The was a

tank destroyer A tank destroyer, tank hunter, tank killer, or self-propelled anti-tank gun is a type of armoured fighting vehicle, armed with a direct fire artillery gun or missile launcher, designed specifically to engage and destroy enemy tanks, often w ...

and

self-propelled artillery Self-propelled artillery (also called locomotive artillery) is artillery equipped with its own propulsion system to move toward its firing position. Within the terminology are the self-propelled gun, self-propelled howitzer, self-propelled mo ...

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The Type 3 Ho-Ni III superseded the

Type 1 Ho-Ni I The was a tank destroyer and self-propelled artillery developed by the Imperial Japanese Army for use during World War II in the Pacific theater. It saw limited combat action, being first deployed at the Battle of Luzon in the Philippines in 19 ...

and its variant the Type 1 Ho-Ni II in production, and gave better protection to the crew by having a completely enclosed superstructure. It was also meant to replace the

Type 2 Ho-I The was a derivative of the Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tanks of the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. Similar in concept to the early variants of the German Panzer IV, it was designed as a self-propelled howitzer to provide the close-in fire sup ...

for fire support.

History and development

Previous gun tanks, Type 1 Ho-Ni I and

, were not really optimized designs. Type 1 Ho-Ni I and Type 1 Ho-Ni II both used an open

casemate A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" mean ...

with frontal and side armour only for the main gun, which made the crew vulnerable in close combat situations. The Type 2 Ho-I, despite its enclosed rotating turret, was armed with a low-velocity howitzer more suitable against gun emplacements and fortifications. The fully enclosed and armored casemate of the Type 3 Ho-Ni III with the more powerful

Type 3 75 mm tank gun The Type 3 75 mm tank gun was used as the main armament of the Imperial Japanese Army Type 3 Chi-Nu medium tank. It was one of the largest guns ever to be fitted on a World War II Japanese tank. Design and use The Type 3 had a caliber of , barr ...

was intended to address these issues, and an order of 57 was placed with

Hitachi Ltd () is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Nissan ''zaibatsu'' and later DKB Group and Fuyo ...

. Although production began in 1944, it was hampered by material shortages, and by the bombing of Japan in World War II.Taki's Imperial Japanese Army: Type 3 Gun Tank "Ho-Ni III"
/ref> Only 31 units were completed by the time the war ended.

Design

The Type 3 Ho-Ni III utilized the Type 97 chassis. The main armament of the Type 3 Ho-Ni III was a Type 3 75 mm tank gun, which was based on the 75 mm Type 90 Field Gun; the field gun itself was loosely based on the French

Schneider et Cie Schneider may refer to: Hospital * Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel People *Schneider (surname) Companies and organizations * G. Schneider & Sohn, a Bavarian brewery company * Schneider Rundfunkwerke AG, the former owner of the ...

Canon de 85 mle 1927. The Type 3 75 mm tank gun was also used in the

Type 3 Chi-Nu medium tank was a medium tank of the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. Like the Type 1 Chi-He, this tank was an improved version of the Type 97 Chi-Ha. It incorporated a Type 3 75 mm tank gun, one of the largest Japanese tank guns during the war. T ...

. The Type 3 Ho-Ni III 75 mm main gun was mounted in a fully enclosed fighting compartment with its flanks protruding beyond the hull sides, giving the appearance of a

gun turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechani ...

, although in reality it was incapable of rotation. The welded superstructure had sloped armour and the gun mount had additional stamped armor plate. The superstructure had very small observation slits and a small hatch on each side. The rear armour plate of the superstructure included a large double hatch that opened to each side. There was no provision for secondary armament, and no front hull machine-gun.

Service record

Although the Type 3 Ho-Ni III were assigned to various combat units, most were stationed within the

Japanese home islands The Japanese archipelago ( Japanese: , ''Nihon Rettō'') is an archipelago of 14,125 islands that form the country of Japan. It extends over from the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast to the East China and Philippine seas in the southwest alon ...

to defend against the projected

Allied Invasion An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

. As the surrender of Japan occurred before that planned invasion, there is no record of the Type 3 Ho-Ni III being used in actual combat.

Tanks of comparable role, performance and era

* Germany: StuG III, StuG IV,

Jagdpanzer IV The ''Jagdpanzer'' IV, Sd.Kfz. 162, was a German tank destroyer based on the Panzer IV chassis and built in three main variants. As one of the casemate-style turretless Jagdpanzer (tank destroyer, literally "hunting tank") designs, it was develop ...

* Italy:

Semovente da 75/34 The Semovente da 75/34 was an Italian self-propelled gun developed and used during World War II. It was a 75 mm L/34 gun mounted on a M15/42 tank chassis. It saw action during the defence of Rome in 1943 and later served with the Germans in ...

* Romania: Mareșal,

TACAM T-60 The TACAM T-60 (''Tun Anticar pe Afet Mobil T-60'' – "Anti-tank gun on T-60 mobile gun carriage") was a Romanian tank destroyer used during World War II. It was built by removing the turret of captured Soviet T-60 light tanks and building a pede ...

TACAM R-2 The TACAM R-2 (''Tun Anticar pe Afet Mobil R-2'' – "Anti-tank gun on R-2 mobile gun carriage") was a Romanian tank destroyer used during World War II. It was built by removing the turret of the R-2 light tank and building a pedestal to mount a ...

* Soviet Union:

SU-76 The SU-76 ('' Samokhodnaya Ustanovka 76'') was a Soviet light self-propelled gun used during and after World War II. The SU-76 was based on a lengthened version of the T-70 light tank chassis and armed with the 76 mm divisional gun M1942 (ZiS- ...

SU-85 The SU-85 ('' Samokhodnaya ustanovka'' 85) was a Soviet self-propelled gun used during World War II, based on the chassis of the T-34 medium tank. Earlier Soviet self-propelled guns were meant to serve as either assault guns, such as the SU-122, ...

* United States: M10 GMC

Notes

References

* * * *

External links

Taki's Imperial Japanese Army Page - Akira Takizawa

Blueprint of Type 3 Ho-Ni III

{{WWIIJapaneseAFVs 3 Ho-Ni III World War II tank destroyers World War II self-propelled artillery Mitsubishi Military vehicles introduced from 1940 to 1944