Type 97 Chi-Ha

The Type 97 Chi-Ha was a medium tank of the Imperial Japanese Army, used in the Second Sino-Japanese War, at Khalkhin Gol and through the Second World War, and the most widely produced Japanese medium tank of the war. The Tokyo factory of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries completed the prototype, and a second prototype followed in June 1937, when the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War removed the budget limits and the Army accepted the design. It carried a short 57 millimetre infantry-support gun and a 170 horsepower Mitsubishi air-cooled diesel. A 1942 version with a three-man turret and a 47 millimetre gun was called the Shinhoto Chi-Ha. Mitsubishi and Hitachi both built it.