„89-type medium tank” (Japanese 八九 式 中 戦 車 – hachikyu: shiki chu: senseha) or Type 89 – Japanese medium tank of the 1930s. Also known as „イ 号” (yoke:). It was created in 1929 and became the first Japanese serial tank of its own design. The Type 89 also became the world’s first production tank with a diesel engine. In the 1930s, before the start of mass production of the Ha-Go and Chi-Ha tanks, the Type 89 formed the backbone of the Japanese armored forces. By the beginning of the Second World War, it was mainly replaced by more modern tanks in the troops, but the last battles of this type of machine took place in 1944 in the Philippines. In literature, the name „Chi-Ro” is sometimes used, which stands for „middle first”, but it appeared already in the West.
History of creation
The Type 89 was the first Japanese mass-produced tank. Its design was based on British Medium Mk.C by the Japanese army in 1927. On their basis, the Japanese in 1929 created a prototype of the tank „Osaka Ryokogun Johei No. 2″ or „Type 2587″ weighing 9.8 tons, which did not go into production due to insufficient armor and weapons. By the end of 1929, a prototype of a more advanced tank was completed, which received the designation „Type 2589″, which was put into service under the name „I-Go”.
The Type 89 was originally developed as a light tank, but was reclassified as a medium tank in 1935.
The production of the tank lasted from 1931 to 1939; different sources give numbers from 230 to 404 of the vehicles produced.
Description of the structure
Type 89 had a classic layout, with the engine-transmission compartment in the aft, and the control compartment and the fighting compartment in the front of the vehicle. The tank’s crew consisted of four people: a driver and gunner, located in the control compartment, and a commander with a loader, located in a two-seat turret.
Armored corps and turret
The Type 89 armored body was assembled entirely on the frame with rivets. The hulls of the first vehicles were a direct modification of the original Medium Mk.C. To overcome wide ditches, a folding „tail” was often attached at the back – an archaic design already at that time. Since 1933, the tanks received a new frontal part of the hull with a single straight frontal plate of a small angle of inclination, which gave the tank a unique and recognizable appearance.
Armament
The main armament of the tank on the first samples was the 37-mm Type 11 cannon, on production vehicles it was replaced by the 57-mm Type 90 cannon with a barrel length of 18.4 caliber. Since 1937, the tanks have been rearmed with new 57-mm Type 97 cannons with similar characteristics. The tank had 100 rounds of ammunition, and the original armor-piercing shells were not included in it at all.
The tank’s auxiliary armament consisted of two 6.5-mm Type 91 machine guns. One of the machine guns was located in the frontal hull sheet, initially on the right side, and on the Otsu modification – on the left. The second machine gun was located in the rear of the turret, on the first modification it was strictly in the center, and starting with the Otsu variant with a modified turret shape – on its left side. The machine gun ammunition was 2750 rounds in stores of 50 rounds.
Engine and transmission
The first machines were equipped with Daimler carburetor engines, which were soon replaced by a 115 hp liquid-cooled Mitsubishi engine. with., created on the basis of aviation. However, the experience of operating the tank in Manchuria showed the insufficient reliability of this engine at low temperatures, so soon after the start of mass production of tractor-tank diesel engines in 1933, the Type 89 began to install 6-cylinder Mitsubishi air-cooled diesel engines with a capacity of 120 liters. With. More powerful, 160-horsepower engines were installed on the Otsu modification.
Chassis
Overall, the Type 89’s suspension design was fairly archaic for the 1930s. Of the 9 road wheels of small diameter on each side, 8 were locked in pairs into bogies with leaf spring suspension, and the front, 9th roller had an independent spring suspension. The entire suspension was covered with armored bulwarks.
Rear drive rollers (after Type 89, all Japanese tanks were carried out with front drive rollers), track engagement is pinned. The tanks of the „Koo” modification were equipped with large-link tracks, from the „Otsu” modification they were replaced by more durable small-link ones. The width of the tracks with a track pitch of 150 mm was 305 mm.
Modifications
There is no clear picture of the modifications of the Type 89. There are two clearly defined modifications – the earlier „2589 Koo” and the later „2589 Otsu”, but as to which of them each of the produced tanks belongs to, different sources give completely different data.
„2589 Koo”
An early model, also known as the Type 89 A, produced in 1931-1937. According to the most authoritative Japanese sources, this model includes tanks with a gasoline engine, a broken front hull plate, a left-handed driver, large-link tracks and a rounded turret.
„2589 Otsu”
Improved model also known as Type 89 B. Various sources disagree as to which of the released Type 89s belong to this modification. According to one source, it includes cars with a flat frontal hull and a 120 hp diesel engine, which have been produced since 1935. with., the right-hand location of the driver, more durable fine-link tracks and a modified shape of the tower. According to others, the production of „2589 Otsu” began in 1931 and the common feature of the tanks of this version was only a straightened frontal hull sheet, while the rest of the improvements were made to the design of tanks gradually during production.
A later version „2589 Otsu”, equipped with a new diesel engine with a capacity of 160 liters. With. and a gearbox with a reduction gear is often referred to in Western sources under the incorrect designation „Type 2594″. The mass of the tank in the latest versions reached 15.4 tons.
Cars based on Type 89
Engineering vehicle Type 96, „SS-Ki”
On the basis of „Chi-Ro” in 1936, an engineering vehicle was produced under the name „Soko-Sagyuosha”, usually abbreviated to „SS-Ki”. The vehicle, which was a Type 89 with a dismantled turret and a new undercarriage devoid of additional armor, reduced to eight road wheels, was originally intended to combat fortifications and was equipped with 2 or 3 flamethrowers and a machine gun, but, at the request of the army, it was in different variants installed additional equipment, which turned the „SS-Ki” rather into an engineering vehicle. In various combinations, an excavator for digging trenches, a mine plow, equipment for setting a smoke screen and others were installed on it, but the bridge layer turned out to be the only useful function. In total, according to various sources, from 51 to 119 cars of this type were produced.
ACS based on Type 89
On the basis of the Type 89, various ACS projects were developed, but none of them advanced further than the prototypes, and many remained on paper at all, for example, „Jiro-Xia” – an anti-tank ACS with a traditional for machines of this class, the engine layout in the front of the vehicle, and the cannons in the rear, in the open-top wheelhouse.
Combat use
Type 89 attacking Manila in January 1942
The Type 89 was first used in combat during the Shanghai Incident in 1932. The first 40 Type 89s as part of the 1st Tank Battalion arrived in Shanghai on February 11, some more were at the disposal of the Marine Corps. In battles, they showed themselves better than the Otsu Gata Sensya tanks used in the same place, which were French-made NC-27 modernized in Japan and from that moment became the main force of the Japanese armored forces.
In battles in China in 1937-1938, Type 89 proved to be quite good, being used exclusively to support the infantry, while the few, mostly outdated even in comparison with Japanese tanks and poorly organized Chinese armored vehicles did not offer serious resistance. At the same time, the success of the actions of tank units was limited to the outdated and stale tactics of their use, dating back to the times of the First World War, which left tanks, in fact, exclusively the role of mobile armored firing points for escorting infantry.
The Type 89 showed completely different results in the battles at Khalkhin Gol in 1939. It was then that the extremely low anti-tank qualities of the 57-mm Type 90 and Type 97 guns, which the Japanese stubbornly ignored for many years, led to their defeat. 34 Type 89 tanks, including the early Type 89 Koo model, took part in the battles. Tanks of this type were part of the 3rd and 4th tank regiments, which had 26 and 8 vehicles, respectively. Most of them were lost in the very first days of the battle from the fire of 45-mm tank and anti-tank guns, which surpassed Japanese guns in firing range and easily penetrated the thin armor of Japanese tanks, and by the end of hostilities the Japanese had lost almost all of their armored vehicles. It was the battles on Khalkhin Gol that demonstrated the obsolescence of both the Japanese technology itself and the tactics of its use, which prompted the start of mass production of more modern Chi-Ha tanks and the development of their version of the Shinhoto Chi-Ha, armed with an anti-tank gun, which soon replaced Type 89 in the role of the main tank of the Japanese army, and also to revise the entire tactics of the armed forces.
By the beginning of the fighting in the Pacific, the Type 89, although hopelessly outdated, was still in the ranks of the Japanese army. In the hostilities in Malaya, the sedentary and low-traffic Type 89 did not take part, but in 1942 the 34 Type 89 as part of the 7th tank regiment took part in the capture of the Philippines, where they suffered significant losses. The Type 89 armor was easily penetrated even with heavy machine guns, although in general, used in the Philippines to support the infantry, they proved to be quite good for such an outdated design. The surviving vehicles remained in the Philippines until 1944, when they had to defend them from the American offensive.
Machine appraisal
The Type 89 was largely outdated by European standards before its creation. Although the tank’s armament and mobility were not inferior to European standards by the standards of infantry tanks, its booking was completely inadequate for this task and could be easily penetrated by any anti-tank gun or anti-tank rifle.
Nevertheless, despite all its shortcomings, the Type 89, as the first Japanese serial tank, became an important stage in the development of Japanese tank building and remained the main force of the Japanese armored forces until the end of the 1930s.
Extant copies
In the museum exposition of the Center for Public Relations. Asaka military base, Nerima.
At least nine copies of the tank Type 89 survived to the present day.
- Type 89 B. On display at the Museum of the Military School of the Tsuchiura Garrison of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, Ibaraki. Restored to running condition. Armament – layout.
- Type 89 B. In the open museum display of the Public Relations Center of the Asaka military base, Nerima, Tokyo.
- Type 89 B. In the open museum exposition of Villa Escudero. San Pablo, Laguna. Late production series machine.
- Type 89 A. In the open exhibition of the Cavalry School. Padalarang, West Bandung, West Java. Early production series vehicle (with broken front armor plate). Exhibited with a fantastic model of the weapon.
- Type 89 B. At the repository of the United States Army Military History Center, Anniston, Alabama. Previously held in the collection of the Aberdeen Proving Ground. Late production series machine.
- Type 89 B. At an open exhibition of weapons in the World War II Memorial Park. Chieta, Bougainville. In a bad condition.
- Type 89 B. At the abandoned Japanese airfield Bonis in the north of Bougainville Island. In disrepair.
- Two tanks – one Type 89 A (early production series) and one Type 89 B… Ruri Bay, east of Bonisa, north of Bougainville Island. In the jungle, in bad shape.
