Tank Chats #50 Ha-Go | The Tank Museum

this is the tank museums type 95 or hago tank it's the only Japanese tank we actually have in our collection here at Bovington Japan doesn't have tanks in the first world war right at the end of the first world war it orders a mark for tank and it orders six whippet tanks from Britain just after the end of the first world war Japan's a country that's been modernizing its army for a number of years back in the turn of the century it's fought against the Russians and the Japanese continued into the decade first decades of the 20th century building up their military and in many ways westernizing it was Western technology now they experiment with these early tanks they like the idea of the tanks in Japan but there's an argument goes on in the 1920s as a general Suzuki he argues that tank should be built in Japan not imported so they could build up their tank building strength their industry their technical knowledge they do buy a couple of British six ton of tanks in in 1927 one of those is on trial and it actually catches fire and it's said that that's one of the reasons the Japanese go down the route with engine power of getting diesel engines in their tank as opposed to petrol because of this experience experience of seeing the crew burn or get burnt inside the Vickers 6-ton er now they decide to start their own tank program they do a number of different model tanks some look very much like the imported vehicles they've taken from Europe they import some Renault ft takes they like the idea of again this idea of the light infantry tank they like the idea of having something along the lines of a carden loyd tankette and they also go for a heavier tank as well in 1933 they start the program for this type 95 and a designer called tamio hora he's actually the guy that they asked to really come together he's already designed this Bell crank system of suspension we'll look at that in a moment but he's the main instigator behind the type 95 and what we end up with is for the Japanese category it's a light tank it comes in about 7.5 tons it's got a 37 millimeter gun and there envisaging this tank is a really for infantry support it's to go into action with the entry infantry as a bolster really to the the ground troops the 37 millimeter gun it's not considered that effective it can go through at about 900 feet something like an inch and a quarter of armor plate it will fire armor-piercing and high-explosive they also issue the tank with two machine guns as its armament starts off with a six point five millimeter machine gun something called a type 91 we've actually got our type 91 here so this is the six point five millimeter type 91 machine gun it's basically a variation of the infantry gun that would normally have had on the back here a wooden butt that came out what they do is they get rid of this they angle the hand grip for space inside the vehicle you've actually got a fixture to meet - so you can fit on a telescopic sight and the hopper system that they design for 30 rounds clips on to the side so this round as well when it was sometimes used on Japanese per tanks they'd have an armoured cover over the front of it which why sometimes it almost looked like those flamethrower covers but again air called hence all the ridging down the side there these were later replaced by 7.7 millimeter machine gun because they thought they ought to have heavier machine guns inside their tanks we haven't got that gun fitted because one of the other design elements of this tank was inside they line the tank with asbestos for two purposes one they realize if it's going to be fighting in hot climates Sun beating down on the metalwork it will heat up the interior the asbestos is to cool that interior second point they give it a little gap it acts as a bit of a cushion as well to the crew inside as they're being knocked around driving over now unfortunately that asbestos breaks down those sheets over the years we have sealed this tank until we get that asbestos removed we're not go inside it so we won't show you any interior shots unless they're taken from some years ago so the armament - of those machine guns are fitted the one is on the back at the turret at what they call a five o'clock position it's facing real woods and there's a bit of an issue there because this is really a one-man turret you've only got the commander in there so there is no way he could actually be firing the main armament or commanding at the same time turning round and then firing the machine gun in the back so sometimes they would turn the whole turret round if they're only wanting to use their machine guns on the enemy positions rather than the 37 millimetre gun armor plate six millimeters 12 millimeters maximum on the front so relatively thin again but again in the mid-1930s perfectly acceptable as a tank and especially for where you think the Japanese are thinking of using these vehicles which is mainly in support of their armies in the sino-japanese war there on the Chinese mainland that's where the fighting is going to be going on and the Chinese have very few tanks there some imported carden loyd carriers Panzer one Panzer tus and things like that but nothing of much scale to fight against it now back to this suspension system this is what they call a bell crank system you can see these paired bogie wheels they started off by having them separated now they're actually joined by this tube that runs along there is actually where the spring is so the idea being when it gets pushed up at one in that spring is compressed again it's a lateral spring as opposed to a horizontal spring that you'll see on some vehicles tracks not particularly wide tracks again but it's a relatively light tank so mobility is not too bad about getting around on this relatively fast for a tank of its period and again all-round quite often people compare the technology in this tank with perhaps a slightly later American Stewart tank they're fairly comparable and probably in many ways designed for some fairly similar ideas behind them the the philosophies how they're going to be used inside the crew of three we've said the commander's in the turret it's going to be overloaded it's very very tight space he no turret basket he's stepping over the transmission every time he has to move around at all in there there's a bow machine gunner and there's a drivers position at the front there's actually a speaking tube from the turret to the drivers position and there's actually on the rear there's a small button he's put on so that infantry who because again they'd be cooperating compress that button and it actually that's a driver know that there's actually a message coming through that we need to actually talk to the infantry behind us and so these were all parts of that design process how it's going to use it is adapted obviously in service Japanese are fairly strict with their tanks they don't allow the infantry to add things to them that aren't officially sanctioned now you will see on some of them they actually put a some wooden decking over the rear to help carry so they're almost a seating position so the infantry can be carried into battle on the back of it but what you don't often see is things like extra armor or track links welded on the front or draped over the front for extra protection that was frowned upon but this one vehicle even though I was saying that they didn't really want to change the vehicle by adding pieces this bin we have welded on the back is actually an addition so that some sort of crew fit has been put there and that's a little bit of an anomaly because as I say on the whole most of these type 95 so they look very very similar when they're in service what's interesting about this particular tank we think it was captured later on in Burma it was taken to India we have a big report on this tank in our archive and library and intelligence report taking it all apart explaining about what they liked about it what they think is impressive for example the quality of the engineering the bearings in it they think are really rather good and what they also says it's vulnerabilities simple things which you can imagine in a time of war they're trying to think of ways that we can defeat this vehicle and one of the ideas there that they've got in one of the early reports is just for this turret when it turns there's an overhang if you're in a position and think of jungle warfare or think of roads going through jungles where you may be able to approach the tank quite closely there's actually the suggestion you get a Bay in it or a knife and wedge it under the turret as it's turned so it actually gets stuck there because there's a vulnerability there they can see and again some of these intelligence reports obviously there's a real onus at the time for getting information about the capabilities of that tank and its weaknesses one other thing about this vehicle which is also an issue we have sometimes other vehicles in the collection this camouflage that's on here though it looks old which gives it an air of authenticity is actually completely wrong this is not the camouflage scheme that this vehicle was in when it was captured and I mention that because that terrible tendency all tell us more about this this is a spurious so overall it fits into the light tank cache degree the Japanese famously they use their tanks in China but because of the nature of the campaign's they're fighting they don't tend to use tanks in the equivalent Western European battles in large numbers they tend to be spread around the island hopping campaigns Burma etc very little in the way of large tank groupings together perhaps the only time we can see some serious numbers it takes is in July of 1939 the battle of khalkhin gol where the Japanese I have some of their type 95 there there's a border incident for the Russians Stalin sends down Zhukov the Russians give the Japanese forces there a really bloody nose and it really is a note of caution to Japan which is why Japan then doesn't actually attack Russia even though they've got the pact with Hitler they don't attack the Russians later in the war when Hitler's pact with Stalin falls apart there's a kind of border truce and it only kicks off again in 1945 when Stalin sends his armies into Manchuria and coming south into China so that's our type 95 the only Japanese tank as I say we have here a bit of a rarity one day we'll be able to get back inside we may be able to when we clear out their space stores we can have a closer look at things like this amazing mitsubishi air called diesel engine six cylinder engine in the back that powered it they make about 2,200 2,300 of these and they're making them from 33 to pretty much the end of the war in Japan they're coming up with better designs about midway through the war they indeed to have made them only in small numbers they kept them back in Japan so we don't seem so much of those they were waiting for the invasions that's where they thought they'd be used Japanese industrial energy military might goes into making aeroplanes and ships for the Navy because that's the nature of the warfare they seem to be fighting most and it seems logical tanks are only a small part of their armor in World War two you

Channel: The Tank Museum

Views: 447,045

Rating: 4.9638438 out of 5

Keywords: ha-go, type 95, japanese, tank museum, bovington, tank chat, david willey, japanese type 95 ha-go light tank, the tank museum, bovington tank museum, tank chats, world war 2, world war two, second world war, ww2, world war ii, wwii, japanese tanks, japanese tank ww2, tank chats ha go, ha go tank chat, type 95 tank chat, david willey tank chat, japan tank ww2

Id: LhCsc_rYgA4

Length: 11min 53sec (713 seconds)

Published: Fri May 18 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/DFx08what]

I’ve mentioned this before, but pretty much all tanks from the era used asbestos a lot as well. Probably not to the extent of lining the interior with it, though.

From https://www.mesotheliomahope.com/veterans/army/ :

All Army vehicles built before the 1970’s contained asbestos components. Army vehicles had asbestos for fire-retarding and noise suppression. Brakes, gaskets and clutch plates were composed of asbestos. Vehicles containing asbestos ranged from Jeeps to tanks with the M4 Sherman tank having a high degree of asbestos inside.

[u/Luftwaff1es]

Could be worse. Could be actual gas mask filters coated in lead paint and filled with asbestos.

[u/Tankninja1]

It was literally cancer

[u/Dutch-Gouda]

Asbestos itself isnt dangerous unless you cut it and dust particles fly into your virgin lungs.

[u/CapitanRastrero]

Maybe it should be fireproof

[u/[deleted]]

It's not to keep the crew safe.. it's to keep the world safe from the crew!

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