What Might Have Been: The Japanese Type 3 Chi-No Medium Tank

URR here.  The Type 3 Chi-no Medium Tank was the last word in Japanese armor during World War II.   It was the last tank remaining in production in 1945, and the only Japanese tank which was capable of posing any kind of threat to the US M4A1 Sherman.  However, due to shortages of gasoline and strategic materials (namely steel), and with an armaments industry largely in ruins, Japan could manage to produced fewer than 200 of the Type 3s.  None saw combat, but virtually the entire inventory was on Kyushu and Honshu awaiting the coming US invasion.  

The design of the Type 3 was purpose-built to counter the US M4A1 Sherman, which was arriving in increasing numbers on Pacific battlefields beginning in 1943.  The Type 3's 75mm 38-caliber gun (also designated the Type 3) could penetrate the 76mm frontal armor of the M4A1 at 700 meters, and the side armor at 1,000 meters.  This represented a two-generation leap from the low-velocity 57mm and the medium-velocity 47mm guns equipping the vast majority of Japanese tanks, neither of which was particularly effective against the Sherman except at very close range.  

Japanese tanks were notoriously bad, with thin armor, limited mobility, and weak armament.  The Type 95 Light and Type 97 "Medium" Tanks were, by Western standards, all but useless against enemy armor.  They were, at best, moderately effective in the infantry support role, but were easy prey for the 37mm and 57mm US anti-tank guns, and utterly helpless against the Sherman's 75mm 40-caliber M3 main gun at any range.   

The Type 3 weighed approximately 19.5 tons, and had a crew of 5.  The Mitsubishi engine and drive train were very reliable.  Unusually tall, at 9.5 feet, the high silhouette made the tank vulnerable to detection.  (The Sherman, at 8 feet, ten inches, shared this drawback.)  In the coastal plains of Kyushi and Honshu, far away from the concealing jungle, such a flaw would have been serious.  Top speed was 24 mph, but cross country capability would likely have been limited by a narrower tread and lower power-to-weight ratio than the American M4A1.  

While the Type 3 represented a much more serious challenge to the Sherman, the vehicle was still markedly inferior to its US opponent.  The thickest armor, on the front plate, was just 50mm, and the side armor just 25mm.  The main gun of the M4A1 could penetrate the Type 3 front plate out to 2,000 meters, nearly three times the effective range of the Japanese main gun against the Sherman.   

Despite its shortcomings, the Type 3 was far and away the best Japanese tank produced in any numbers during the war.  Had development started earlier, when it was clear the Type 95 and Type 97 were thoroughly obsolete, these machines could have made several island fights much more interesting.  

It is believed only one example remains, outside the JGSDF Ordnance School in, Tsuchiura, Japan.

 

Comments

[Captain Ned]

Yet one more reason to commend Truman for the guts it took to make that decision.

[Paul L. Quandt]

Captain Ned:

You mean the decision which meant that there are still Japanese people today?

Paul L. Quandt

[SFC Dunlap 173d RVN]

Italian tanks of WWII were pretty bad examples of a tank as well.

[Casey]

Interesting little piece.

How do they know the penetration ability of the Type 3? Were those theoretical calculations, or did they have a chance to actually fire on a captured Sherman?

[Casey]

...Also just occurred to me: did the Japanese have the equivalent of a bazooka? I know the Germans came up with a much improved Panzerfaust after capturing the American version...

[ultimaratioregis]

@Casey,

The Japanese tested their Type 3 main gun much the way we tested ours at Aberdeen and other places. There are pen tables I looked at yesterday and I don't have at the tip of my fingers, but they are pretty definitive.

The Japanese, to my knowledge, never produced anything close to the 2.75" Bazooka, or the Panzerfaust/Panzershreck. They used satchel charges and suicide troops until the last days of the war.

[Quartermaster]

URR, we also tested a lot of enemy equipment that fell into our hands at the end of the war.