha,

15:13which was a pretty decent design at first, though its 57mm gun struggled against armour,

15:18and its 2 man turret was a disadvantage, which resulted in an upgraded variant with a 47mm gun

15:25and 3 man turret. However, there was a rather unique variant of the Chi Ha, the Type 97 Shi Ki,

15:32which was converted into a command tank, which involved removing the original turret and

15:36replacing it with a smaller one, fitted with radios and a new cupola. This new turret meant that the

15:4257mm gun could no longer be carried, but in order to not leave this tank defenceless,

15:48a 37mm Type 98 was fitted in the bow machine gun position, with this gun having a penetration in game

15:55of 37mm at 500m with its APHE shell, while a machine gun was still fitted to the rear of the turret.

16:02Other than the armament, there would be 3 crew, one less than the Chi Ha, while the top speed would

16:07remain about 24mph, and the armour for the hull would remain at 25mm, while presumably the turret

16:14would have a similar armour thickness to the original one. In game I could see the Shi Ki being added at

16:19the start of the medium tank line, or even tank destroyer line, as we have a Chi Ha without a turret

16:25mounted gun, but that still retains decent mobility and ok if not spectacular armour, making this play

16:32extremely differently, and more like a tank like the M11-39 in the Italian tech tree, and this would be

16:38a rather unique Japanese tank to have in game. In real life very few Shi Ki's were made, and they don't

16:44seem to have seen much of any combat, making this a rather unknown tank. So moving on, in 1940 there would

16:51be efforts to design a potential successor to the Type 97, which leads us to the Type 98 Chi Ho. The Chi Ho

16:59would be armed with the Type 1 47mm gun, which is a pretty decent anti-tank gun all things considered,

17:05while two 7.7mm machine guns were also carried, one in the bail and one on the left side of the

17:11turret, a design feature that is very common to Japanese tanks. Unfortunately the armour still

17:17seems to be 25mm, so more or less the same as the Type 97, and meaning protection is unlikely to be

17:23any better than that design. Though mobility is also pretty decent, with a 120hp diesel engine

17:30giving a top speed of 25.4mph or 41kmh, while the total weight is now only 10.7 tons versus 15.8 for

17:40the Type 97. Unfortunately it seems like the total crew count is only 4, the same as the regular Type 97,

17:46but one less than the Chi Ha Kai, making this a bit more vulnerable to crew losses compared to that tank.

17:53In game I would add the Type 98 Chi Ho at about 2.0 to 2.3, maybe between the Ho Ai and the Chi Ha Kai,

18:01but it could also be folded or added as an event tank, and I could see as being a good counterpart to the

18:07Chi Ha Kai, and it would be nice for this unknown tank to be shown in War Thunder. In real life two

18:13prototypes would be produced by Mitsubishi and Jidoshi Kogyo in 1940, while two more would be made by Kokura and

18:21the Sagami Arsenal in 1941, with these possibly having some different design features. These would be

18:27put through trials, but didn't cause much of an impression, as the Type 1 Chi He would ultimately

18:32become the Type 97's successor, though only 170 of these would be made as priorities shifted away from

18:38tanks, while at least one of the Type 98 Chi Ho's would survive the war to be scrapped. So in 1943 the Type 1

18:45Chi He would go into production, but this design was only a marginal improvement, being merely an

18:51improved version of the Type 97 with a better engine and armour thickness, but the same 47mm gun

18:56that while adequate for 1941 was starting to struggle against modern allied tanks. There was also the

19:03issue that this new gun wasn't as effective in the anti-infantry role, so a design based on existing

19:08medium tanks would be created, this being the Type 2 Ho'ai, which we have in game with its short 75mm

19:15Type 99 gun. However, while the production variant was built on the Chi He chassis, the prototype used

19:22the Chi Ha chassis, which resulted in an armour thickness of 25mm vs 50mm for the production variant,

19:29while presumably the less powerful 170hp engine was also used, over the Chi He's 240hp engine. This would

19:37result in a less mobile and armoured tank, which could fit at 1.7 between the Chi Ha and in-game

19:43Type 2 Ho'ai, and giving players an insight into how Japanese tank development changed over time.

19:50In real life the Type 2 Ho'ai would be produced from 1944, and interestingly while the 75mm gun was

19:56used for these tanks, it had been intended that a long 57mm gun could be fitted if needed, so that it

20:03could become a basic tank destroyer. Now I will talk about this 57mm gun in more depth when I look

20:09at the Type 4 Cheeto, but basically this could penetrate around 60mm at 1000m, so a little better

20:16than the Type 1 47mm gun. It seems that this gun was tested on the Ho'ai, so if its in-game performance

20:22is better than the 47mm gun, it could be added at around 2.7 to 3.0 between the Chi He and Chi Nu,

20:30helping to bridge the gap between these two tanks. In real life only one Ho'ai was tested with the

20:3657mm gun, and ultimately it was decided that the short 75mm gun would be the standard gun going forward,

20:43so no more tanks were fitted with the longer gun. So as the war continued, and it was seen that

20:49Japanese medium tank designs were now becoming obsolete, it was decided that completely new tank

20:54designs would be needed in the future, which would become the Type 4 Cheeto and Type 5 Chi Re,

21:00but as it would take time to develop these tanks, it was decided to produce a new medium tank design

21:06based on existing chassis as a stop gap, leading to the Type 3 Chino which we already have in game.

21:13However, the initial prototype did differ slightly from the production version, as the prototype was

21:18armed with the Type 90 75mm gun which would be modified into the Type 3 that was used on standard

21:25Chi Nus. Unfortunately, the two guns appear to have pretty much the same stats in-game,

21:30and there aren't really any other differences between the prototype and production variant,

21:35so maybe this could be added in a folder with the Chi Nu to bolster lineups, or more likely it could be

21:40added as a premium or event tank, and it would be nice to have the prototype of the Type 3 Chi Nu in-game.

21:45In real life, the Chi Nu would be accepted for service in 1943, but didn't begin production until

21:52September 1944. With the Type 1 in production for most of 1944, despite the Chi Nu supposedly

21:58being a successor to that tank, but eventually the Chi Nu would become the best Japanese tank

22:04produced in large numbers, with 144 built until the end of the war, though they would remain on the

22:10home islands and never saw any combat. However, as mentioned, it was technically just a stopgap

22:16solution until later Japanese tanks with the improved Type 5 75mm gun could be developed,

22:22but these were taking a little while to get going, so it was decided to try and fit the Type 5 into

22:28the Chi Nu. To this end, a prototype turret from the Type 4 Chi To, that was under development, was placed on

22:35top of the Chi Nu hull, and would be presumably as armoured as the Chi To turret in-game, maxing out

22:41at 75mm for the front, and 50mm for the sides and rear, which is an improvement over the 50mm front and 25mm

22:50sides and rear of the Chi Nu. Unfortunately, the larger turret is likely to slow the Chi Nu down,

22:56resulting in a slower top speed at worst, and a slower acceleration at best, which is hardly ideal.

23:02However, as mentioned, the main point of this tank was to fit the Type 5 75mm gun, and this gun can

23:08penetrate 132mm at 500m with its stock AP HE shell, versus 91mm for the Type 3 75mm gun of the regular

23:17Chi Nu. So this is a massive improvement over that gun, making this far more useful against heavily

23:23armoured tanks. I could see the Chi Nu Kai being added at 4.3 to 4.7, and honestly it would have made

23:30sense to have this as a premium tank, while the Chi Nu 2, which was built in larger numbers,

23:34would have been a regular tank, so maybe this could be folded with the Chi Nu instead,

23:39and it would make for a rather interesting tank to have in game.

23:42In real life, testing would be carried out in March 1945, and it performed extremely well,

23:48with production order to commence, but with a modified production Cheeto turret,

23:52which would lead to the in-game Chi Nu 2. But it's never made it into mass production due to material

23:57shortages being critical by this stage of the war. So as mentioned, the Type 3 was the stopgap

24:03medium tank, which brings us to the brand new medium tank designs, starting with the Type 4 Cheeto,

24:10which technically began development in 1942 as a smaller tank, but had begun development in the

24:16form that we have in War Thunder in 1943 due to information gained from Germany on tank warfare

24:22on the eastern front. However, the initial weapon to be installed on this tank was not the Type 5

24:2775mm gun, but instead the experimental 5.7cm tank gun, Maru Shin, which was based off of a previous

24:36high velocity 57mm anti-tank gun that had been adopted for use in tanks, with the Maru Shin designed

24:43specifically for the Cheeto. Now at this point it wasn't expected that the Cheeto would actually be

24:48equipped with the 57mm gun as standard, but as the Type 5 guns were still under development,

24:53and the 57mm gun was available, this is what the initial prototype would be equipped with.

24:58This 57mm gun was better than the previous guns of the Type 89 and Type 97,

25:04in theory having a muzzle velocity of 810 meters a second, making this a much better anti-tank weapon.

25:11Unfortunately during testing, it was found that the muzzle velocity was less than this,

25:16usually stated at around 798 meters a second, and armour penetration was found to be lacking at

25:22only 60mm at 1000 meters. A not great performance compared to contemporary British and Soviet 57mm

25:30anti-tank guns. So this gun was a bit of a disappointment, and even if it was working fully

25:36to specifications, would still be unable to deal with the more modern allied tanks very easily.

25:42That said, it would perform better at shorter ranges, and if able to use the Type 3 heat

25:47shell from previous 57mm guns, it would have a shell able to penetrate 55mm of armour at all ranges,

25:54which would perhaps help with shooting longer ranged targets. The rest of the tank's stats should be

26:00broadly the same as the regular type for Cheeto, though the gun weighs less than the 75mm guns so you

26:06might gain ever so slightly in mobility, and it seems that the prototype was actually made out of mild

26:11steel, though it's possible it would just be represented in game with regular armour.

26:17Now adding this Cheeto variant might be a bit difficult, as the 57mm gun performs worse than

26:23even the 75mm gun of the Chino, which is a 3.3 tank, but the Cheeto has 75mm of armour for the front,

26:32though the side and rear armour ranges from 50mm to 35mm, so perhaps it could be added between the

26:38Chi Nu and in game Cheeto at 3.7 to 4.0, acting a bit like the Sherman Jumbo in that it has good

26:45frontal armour, but not the best gun in the world. Indeed at this battle rating it would be the same

26:50as the KV-1, and that has even more effective armour, so this should be a good place for the 57mm Cheeto,

26:57and here it would presumably have some decent success, and it would be nice for this initial

27:02prototype to be added in War Thunder. In real life, as mentioned earlier, the 57mm gun wasn't intended

27:08to be the main armament at the time of testing, but it was still tested in March 1944, where it was

27:14found that some of the rivets on the tank were shaken loose by the firing of the gun, and as mentioned,

27:19the 57mm gun was found to not be good enough anyway. As for the tank's fate, it's not entirely certain,

27:26with it being possible that it was scrapped, but it's also possible that it was rebuilt

27:30as the 75mm Cheeto prototype, but unfortunately this is not 100% confirmed either way.

27:38So the Cheeto would ultimately be fitted with the Type 5 75mm gun, but it supposedly might also have

27:44been tested with another weapon, the Type-G, or Type-G. So this is only a maybe tank for the moment,

27:51till it can be ascertained for definite, but I'd like to cover it quickly as the gun itself

27:56has a very interesting history. So the Type-G was a squeeze ball weapon, where basically the end of

28:02the barrel is one calibre, in this case 75mm, and the barrel tapers in size until it reaches

28:09the end of the barrel, which is 55mm, with the projectile being squeezed as it travels down the

28:15barrel. Of course you may recall from my German WW2 tanks episode that Germany initially had high hopes

28:21for these types of weapons, with them being far more powerful than conventional guns,

28:25but ultimately they weren't adopted as the ammunition required tungsten, which was in limited

28:31supply and was also needed for machine tools. However, one of the ways that Germany was able

28:36to get tungsten, as well as rubber, tin and any other rare materials that they needed, was to import them

28:42from Japan via Blockade Runner. With around 220 to 240,000 tons of raw materials being sent to

28:50Germany via ship between 1941 and 1943, with about half of this tonnage making it to occupied France

28:57and subsequently Germany, while submarines would bring in somewhere between 1,000 and 3,000 tons

29:03from 1944 onwards, Germany in return would send items like high quality steel, optical glass,

29:10and the latest weapons, which in 1942 led to Germany sending Colonel Paul, Niemöller and Major Walter

29:17Merkel to Japan, aboard two blockade runners, the former on Tannenfels and later on Regensburg before

29:24switching to the Dresden. And the main purpose of this mission was to pass along German hollow charge

29:30shells, aka heat shells, which Japan would be very interested in using for their existing guns.

29:36However, while in Japan, they also showcased other German weaponry, including quote,

29:41a recently developed 75mm barrel that narrows as it approaches the muzzle. In this case,

29:48Germany sent one model and some ammunition for demonstrative purposes, end quote, with a later

29:54Allied intelligence reporter identifying this as the Pac-41. Based off of this, the Japanese were able to

30:00develop their own weapon, the Type-Gay, which differed very slightly from the German one,

30:05namely having 10 ports on the muzzle brake vs 8 for the Pac-41. Supposedly this weapon was a massive

30:12improvement over previous Japanese guns, though there's very little information on this gun,

30:17with most of the information coming from a reddit post from Meyer Waffentrager, who posted a drawing of

30:23the gun and information that it supposedly had a muzzle velocity of 1260m a second and was supposedly

30:30able to penetrate 140mm at 915m and 210 at 100m, though it's not said what angle this was at.

30:40Now these stats might seem a little different to other figures you might have heard for the Pac-41,

30:45with a reduced penetration but higher muzzle velocity. But the reason for this, I believe,

30:50is that the shell being used here is likely the German Panzergranate 41W, which uses a steel core

30:58for the shell, giving reduced armour penetration but greater muzzle velocity. However, this shell was

31:04only intended for training purposes, meaning that if the HK version with a tungsten core is used instead,

31:11we have a lower muzzle velocity of around 1125m a second, but a greater armour penetration of 209mm

31:20at 500m or 177mm at 1km, though there were also other German shells that could have been used as well.

31:28That said, it is also possible that some other factors could be behind any discrepancies,

31:34such as different types or amount of propellant being used, the composition of the armour being

31:38fired at, or even the use of a Japanese designed shell. But unfortunately, I don't have access to the

31:45Japanese documents, or way of translating them sufficiently enough to confirm any of this.

31:50But getting back to the Type-Gay, this penetration, if true, is massively better than anything the

31:56Japanese have already, as at 100m it beats out the Type-3 75mm gun by 110mm, the Type-5 by 98mm,

32:06and even the Type-5 Nato's APHE shell by 69mm, though its German-based Type-4 APCR shell is beaten

32:14by just 35mm, though still making this a massively better weapon for penetrating enemy armour.

32:20However, the Type-Gay would be firing APCR rounds, which do less damage post-penetration,

32:26though I think they are still pretty useful rounds, and can still often one-shot or cripple enemies,

32:31even if not as well as an APHE shell, so I still think this would be a pretty lethal weapon to be

32:36around. As for its place in War Thunder, it could perhaps be added as an event tank somewhere between

32:424.3 to 5.0, depending on how well the APCR round works, and I think this would be a rather

32:48cool tank to have, making it into a very long distance shooter if required, and allowing it to

32:53take down tougher tanks that maybe its original gun can't, albeit at the cost of post-penetration

32:58damage, and it would be nice for this tank to be added to War Thunder, if the relevant

33:03documentation is found to be genuine. In real life, the Japanese also seem to have had fairly

33:08high hopes for this weapon initially, as they theoretically didn't have the same issues with

33:12tungsten that Germany had, I mean they were even exporting tungsten to Germany so they were hardly

33:17hoarding it. Despite this, Japan decided against adopting it, maybe because of limitations of the

33:23weapon, tungsten becoming harder to ship back to Japan due to the catastrophic losses to the

33:28Japanese merchant marine from the American blockade, or maybe they simply saw more of a future in more

33:33conventional shells, or the new holo charge shells like those brought to Japan by Colonel

33:38Niemoller and Major Merkel. So that's about it for the Type 4 Cheeto, which would have been one of

33:44Japan's most advanced tanks, but as it turns out only two complete tanks were made along with six

33:49chassis, with the complete tanks being dumped in Lake Hamana at the end of the war, though the

33:54Americans managed to recover one of these, presumably just to scrap it later, and efforts

33:59have been made to locate the other one over the years, though not successfully as of the time

34:04at this video. There would also be the 37 ton Type 5 Chi Ri, but only one of these was made and it is

34:11already in game, which brings us to the end of the Japanese medium tanks and onto the Japanese heavy

34:16tanks. Now unfortunately, things get a bit difficult here as Japan didn't really develop heavy tanks like the

34:23rest of the world, at least outside of the interwar period, with the Chi Ri probably being the nearest

34:28thing they had to one. However, there is one design that sort of fits the bill, the OI, which is

34:34actually more of a super heavy tank, supposedly weighing well over 100 tons. There is also virtually

34:40no information on this tank, which does make covering it rather difficult, and as of July 2024 it was

34:46confirmed not to be eligible for adding to War Thunder due to a lack of information. But I'm going to

34:52cover it briefly anyway in case the situation changes in the future. Now unlike most other tanks,

34:58there are some arguments against whether it even existed in the first place, due to there being

35:02literally no photos of the tank, which again some might find odd, but remember this is a fairly common

35:08occurrence with Japanese vehicles, as you've probably seen with some of the previous tanks we've

35:12looked at. And then of course there are other vehicles, for example here is the Japanese carrier

35:16Shinano, the largest aircraft carrier of the war by weight, having been converted from the third Yamato

35:22hull, being worked on as an aircraft carrier from July 1942, then launched on the 26th of October 1944

35:29and sank shortly after on the 29th of November. Despite this being a rather unique and large aircraft

35:36carrier, there are literally only three photos in existence. This fairly close-up photo by

35:42a civilian on a tugboat, an aerial shot by a Japanese aircraft and another aerial shot by an American

35:48B-29. So if that civilian just hadn't taken a photo that day, just didn't bring his camera in,

35:53we would only have two very far off shots of this massive aircraft carrier. And if those aircraft

35:58hadn't taken those photos, we'd have literally no photos. So I can easily believe that the OI also

36:03wouldn't have many or any photographs in existence. There does also appear to be documentation in

36:09existence of this tank, now held by the fine moulds company of all people, this being a company that

36:15makes scale models. And a piece of track is present at the Japanese ground self defence forces camp,

36:21Takigahara, as well as some testimony from engineers post war, though some of this testimony was

36:27contradictory. So based on all this, it is understandable why Gaijin doesn't want to attempt adding this,

36:32but it does seem that it did exist, at least in some fashion. As for the stats as far as I know them,

36:38it was to be armed with a 150mm Type 96 howitzer in a central turret, though I've also heard

36:45mention of a 105mm Type 92 gun, and the howitzer could fire HE and AP shells. While two other turrets

36:53at the front of the tank were to be armed each with a 47mm Type 1 gun, while a fourth turret was to be

36:59armed with two 7.7mm Type 97 machine guns, making this a very well armed tank. With the 47mm guns providing

37:07good penetrating power, while the 150mm howitzer can lob effective HE shells at enemies, though the

37:14machine gun turret at the back, while theoretically being useful as an anti-air turret, is probably not

37:19going to be used very much if at all. Armour was also pretty impressive, with the frontal armour being

37:25a maximum of 150mm with some sloping and angling used, while the sides are 70mm but are extremely flat,

37:33making this armour rather less effective. Meanwhile the top speed for this potentially 150 ton tank was

37:39theoretically 18.6mph or 30kmh from two 600hp engines, though I seriously doubt it would ever

37:47get to that speed unless going downhill, and the crew was supposed to number 11, which makes sense

37:52considering how many turrets there are. Now as mentioned, these are the stats as I understand them,

37:57and we have confirmation that the OI isn't slated to be added to War Thunder due to a lack of information,

38:03so don't expect it to be added any time soon, but if added it could make for a good event tank along

38:08the lines of the Dreams Come True event we had for the TOG 2, and it would be nice to see how this tank

38:13would operate in game. As for its real life history, the OI started development in the aftermath of the

38:19Battle of Kalking Gaul, where Japanese tanks fought against more modern Soviet ones, resulting in the

38:25development of newer Japanese tanks and guns, including an order to develop quote,

38:30a gigantic tank that can be used as a mobile pillbox on the Great Plains of Manchuria end quote,

38:35while also needing to be twice the size of existing heavy tanks, this being the 26 ton Type 95,

38:42but it ended up being a minimum of 100 tons. Construction of the tank would begin in March 1941,

38:48finished around January 1943, and testing began in August, but without the turrets or additional bolt-on

38:53armour, but due to the grounds being soft, the tank would sink into the mud and the suspension was

38:58damaged as a result. It was recovered and tested further, but it caused even more damage, and at

39:04this point it was clear that there wasn't really much of a use for the tank, especially now that

39:08most of the fighting was taking place on remote Pacific Islands, and so at this point or some point

39:14in the future, the tank would be scrapped, leaving us with just the one track leak.

39:18So having looked at regular Japanese tanks, it is now time to look at flamethrower tanks,

39:24and unfortunately there aren't many designs here that have a flamethrower and the usual main armament,

39:30but we do have the Ka-Ho flamethrower tank which is based on the Chi-Ha chassis,

39:34with two Type 100 flamethrowers on each side of the hull, with these having a range of 20-30 meters.

39:41Presumably the 57mm gun would be retained, but isn't present in the pictures, but would allow for the

39:47Ka-Ho to still act as a regular tank, though a bit more vulnerable due to the addition of a fuel

39:52tank for the flamethrowers, while the rest of the stats are presumably the same as on the Chi-Ha.

39:57Overall this could work as an event tank at 1.3, and it would be nice for Japan to get at least

40:02one flamethrower tank for its tech tree. So we're almost at the end of the regular tanks,

40:08which brings us to amphibious tanks, and unfortunately most of them are already in game,

40:13and while in theory we could get the Type 4 Katsu, this was intended more as an amphibious APC type

40:19vehicle, thus was only armed with two 13mm machine guns, making this at best a 1.0 to 1.3 anti air

40:26vehicle. That said, tests were carried out where they were fitted with two torpedoes, so maybe this

40:31variant could be included in some sort of event, but beyond that I can't see this working in game.

40:37I should also mention the Type 5 Toku, which was supposed to be built on the Chi-Ri chassis,

40:43and had a 47mm gun fitted to the hull, while the turret was a modified one taken from the Type 97

40:50Chi-Ha Kai, and was fitted with a 25mm gun. However sources are a bit contradictory on whether this was

40:57actually built, and I don't think this actually ever had a prototype finished even if it did begin

41:03construction, so it's very unlikely we'd see this tank added to the game outside of an event vehicle.

41:09So that just about brings us to the end of Japanese tanks, so we will take a look at some potential

41:15Japanese tank destroyers, assault guns, and anti-air vehicles that could be added. Starting with the

41:20Type 5 Horu, a tank destroyer design based on the Type 95 Hargo chassis. Now unfortunately there are no

41:26photographs of this vehicle, but basically the design was started in 1945 in order to produce a light tank

41:32destroyer designed for use in defending Japan in the event of an invasion, while also using Hargo

41:38chassis that would have been now obsolete, giving these tanks a new lease of life while saving on

41:43scarce resources. Unfortunately documentation on this tank destroyer as a whole is sparse,

41:49but we know it was to be armed with a 47mm Type 1 gun, the same one as used on the Type 1 Chi-Ha,

41:55and is pretty good at dealing with low tier tanks, while a semi enclosed fighting compartment is

42:01provided for the crew. Beyond this we know very little about the Horu, with the rest of its stats

42:06likely being the same as the Hargo it is based on, so probably about 9-12mm of armour, though it's

42:12possible extra armour was added to the design, or was different for the fighting compartment.

42:17While it's likely it had a top speed of around 25mph or 40kmh and a crew of 3, though it's also

42:23possible it had a crew of 2 or 4. In game I would add the Horu on the tank destroyer line somewhere in

42:29tier 1, maybe at 1.7 with the Horu and Rogo experimental being folded, and here it would

42:35be a good tank destroyer, with a powerful gun and ok speed. As well as being smaller and easier to

42:42conceal than the Hargo, though vulnerable to enemy fire, but it would still be nice to experience this

42:47little known tank destroyer in War Thunder. In real life it seems that our prototype was completed and

42:52tested, but whatever the results of these tests, it didn't go into production, either because it was

42:58rejected or maybe there was just not enough time or resources to produce it before Japan's surrender,

43:03and it's likely the prototype was destroyed during the war or scrapped shortly afterwards.

43:08So the Horu is an example of a very late war tank destroyer design, but an earlier tank destroyer

43:14design was the Type 1 Honi 1, which was armed with the Type 90 75mm gun and is already in War Thunder.

43:21However, the prototype of this tank destroyer did have some rather interesting features that were removed

43:26from the production version, namely a rangefinder, which would make this one of only two rank 2

43:32vehicles to have one, the other being the Soviet Yag 10 29k. This could probably be added at 2.0 to 2.3,

43:39depending on how much of an effect this rangefinder has, with this being either a regular or event

43:44vehicle, and either way it would be an interesting tank destroyer variant to have in game.

43:49Also, while we're on the subject of the Honi 1, in game it only has 3 crew, but quite a few sources

43:55say that it was supposed to have 5 like the Honi 3, so that could also probably be rectified,

44:01helping to improve the survivability of this tank destroyer. There was also an artillery version of

44:06the Honi, the Honi 2, which replaces the 75mm gun with a 105mm Type 91 howitzer, which was able to

44:15fire HE, ABHE, HEAT, shrapnel and incendiary shells at a muzzle velocity of 546 metres a second.

44:22The HEAT shell is supposed to have a penetration of 120mm, compared to a maximum of 103mm for the

44:3075mm Type 90's APHE shell, making this a much more useful round, while its APHE shell will penetrate

44:38about 71mm at just under 500m, so about 20mm less than the 75mm gun, while the HE shell I suspect will

44:47penetrate about 30mm or so. In War Thunder I think the Honi 2 could be added at 2.3,

44:53probably folded with the other Honis, or on its own just after them. With this giving us an effective

44:59tank destroyer type vehicle, that can more easily tank down enemy tanks due to its effective HEAT shell,

45:04while also having a better HE and okay APHE shell, and it would be good to have the last Honi variant in game.

45:11Another Japanese tank destroyer that is already in game is the Type 5 Nato, but supposedly this was

45:17also intended to be fitted with the Type Gaze squeeze bore gun that we looked at earlier,

45:22but there is some disagreement on whether this actually happened. But if it could be added,

45:27this would make for a good 4.0 tank destroyer, having much better penetration than the Nato's

45:32existing 75mm gun, while lacking in post penetration damage, but would give us some extra variety with

45:39regards to this vehicle. Moving on, and unfortunately there aren't really many other pure tank destroyer

45:46designs, except for the Hori, which is technically in game, as a prototype and production version.

45:53Now the premium prototype variant is based off of a wooden mockup, and generally seems to be

45:59implemented in a way that it was sort of intended to be, while the production version in the tech tree

46:04is just straight up made up, having much thicker armour and a more powerful engine than was designed,

46:09or possibly even existed. But all of this is somewhat irrelevant, as the two prototypes that

46:14were being built in real life were never actually finished, and to make things even worse, they were

46:19not based on the wooden mockup, with the Hori one being built on the Chiri hull, so includes the

46:25frontally mounted 37mm gun, while the Hori 2 was intended to have a centrally mounted casemate,

46:32and rear mounted engine, more akin to the German Yakutiga. I'm not sure how far along these prototypes

46:38actually got, but seeing as the Hori in game is pretty much a fantasy design, I would be more than

46:44happy to have these replace it in the tank destroyer line, probably folded with each other, and it would

46:50be nice to see how they would have actually looked, and how they would perform in game.

46:55Before we leave the Japanese tank destroyers, I would like to just make a small mention of the

46:59So2 gun carrier, which is basically an armoured chassis designed to carry small guns, usually 37mm guns,

47:07but possibly even 47mm guns. However, I'm not entirely sure if these guns were able to actually

47:12be fired from the So2, or how much traverse would be available if they could. But if it was added,

47:18this would make for a decent low tier tank destroyer, with no armour for the firing platform except

47:23whatever gun shield is present, 12mm of armour for the tank itself, presumably 4-5 crew, and a top

47:30speed of 25mph or 40kmh. If it could be added, it could go at the beginning of the tank destroyer

47:36line at 1.0 for the 37mm variant, and if a 47mm variant was added, that could go at 2.0 between the

47:43ROGO and HONI-1, and this would make for a rather unusual tank destroyer design to have in game.

47:49Moving on from the Japanese tank destroyers, we can now look at assault guns, starting with the

47:54Type 4 Ho-2, a vehicle based on the Type 95 Hargo. Kind of similar to the Type 5 Horu, but unlike that

48:02vehicle, the Ho-2 is armed with a 120mm Type 38 howitzer, which was a rather old weapon from 1905,

48:10but was used as a last ditch weapon towards the end of the war. As an older weapon, it has a rather

48:16anemic muzzle velocity of just 276m a second, making longer ranged targeting a difficult proposition,

48:24and while it technically has an APHE shell, I can't imagine it would do much damage outside of

48:30point blank range. The other shells it could fire were shrapnel and HE shells, and I suspect the latter

48:35would penetrate around 30mm, but it could also fire a HEAT shell, which I suspect based off the

48:41smaller 105mm Type 91 means it will penetrate around 130-150mm, making this a rather deadly shell

48:52in game. Other than the gun, the other major change is the removal of the turret and superstructure,

48:57and replacing them with a basic fighting compartment, with limited protection from the front and

49:02partially the sides, with the roof and rear completely open to enemy fire, making it a

49:07very vulnerable vehicle to flanking and air attacks. Other than these changes, the armour should be a

49:12maximum of around 9-12mm thick, while the exact speed is not known, though I suspect it will have

49:18a maximum speed of 22-25mph or 35-40kmh, so again not a massively mobile vehicle. Meanwhile for the crew,

49:27I've seen two listed, a driver and commander, but I suspect a crew of 3-4 would possibly be more likely,

49:33as I suspect the combat efficiency of just one person manning and loading the gun along with all

49:38the other duties wouldn't be very high, though I could be wrong here. As for the Ho-2's place in

49:43War Thunder, I would place it between the Chi-Ha, LG and Type 5 NATO, as while its HE and especially AP

49:49HE shell might struggle against enemy armour, its HEAT shell should do fairly well, though it would be

49:55limited to close quarter engagements unless piloted by a skilled player, due to its low muzzle velocity.

50:01While its small size will serve it well in ambush situations, and it would be nice to have another

50:06Japanese artillery vehicle in game. In real life only the one prototype was made, and only one photo

50:12exists of it, and it was likely scrapped during or after the war. Supposedly there was also an attempt

50:18to mount the massive 20cm length 12 short naval gun onto a Chi-Ha chassis, similar to the Chi-Ha

50:25LG, and this could fire HE in century shrapnel and possibly AP shells. With the HE shell having

50:32an explosive mass of 13.6kg, which is somewhere between the South African G6's 11.14kg and the

50:40later Japanese Type 99's 14.8kg, giving it a penetration of around 60-65mm, which is a decent

50:49performance, but I don't have any information on the shrapnel shell or AP shell if one was available.

50:54For such a big weapon, it had a fire rate of 4.5-5 rounds a minute, which isn't too bad, but the

51:00muzzle velocity is only 305 metres a second, and no doubt the gun will be slowed to traverse, and I

51:06suspect the crew would be mostly unprotected, with the tank itself being slowed by the gun's weight,

51:11and the crew would probably number 4-6 depending on how many loads were needed. Unfortunately there's

51:16not much other information on this vehicle available, and it's likely the prototype wasn't even finished,

51:22and if added in game I'm not sure where it could be added, but maybe at rank 3 to differentiate it

51:26from the Chi-Ha short gun, and I suspect this would be used as a bit of a meme vehicle,

51:31being suited to short range engagements where you can one shot virtually all tanks,

51:36and it would be cool to see this vehicle in action.

51:39So lastly, we can now move on to Japanese anti-air vehicles, and to be honest most of these have

51:44already been added, leaving us very little choices on new anti-air vehicles. There is the Type 98

51:51Kohi half-track with a 20mm autocannon mounted at the back, making this almost equivalent to the Type

51:5794 AA vehicle already in game, with the Kohi having a slower top speed of 30mph or 48kmh,

52:06versus 37mph or 60kmh, while the armament is the same and armour is non-existent, while the crew should be

52:13around 3 to 4. Honestly, this wouldn't add much to the game, but could be added at 1.3 in a folder with

52:18the Type 94, giving us some extra options in maps with lots of off-road terrain, and adding a bit of

52:24variety while showing off a Japanese half-track. Then there is the Ki-To, which is based on the Type 97T

52:31Ki chassis, and basically involves removing the turret and fitting a 20mm autocannon to the roof,

52:37without any protected fighting compartment or even gun shield. Though based on a decently fast chassis,

52:43with a top speed of 25mph or 40kmh, and presumably a crew of 3 to 4, 2 in the hole and 1 or 2 manning the

52:50gun. Unfortunately, this vehicle would be very similar to the in-game Tarsay, except that that

52:55vehicle does have a bit of armour to protect the gun crew and has a top speed of 31mph, making the

53:01Ki-To an all round worse vehicle. Perhaps it could be folded with the Type 94 SPAA at 1.3, or it could be

53:08the starting anti-air vehicle at 1.0. But honestly, this would have to be an extremely low priority for

53:13adding. Other than that, there's not many other anti-air vehicles. There is also a picture of a

53:18Type 2 Kami with an anti-air gun mounted at the rear of the tank, but I'm unsure if this was actually

53:23mounted while the tank was operational, because it appears to be above the engine deck, or whether

53:27it was just added to a non-functional tank to provide a little bit of extra firepower around a

53:32defensible position. Then lastly for anti-air vehicles, there is the Shisei from 1925 that

53:38I covered briefly in my Japanese interwar tanks episode, and this is basically a 75mm Type 88

53:44anti-air gun mounted on a truck. And to be honest, with the Type 88 having an in-game penetration of

53:5075mm at 500m is probably going to be better suited to shooting ground targets, as most enemy aircraft

53:57will be far too quick for it to easily target. While it seems it was intended to be fired whilst

54:01stationary with these outrigger legs deployed, so it may just not be a very good vehicle to add in

54:06general, or a very low priority one at the very least. So that is it for this episode looking at

54:12Japanese tanks from World War 2, and I think we've managed to cover most of them, and I'd be

54:17interested to hear your thoughts on these tanks and any other ones you would like me to cover.

54:21So I'm hopefully going to cover Italian tanks next, which shouldn't be a long video like most of

54:26the others in this series, so I hope you will join me for that. Anyway, I've been Toreno,

54:31thank you for watching and I'll see you next time.

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