Type 1 Ho-Ki

The Type 1 Ho-Ki was a tracked armoured personnel carrier developed by the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II and built in small quantities by Hino Motors. It grew out of an army request for a heavy armoured artillery tractor that could also carry personnel, and several prototypes, the Type TC on a Type 92 tankette chassis, the Type TE and the Type TG, preceded it. It entered regular production in 1944, when raw materials were scarce and Japanese industry was under heavy bombing. It was made as a supply carrier, an artillery prime mover and a personnel carrier, with a crew of a driver and a commander and room for 13 or 14 men, front hull armour up to 6 mm thick, a six-cylinder in-line air-cooled diesel engine and a gearbox with eight forward and two reverse gears. It served in China, Burma and the Philippines, including on Luzon.