Japanese army medium tank Type 97 Chi-ha

Have you ever seen Japanese army tank ?

I guess many people know this tank “Chi-ha” but few people actually see it. This Chi-ha is exhibited in Yushukan museum Yasukuni.

Chi-ha is major tank in Japanese army, it produced 2,123 in 1938～1944.

First time Chi-ha was high performance tank. The concept was anti infantry and machine guns defence position. So Chi-ha has 57mm gun, it can shoot high explosive power ball.　It was enough in 1938～1941.

But in WW2, tanks develop rapidly, T-34, Tiger , M4 Sherman, and etc….

Japanese army focused on expanding air power, so successor tank developed late and late. In addition to it, Japanese industrial productivity was poor too. Japanese army continued to use Chi-ha.

The pic Chi-ha was destroyed in battle of Saipan 1944, it returned from there 1975, and repaired 1988.