I’m sure I’m not the only one who spends countless hours researching their favorite nation’s vehicles, only to come across some vehicles you’ve never seen before. Even worse, there is either little information on it, no information at all, or the information is in another language in a book you’ve yet to read. Thus, I want to create a thread where we can all share mysterious Japanese vehicles that we’ve encountered in our research. Perhaps we can even solve a mystery!
I’ve read it before, and it’s good for debunking the other superheavies that were just misinterpretations of the O-I, but Mai has also been proven to have lied and made mistakes in the past, and so it’s not excellent.
Would be nice if there was a solid proof by a reputable author of what the picture actually showed (I don’t personally think it’s a tank, but unsure).
This image may be of interest to those who like obscure Japanese vehicles. In the distance you can see a Chi-So APC. In the middle foreground is what I think is the Type 5 Ke-Ho or Type 2 Ke-To, but I’m not sure. Some on Japanese Twitter think it’s the Chi-Ho, but I’m somewhat doubtful of that claim. Lower tank is some kind of construction vehicle
This tank destroyer is designed for destroying enemy tanks. It is equipped with Type 99.7cm.5 tank gun II. It is equipped with a directional sight and shoots in a specific direction. (The photo shows the vehicle called “Kuse-vehicle” or “Kuse-vehicle”) that is the translation i got from DEEPL https://www.reddit.com/r/Warthunder/comments/5w4b8g/unidentified_japanese_tank/
Hopefully, this helps identify that thing.
In image No. 2. Though I didn’t check these myself i simply did some reverse image searching so take things with a grain of salt.
It’s the Mitsubishi bid for the MT-X program. It’s said that it’s a mockup, but it is honestly more cleanly built than even the XT-2. It just seems like way too much effort went into it for a non functioning mockup.
Given the camera, and the filter chances are it isn’t. There are some camera’s back then with that type of filter like feel that just cannot be replicated digitally.
The tank appears to be similar in width and length as the Type 97 Chi-Ha next to it, though a little smaller in both dimensions. This fits the known dimensions of the Chi-Ho. The reason it looks even smaller in the image is purely perspective, with the Chi-Ha next to it looking just as small.
The way the tracks appear it seems to have two return rollers.
Spoiler
Excuse the poor editing, but it should be enough
I’ve spend way too long trying to figure out what this is and personally (though that is still only a theory) think it might be one of the two initial Chi-Ho chassis modified into an unknown engineering vehicle or possibly even a tank destroyer (though the first is more likely).
There are still quite a lot of differences between the two vehicles though, and I’m not sure which of these would’ve been part of the modification and which were actually differences between the initial vehicles.
It also features a noticeably larger rear “cutout” section, while missing the trench crossing sled. This could either suggest the idler wheels would’ve been extended rearwards as an alternative for achieving the desired trench crossing capability.
Another possibility would be that these would be the different engines, with one mounting the 120hp diesel engine also found on the Type 95 Ha-Go, and the other either a gasoline engine or a 150hp diesel engine, both of which having been considered for the tank.
Though the detail most interesting to me is the applied camouflage, which might imply it has seen combat in some form.
