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Type 4 Ho-Ro

1942 SELF-PROPELLED ARTILLERY WORLD WAR 2

Type 4 Ho-Ro History

Despite the impressive influence of the Japanese military in the early years of World War II, during the conflict, the Japanese military fell behind its contemporaries in several key areas. One of these areas is the design and development of effective tracked armored combat vehicles, the inventory of which consists mainly of outdated light tank design theories and classifications. The early successes of the Japanese Army in China and Manchuria contributed to the misconception that a mobile light armored force was the key to ensuring victory, and set aside many considerations for including medium and heavy armored systems. Thus, despite the lack of significant battlefield components, Japanese forces would engage in a full-scale world war with the Allies. It must be noted that the industrialized nations within Imperial Japan encouraged this kind of thinking in mass production methods, far behind Germany, Great Britain, Russia and the United States.

Even Canada and Australia were forced to evolve their wartime manufacturing plants from "nothing" to "having." Needless to say, this lack of production capacity limited the type and number of Japanese armored vehicles and self-propelled artillery systems during the Pacific campaign.

At this stage of the war, the Japanese found themselves with a surplus of older Type 38 150mm (5.9in) field howitzers. These were originally based on a German Krupp design and launched in 1905.

They were relatively adequate weapons for their time, firing impressive shells weighing nearly 80 pounds at a range of up to 6,542 yards. However, the inherent design of the breech units meant they were slow to fire, and their age was starting to show, as many of the remaining Type 38 systems in stock either degraded with regular use or naturally aged over time.

The weapon, considered obsolete, was largely withdrawn from Japanese stockpiles in 1942.

Likewise, the Type 97 Chiha entered the final phase of the modern world. Technically it is considered a "light tank" design elsewhere, but in Japanese tank warfare theory it is classified as a "medium" tank system. The riveted construction is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and use when mounting the low-speed 57mm Type 97 main gun. The use of riveted structures must be mentioned here, as this is a tank production practice that has been abandoned by other modern armies.

However, this construction was largely a forced factor for the Japanese due to their current industrial capabilities. The fuselage uses a bell crank suspension system and has a movable turret offset to the right side of the design.

She consists of four people and can travel at 23.6 miles per hour on paved roads. Two Type 97 machine guns complemented the main gun armament, and the 97 series became Japan's most produced tank in World War II, debuting in 1938, just in time to participate in the Anti-Japanese War.

Total production reached 2,092, of which 930 were armed 47mm models.

Having said that, the Japanese authorities believe that the Type 38 is still a viable mount, and the Type 97 chassis has a few more years of good luck - and both are available in abundance, and where the Germans mount theirs The case was successful with a 15cm sIG 33 gun on a tracked chassis, like the Czech Panzer 38(t) tanks captured in Europe. Therefore, it was decided to combine the two weapon systems into a temporary, low-cost self-propelled weapon system, with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries becoming the main contractor.

The Type 38 gun would be mounted in a fixed superstructure, protected only by a front shield or armour, slightly protecting the front side. Four or five crew members operate the chambers in the open air, exposed to the elements and dangers of the battlefield, but such a system should always operate behind the line of direct contact.

The gun was placed far away in the design, and the Type 97's hull remained largely intact. On either side of the tank hull is a set of tracks, with six wheels on one track side. The drive sprocket is at the front of the design and the chain idler is at the rear.

Three track wheels are located on the underside of the upper track element. The sloping plate is well raked and the engine is left behind. Only part of the lower superstructure of the Type 97 remained, the rest of the design was covered by temporary open-air gun mounts. The superstructure and turret essentially replace the original Type 97 turret assembly and are fully fixed with a certain high degree of flexibility. Power comes from an air-cooled Mitsubishi 100 V12 diesel engine making about 170 hp.

This enables a top speed of 24 mph and a range of 156 miles.

The Type 4 Ho-Ro once again reveals the industrial limits of the Japanese Empire. Production of the system was severely limited, with only about 25 cars produced.

The form of mass production never surfaced, as the Model 4 was basically realized by the hands of workers without the advantages of an assembly line.

The Type 4 Ho-Ro had limited range from the start and never seemed to be formally organized into pairs of more than four vehicles. Once in service, while designed as a self-propelled weapon for field artillery missions, Allied action quickly forced the Type 4 artillery to switch to the role of close support artillery, typically used to defend Japanese-held areas. Her fixed superstructure forces the entire hull to rotate towards the combat target area, while the open-air nature of her design exposes the crew to every conceivable danger on the battlefield. Born as an offensive weapon, the Type 4 must become an indiscriminate defensive weapon by the end of the war. The Japanese used it with little success in the defense of Okinawa, but ultimately its limited numbers and outdated design meant that many examples were destroyed in battle, overrun by more powerful Allied artillery or raided by infantry and armor.

The Allies captured only a few complete examples.