Editing Imperial Japanese Equipment (section)

== Vehicles ==

=== Tanks ===
The Tank Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Army was not that great. Our dear friends had experimented with the tank concept pretty early on; they were the first nation to make a tank with a diesel engine, but much like the rest of the world took the wrong lessons from Spain. They also failed to integrate the weapons into divisions properly. The skirmishes with the Soviet Union and visits to Germany in the late 30s pretty much proved that the concept worked different than they thought, and they tried to catch up. However, tanks take a lot of money, labour and equipment to produce and a lot of fuel to operate, and the thing you need to know about the Empire of Japan is that above all else, the army and the navy literally without question hated each other. So every time the Army wanted to start production of tanks they had to compete for steel, manpower, labour, and everything else. Given that in China 1930s era tanks were still quite effective and if war happened with the United States the fleet and air forces obviously took priority, the navy generally won these fights. So most of the "good" tanks ended up in the homeland because of the logistics strain, and the far cheaper Type 95 Ha-go/Kyugo were far more common by virtue of being lighter and thus less of a bother to send to shitty undeveloped island #273.

Imperial Japanese Tanks were given a designation based on the Imperial Japanese Calendar, which starts counting at 660 BCE. 

*'''Type 95 Ha-go/Kyugo''': Named Ha-go after the manufacturer but called the Kyugo by troops, either name is correct, but Ha-go is more familiar to western audiences. Japan had looked into the land battleship concept, but decided to make a tank that could both be speedy and provide infantry support. The 95 were vastly faster than equivalent infantry support tanks like Matildas or Churchills. They even were cheaper to make, and were cushioned against heat and bumps...[[Grimdark|by asbestos.]] In Burma, one was captured and is still at Bovington, and a contemporary report indicated that there were design elements that were quite good, especially the bogie wheel suspension. However, the cannon became rapidly outdated, and the machine guns were only ok, being fed by hoppers and not belts, and the commander was cramped and somewhat overwhelmed. Perhaps worst of all was that crews were strongly frowned upon for adding on armor or boxes for ammo, though logs to allow troops to sit on the back were considered acceptable. The turret could also could be [[FAIL|jammed with a knife]], and there are allegations that American .30-06 ammo was able to penetrate the side armor, though these reports are not fully substantiated.
*'''Type 2 Ka-Mi''': One of the world's first true Amphibious tanks that originated out of the Army-Navy rivalry. The IJN wanted their light infantry to have some Amphibious tanks, so they modified a Type 95 chassis to have releasable pontoons and even a propeller. Were hand crafted, so production was far slower than the Navy wanted. Interesting, but woefully outdated once American LVTs arrived. Mostly saw defensive action as mobile pillboxes and defensive emplacements at IJN installations.
* '''Type 97 Chi-Ha''': The main medium tank of the IJA during WWII. It weighed 14.3 tonnes, a 127kW engine, armor 8-26mm thick and was armed with a 57 mm main gun and a couple of machine guns. When it was introduced in 1936 the Chi-Ha was pretty good and it was often effective in China. When the US came around, not so much. A command variant, the Shi-Ki, mounted the cannon in the hull to make room for the officer's radio.
** '''Type 97 ShinHōtō Chi-Ha''': A Chi-Ha with more armor and a higher velocity 47mm gun better for anti-tank work introduced in 1942. 
* '''Type 1 Chi-He''': Another upgrade on the Chi-Ha with some more armor and a better engine. About 170 were made and they stayed on the Home Islands.
* '''Type 3 Chi-Nu''': Another upgrade on the Chi-Ha, with up to 50mm of armor and a 75mm anti-tank gun. It was designed to take out Shermans in 1943 and put into production in 1944 when Japan was getting a serious ass whoopin by US Bombers. The most advance Japanese Tank to see even limited mass production. Stayed in the Home Islands.
* '''Type 4 Chi-To''': Not an update on the Chi-Ha, but an entirely new vehicle from the ground up. A couple of Prototype vehicles which were broadly speaking in the T-34/Sherman's ballpark. The Cheeto's legacy is mostly preserved by World of Tanks and Alternate History nerds.
* '''Type 5 Chi-Ri''': A single prototype that, had it been completed would have been more heavily armored than a Sherman with a new powerful 75mm gun, plus a 37mm secondary cannon. If the [[M6 Heavy Tank|M6's]] trials are any indication the 37mm would've been superfluous, though it isn't like Japan had access to Aberdeen proving grounds or anything so how would they have known?

=== Tank Destroyers/Assault Guns ===
Similarly to the whole tank thing, Japanese Tank Destroyers and Assault guns suffered from the Navy and Army thing. When they did finally start producing them, they were rushed, too late to make a difference, relatively poor in quality, and facing off against an incredibly pissed off enemy that had goddamn howitzers mounted in tank turrets.

*'''Type 4 Ho-Ro:''' Based off the Type 97 chassis and studies of the German [[Grille]]. Mounted a respectable 105mm cannon in an open topped casemate design. Few (12) were produced, with the ones that were facing off against the [[M7 Priest]], [[US 155mm|M1]], and [[US 105mm Artillery|M101]]. So yeah, they were having a fun day every time they were deployed.

*'''Type 97 Chi-Ha, 120mm cannon:''' Based again off the Type 97 chassis. The Short Barrel variant has the "most" documentation, being just a Chi-Ha with a 120mm goddamn anti-submarine cannon mounted to it. Fitted to fire HE shells, it was able to fire AP shells as well. Primarily used in the infantry support role. A variant appears in War Thunder called the Type 97 Long Barreled, fitted with a long barreled 120mm cannon that left the crew exposed to fire, though documentation is even rarer and thus it is unknown how prolific the latter of these truly were.

=== Halftracks and armored cars ===
Much like the rest of the powers involved in the second world war, the Imperial Japanese Army did have a pool of halftracks and armored cars. Uniquely among most powers, most of the Japanese armored cars had a rather unique feature; they could be deployed on both roadways and rail lines. This is similar to modern railway utility trucks, except they arent armored or armed.

The Imperial Japanese Army, while stereotyped for having terrible equipment, did at least have some innovation through their armored cars in that the wheels that allowed them to be used on railways could be switched to different rail gauges and did develop one of the first ancestors to modern fully tracked armored personnel carriers. 

A major fail was that the IJA did not prioritize infantry transports as much as other more mechanized militaries did and as a result they where outclassed by allied forces and superior designs.  

Some of the more famous examples of armored cars and half tracks most of which were based on 1920s interwar British designs. 

*'''Chiyoda armoured car/ Type 2592:''' Offically the first domestically made armored car that was produced for both the IJA and the IJN, was armed with 3 Type 11 6.5mm machine guns. Only truly notable feature is it was a six wheeled design, a distinction that was shared with the American M8 and Soviet BA series of armored cars.

*'''Sumida M.2593:''' Made a year after the Chiyoda, this was the first armored car in the IJA and IJN, that could be used on both roadways and railways. The crew could change between the two in little less than half an hour, and the wheels for rail use could even be adjusted for different railway gauges. Another unique feature to this armored car was while it was used on railways it could be linked with others to form a type of rolling stock. They could be armed with either a 6.5mm machine gun or a 7.7mm machine gun with gun slits cut into the armor for its crew to use infantry weapons. Unique, but irrelevant when the Allies started deploying Greyhounds and Daimlers. 

*'''Type 1 Ho-Ha:''' One of the only true halftracks produced for use by the IJA, developed in 1941, but did not reach production until 1944, it was partially based on the Germans Sd.Kfz. 251 with some American M3 influence as well. It carried 3 type 97 machine gun in constricted fire arcs leaving it exposed to attacks from the direct front and direct rear. 

*'''Type 1 Ho-Ki:''' An honest ancestor of the fully tracked APC, and an example of too little too late for the imperial japanese military. Developed in 1941 but only began mass production in 1944, it was made originally as a heavily armored artillery tractor that was adapted to carry up to 13 infantry. It was unarmed but provisions were made to mount a type 92 infantry machine gun.