Vehicles · Japan · 1943-1945
Type 1 Chi-He
medium tank
The Type 1 Chi-He was designed from 1941 to succeed the Type 97 Chi-Ha, whose 57mm gun could no longer penetrate newer Allied armor like the M4 Sherman. It kept the same 47mm gun as the up-gunned Shinhoto Chi-Ha but switched to a welded hull with thicker, angled frontal armor in place of the earlier riveted construction, and was the first Japanese tank fitted with a radio as standard equipment. Only 170 were built between 1943 and 1944 before production shifted to the more heavily armed Type 97-Chi-Ha's successors; all were held back for home-island defense against the expected Allied invasion and never saw combat.
| armament | 1x Type 1 47mm gun |
|---|---|
| crew | 5 |
| weight | 17.2 tonnes |
| armor | 20-50mm |
| produced | 170 |
China, Burma and India, Pacific