Jiro-Sha
The Jiro-Sha was a proposal to mount a Type 14 100mm cannon on the chassis of the Type 95 heavy tank turning it into a self propelled gun. Very little information has survived but it's believed that the design didn't get past the initial planning.
The Jiro-Sha is available in the Pre-War time frame.
Type 1 Ho-Ni II
The Type 1 Ho-Ni II was an upgrade of the earlier Ho-Ni I, replacing the Type 90 75mm field gun with a Type 91 105mm howitzer, other then the weapon both tanks were identical. Only 52 of the Ho-Ni II were built during 1943-44, the majority of them seeing combat in Burma and the Philippines, sadly none of them have survived to this day.
The Type 1 Ho-Ni II is available in the Early-War time frame.
Type 2 Ho-I
The upgrading of the Type 97 Chi-Ha to use a high velocity Type 1 47mm cannon greatly improved its anti-tank capabilities but at the cost of a much weaker high explosive round. The Type 2 Ho-I was designed to help fill this role by mounting an Type 99 75mm cannon inside a new turret onto the chassis of the Chi-He, turning it into a close support tank. Due to material shortages it wasn't possible to put the Ho-I into mass production and only 30 were converted from existing Chi-He tanks. Like most of Japan's more advance tank designs all the of Ho-I were kept on the Japanese homeland in preparation of the expected Allied invasion.
The Type 2 Ho-I is available in the Mid/Late-War time frame.
Type 4 Ho-Ro
Designed near the end of the war when Japan was doing everything it could to hold off the American advance towards the Japanese homelands. The Type 4 Ho-Ro used old obsolete Type 38 150mm howitzers mounted on the chassis of the equally obsolete Type 97 Chi-Ha. Roughly 25 were built and took part in fighting in the Philippines and Okinawa, none have survived to this day.
The Type 4 Ho-Ro is available in the Mid/Late-War time frame.
Type 4 Ha-To
The largest self-propelled gun built by Japan during the war, the Type 4 Ha-To used a huge Type 3 300mm heavy mortar mounted on the chassis of the Type 4 Chi-So armoured tractor. The prototype was finished late in 1944 and testing showed it was an effective weapon system but it was very expensive and complex to produce and with the limited resources available at the time only three more were built before the end of the war and none of them were used in combat.
The Type 4 Ha-To is available in the Post-War time frame.
Tomorrow I'll be posting the last of the Japanese ground units, yep there is still is more!
