Type 5 75 mm tank gun

Type 5 75 mm tank gun Mark I

The Type 5 75 mm tank gun was used as the main armament of the Imperial Japanese Army Type 4 Chi-To prototype medium tank. It was one of the largest tank guns to be fitted on a World War II Japanese tank.^[1][2] Due to late war shortage-induced delays only two were ever mounted in a completed Type 4 Chi-To, neither of which saw combat.^[2]

Use

Type 4 Chi-To medium tank with the Type 5 75 mm tank gun

The Type 5 75 mm tank gun was intended as the main armament of the Type 4 Chi-To medium tank, a planned improvement over the Imperial Army's most powerful production tank, the Type 3 Chi-Nu.^[3] The first prototype Type 4 Chi-To was delivered in 1944. Though the most advanced and powerful Japanese tank to leave the drawing board, late war industrial and material shortages resulted in only two being completed.^[2]

The Type 4 Chi-To was manned by a crew of five^[2] and fielded the long-barreled 75 mm L/56.4 (4.23 m) gun. A variant of the Japanese 1943 Type 4 75mm AA Gun,^[4][5] it was mounted in a large, hexagonal turret and capable of being elevated between -6.5 to +20 degrees. Its 850 metres per second (2,800 ft/s) muzzle velocity gave it an armor penetration of 75 millimeters at 1,000 meters.^[6][7]

Intended Type 4 Chi-To production was 25 tanks per month spread over two Mitsubishi Heavy Industries factories. Late war shortage-induced delays resulted in only 6 chassis being built by 1945 and just two of which were completed. Neither completed tanks saw any combat prior to the end of the war in the Pacific.^[2][8]

Incomplete prototype of the Type 5 Chi-Ri

The Type 5 tank gun was also fitted into the Type 5 Chi-Ri prototype medium tank as its main gun.^[2] However, eventually an 88 mm gun (based on the Type 99 88 mm AA Gun) was planned for its turret.^[2] The Type 5 Chi-Ri used a lengthened version of the Type 4 Chi-To chassis and had thicker sloped welded armor. Only one incomplete prototype was produced by the end of the war.^[2][9]

Notes

1. Tomczyk 2005, pp. 18–22, 30.
2. Zaloga 2007, p. 22.
3. Tomczyk 2005, pp. 3, 5.
4. Taki's Imperial Japanese Army: "Tank Guns"
5. Tomczyk 2005, pp. 19, 22, 30.
6. Taki's Imperial Japanese Army: "Tank Guns"
7. Hara (1972), p. 18
8. Tomczyk 2005, pp. 19, 22.
9. Tomczyk 2005, p. 30.

References

• Hara, Tomio (1972). Japanese Medium Tanks. AFV Weapons Profiles No. 49.
• Taki's Imperial Japanese Army Page
• Tomczyk, Andrzej (2005). Japanese Armor Vol. 4. AJ Press. ISBN 978-8372371676.
• Zaloga, Steven J. (2007). Japanese Tanks 1939–45. Osprey. ISBN 978-1-8460-3091-8.