The was a

light tank A light tank is a Tank classification, tank variant initially designed for rapid movements in and out of combat, to outmaneuver heavier tanks. It is smaller with thinner vehicle armour, armor and a less powerful tank gun, main gun, tailored for ...

of the

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was a conversion of existing

Type 95 Ha-Go The was a light tank used by the Empire of Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War, at the Battles of Khalkhin Gol against the Soviet Union, and in the Second World War. It proved sufficient against infantry but was not effective against othe ...

light tanks, re-fitted with the larger turret of the

Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tank The was a medium tank used by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Battles of Khalkhin Gol against the Soviet Union, and the Second World War. It was the most widely produced Japanese medium tank of World War II. T ...

History and development

The Type 4 Ke-Nu was a variant of the

light tank. The original

Type 97 Chi-Ha The was a medium tank used by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Battles of Khalkhin Gol against the Soviet Union, and the Second World War. It was the most widely produced Japanese medium tank of World War II. ...

medium tank was armed with a low

muzzle velocity Muzzle velocity is the speed of a projectile (bullet, pellet, slug, ball/ shots or shell) with respect to the muzzle at the moment it leaves the end of a gun's barrel (i.e. the muzzle). Firearm muzzle velocities range from approximately t ...

57 mm tank gun. Operational experience against the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

Nomonhan Nomonhan Burd Obo is an ''obo'',The Tokyo War Crimes Trial, Volume 1Nomonhan-Burd+Obo :File:NDL10269238 Court Record of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East 1948-01-30 (pp. 38,549-38,617).pdf :''Quote:'' "Nomonhan is an obo. It is ...

during the Soviet–Japanese border conflicts in 1939 revealed that this gun was inadequate against opposing armor, and a new higher velocity 47 mm tank gun was developed. This was installed in the Type 97 Chi-Ha with a larger turret to produce the Type 97-''kai'' ''Shinhoto'' version.History of War: Type 4 Ke-Nu Light Tank
/ref> This left a number of surplus Type 97 Chi-Ha turrets, which were later retrofitted onto the hulls of the obsolete Type 95 Ha-Go light tank. The result was designated the Type 4 Ke-Nu. The retrofitting did decrease the problem of cramped turret place for the crew, which had been encountered in an earlier attempt to up-gun Type 95 light tanks with a 57 mm tank gun in a prototype known as the Type 3 Ke-Ri light tank. According to one estimate, approximately 100 tanks were converted late in

. An exact number of the tanks converted is not known.

Design

Essentially a Type 95 light tank with a Type 97 medium tank

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 mechanis ...

, the Type 4 Ke-Nu had slightly better firepower, but the retrofitting increased the weight of the tank to 8.4 tons. This reduced the top speed of the tank to 40 km/h. Given the replacement turret had thicker armor, it did provide the crew with some additional protection in that area, but did nothing to alleviate the Type 95's greatest weakness of the lack of suitable armor protection for the hull. Maximum armor protection for the tank (25 mm) was provided by the Type 97 turret, but it was defeated by the 37 mm, 75 mm and 2-pounders mounted on Allied tanks.

Combat record

The conversion coming in 1944 was too late to make any impact on Japanese combat operations, and most of the Type 4 Ke-Nu tanks were retained in the

Japanese home islands The 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 along the Pacific coast of the Eurasian continent, and cons ...

in anticipation of the projected American invasion. Some were assigned to units in

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

and

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially known as the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of Great Manchuria thereafter, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China that existed from 1932 until its dissolution in 1945. It was ostens ...

, and saw brief combat against Soviet

forces in the

Soviet invasion of Manchuria The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, formally known as the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation or simply the Manchurian Operation () and sometimes Operation August Storm, began on 9 August 1945 with the Soviet Union, Soviet invasion of the Emp ...

. Surviving Type 4 Ke-Nu tanks are on display at the

Museum of the Great Patriotic War, Moscow The Museum of the Great Patriotic War, also known as the Victory Museum (), is a history museum located in Moscow at Poklonnaya Hill, Poklonnaya Gora. The building was designed by architect Anatoly Polyansky. Work on the museum began on March 3, ...

and the

Kubinka Tank Museum The Kubinka Tank Museum (Центральный музей бронетанкового вооружения и техники - Tsentral'nyy Muzey Bronetankovogo Vooruzheniya I Tekhniki -Central Museum of Armored Arms and Technology) is a larg ...

, which is part of the

Patriot A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism. Patriot(s) or The Patriot(s) may also refer to: Political and military groups United States * Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American R ...

military theme park in Kubinka, Russia.

Notes

References

* * *

External links

History of War: Type 4 Ke-Nu Light Tank
{{WWIIJapaneseAFVs Type 4 Ke-Nu 4 Ke-Nu World War II light tanks Mitsubishi Military vehicles introduced from 1940 to 1944