Tank Chats #50 Ha-Go | The Tank Museum 

Any tank is a terrifying beast when facing an enemy with zero anti-tank capability. The Australian forces discovered this at the Battle of Milne Bay when they were ordered to leave their Boys anti-tank rifles at their base before advancing to contact with the Japanese.

This tank. Smashed British defenses during the Malaya campaign of 1941/42. British high command did not believe that tanks could be used in the jungle

I remember seeing a picture of a US M4 Sherman crew that had found a Japanese tankette; they were able to park it on the back of their M4 on the engine grille, it was so small. I think they drove around and told everyone it was their lifeboat, lol.

Ah yes, the good ol "Stab the tank!" doctrine.

That rivet-comunication button is pretty cool!

I have a real soft stop for inter-war to early 1940 tank designs. Something about their wacky and experimental nature is just really fun and interesting to me. Either this, the m3 lee, or Char 1 bis are my absolute favourites

Don't bring a knife to a... never mind.

There can't be many tanks which could be defeated by a good old fashioned bayonet!

I'm visiting the museum with my dad tomorrow! Drove 180 miles to get here, in a hotel by the sea tonight, looking forward to it...

A tank full of asbestos? Oh dear. I guess the crew was getting screwed up sooner or later, whether they survived the combat or not.

And the award for Best Hidden Button goes to...

Cool something that isn't, German, French, British or American. Would like to see more weird tanks to be honest, Japanese and Italian tanks. Really interesting they put asbestos int he tank, makes sense really I guess no one at the time thaught asbestos would be so dangerous in the future.

I'm just imagining a 200 page report about this tank, and at the end it just says "So after extensive analysis; the most effective ways of removing this tank from the battlefield seem to be: literally anything heavier than the standard infantry rifle round, pretty much any quantity of explosives - oh, and knives...yeah a knife will do it...."

My former boss was a Marine Corps Raider. He loved to tell the story where he walked up to one ,during combat. The Japanese were buttoned up right inside. He and his squad only had light arms and some grenades so they could not take out the tank without a batch opening up. So Ray, my boss, threw a bunch of coral into the current track and jammed it up. He then walked back and started pressing the call button then kept circling the tank banging on it. The Japanese could not see him could not turn the current so they began to turn the tank on its tracks to get him. They couldn't , fed up the tank commander popped the hatch, with that a member of his squad jumped up and chucked in a couple gernades. Taking out the tank.

This tank got extremely famous after the Battle of Saipan. After that battle was over Tojo was asked to step down by the Emperor. So Tojo threw everything at the Americans in Saipan, Crack infantry from the Manchuko Army, along with 40 of these tanks which made the only co-ordinated Japanese tank attack of the war on the Marines the 1st night they were on Saipan.

Ha-Go type 98 37mm - 701m/s, 40mm @ 500m penetration. However before 1938 it used type 94 37mm (575m/s) Ha-Go was introduced the same year as Panzer I. Both have same armour but whereas panzer I main armament is 2x 7.92mm whereas Ha-Go has 37mm main tank gun armament

Let's say some more things. The original Japanese camo scheme for armoured vehicles is a three tone of (dark brown, grass green and basically piss yellow.) The light machine guns initially used by Japanese tanks and vehicles was the Type 91which had the interesting feature of not using actual magazines but instead it used Type 30/38/96 Nanbu-Arisaka Rifle charger clips: the operator lifted up that plate on top of the hopper and dumped in five, five rounds stripper clips (also, the caliber is the same as the rifles, 6.5x50mm Arisaka) The Type 91 was later replaced by the Type 97, which was specially made to be mounted in vehicles. It fired the new Ordenance round introduced with the Type 99 Service Rifle, the 7.7x58mm Arisaka, the LMG was pretty much a copy of the Czech ZB-26, with some improvements and the capability to mount optics, this one magazine-fed of course. Japanese weapons in general were property of the Emperor, so no modifications were allowed whatsoever. The designation for Japanese vehicles is a pretty interesting one: First of all, Japan used their own Imperial Calendar, which starts from when Japan was officially united in 660 B.C. Type 95 means "Model of the Imperial Year 2095"(1935 AD), Ha-Go (the Ha-Go designation uses old criteria) is a secondary designation which uses a poetic alphabet created 1097 years after Japan's unification. To make it short, "Ha" means Third, I'm not sure about "Go", but later designations are much "cleaner" Example with the Type 97 Chi-Ha Type 97 means that the tank entered service in the year 2097 (1937 AD), "Chi" is an abbreviation of the Japanese word for Medium, "Ha" means, again, Third in that alphabet. There are three classification for Japanese tanks, them being "Chi", "Ke","Ho", where "Ke" would be "Kei" (Light), and "Ho" means artillery (SPGs/TDs).

7.5 tons is a medium tank for Italy. I do really like the nations tanks you dont hear about a lot, Japan, Italian, Hungarian, Polish, ect.

Thanks for reviewing this tank. Living out here in China, I have become really fascinated with this side of the war, but it's hard to get good quality documentation of what the conflict was like. While this is a small part to a massive puzzle it did enlighten some parts of it.

Ich mag die Berichte aus dem Panzer Museeum in Bovington sehr,die sind immer Klasse!

This is a great review of the tank, thank you guys so much for putting these out. I'm a history nerd especially about war and vehicles and appreciate the effort that goes into them. If I ever make it to your part of the world I'll surely stop in.

I enjoyed this video and noticed when I visited Bovington the black electrical tape covering the Ha-Go's gun port. Now I know why it's the only tank in the museum like that.

These Japanese tanks are rare indeed! Here in California we have one on display at the California Army National Guard base in Camp San Luis Obispo. You can walk right up to it. Just sitting there all alone where two roads cross. I was amazed at how small it was, especially after seeing M4 Shermans up close before.

The way to "remove asbestos" is to ... - close all openings/seams in plastic (NOT extremely tight because they have to be able to let air in again [see below]) and - create a negative pressure inside by sucking out the air through a filter which then collects all the asbestos in the air.[1] You basically control where the air flows so any tiny fibre of asbestos in the air is directed towards that filter. Oh and the worst thing you can do to a piece of asbestos is to "wipe it to clean it" because you break off tiny pieces of the stuff that way. The asbestos inside is probably mounted in either matting or as a prebuilt piece of solid asbestos and for documentation purposes I would also suggest trying to wrap them in clear plastic and shrink-wrap them ... instead of simply disposing them. [1] The easiest way to do this is probably having a small workshop treated this way, because there are filter / evacuation units for cleaning up houses and they also need airlocks for the workers ... this way would make working with the tank easier, but that workshop would have to be prepared for the job, because you need to clean/decontaminate it afterwards. This would include removing any non-essential gear and probably creating an artificial wall/floor cover which can be disposed afterwards.

I visited Rabaul in 2014. There's one these Japanese tanks parked on the side of the road where it was knocked out during the war. Great video, thankyou for posting. 👋 🇦🇺

That little button on the back is pretty cool. Nice looking little tank.

8:46 baionet best AT weapon confirmed

Ha go is what I say to trick or treaters on halloween

Love me a mini-history lesson during my busy. Love this channel.

Thank you so much for doing a video on this tank! I was excited to see it in your collection and I'm glad you made this video about it. Very interesting! It would be amazing to see it restored and cleaned-up with the proper paint scheme.

What a small beast ! the Suspension is really good, like the Suspension later after the War used by the french 2CV "Duck" Car !

When the Japanese Ha-Go's emerged from the jungle in the Malayan Campaign of 1941, the British had no effective means to counter them. When these tanks landed on the Philippines in 1941, they were equal to the American M3 Stuart's. The first US Japanese tank battle was between the M3's and the Ha-Go's and it took place north of Damortis during the American retreat to the Bataan Peninsula in 1941. The Ha-Go's won.

Wow I am currently at the Australian War Memorial right next to one of these tanks on display and sure enough, yes there is that small button on the back of the tank that the infantry use to communicate. Learnt something new ha ha.

11:05 quite an offset on the gun mount. I suppose the small amount of left and right pivot helps with fine gunlaying without having to rotate the whole turret.

A cute little tank.

13 of these ‘tanks’ went into action against the Marines on Peleliu. It didn’t work out very well.

Thanks Michael

Excellent video as always. Thank you.

Greetings from Japan. Love your videos. You and your curators are very knowledgeable and thorough. I would like to point out one thing, the reason Japan did not attack USSR was that there was a neutrality treaty between the countries. Stalin breached it in 1945 though.

something something TOTSUGEKI

Wonderful delivery and knowledge imparted in this peice. Thanks for this, I am really enjoying the posts from Tank Museum.

The ha - go is my favorite japanese tank of ww2. Even when i know it wasn't the best of anything... I just love its lines...

That’s crazy the button looking like a metal rivet of the tank. The issue of communication between rank and infantry was an ingenious design, for the infantry able to talk to the tank commander without him being exposed when his head pops up bank and it’s gone!🤭

Would like to recommend to review chi nu tank,but yeah..its very far from your place since its on JGSDF Ordnance School, japan

Any chance you could do that tiny little Italian flamethrower tank you guys had last time I came? Or maybe your KV-1 tank?

You can easily see the influence of the French Renault tank in the Ha-Go

WWII Japanese tanks were so light because the Army was given low priority in steel production. The Navy and Air Force got more priority. The Type 97 Chi Ha is considered the best Japanese tank of WWII.

Cool little tank, a bit of a change up from the main players too. Shame Bovington doesn't have any other Japanese tanks like the Chi-Ha's.

It was good for its time and perfect for tropic island fighting

There were actually a few large tank attacks from type 95s in large groups. On Saipan there was a tank attack with 44 tanks and US shermans destroyed them. On Peleliu there was also a 17 tank counter attack, but Marine infantry, a dive bomber and four shermans destroyed them all in a matter of minutes.

Once again another great video. Keep the work up. Once again you taught me things I didn't know before watching this video. And I pride myself on knowing such matters.

telescopic sight on a machine gun used on a tank LOVE IT

Oh my god... glad I wasn't a pre-WWII Japanese tank driver! Riding around in one of those for a month would be like smoking a pack of cigs a day for 10 years!

Thanks.

"If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with Mesothelioma, you may be entitled to financial compensation."

the french actually built a passenger car with a comparable bell.crank suspension system, the Citroen 2CV! at the suspension worked very well. the effect it has, as you hit an obstacle(hump) on the road, the front wheels get pushed up, which pushes down the rear wheels. this keeps the vehicle more or less level, and provides the rear wheels with more travel right when they are about to hit this obstacle too. you can easily get the same effect with air or hydropneumatic suspension, i believe the last Range Rovers have that.

Possibly One of the most interesting tanks .. it's so unusual looking compared to most others of the era

Such an interesting little tank.

Interestingly I've read a report on this type of tank in the Australian archives, and on the example tested they found that a number of the bearings (which they also found to be of high quality) had German markings. Also of interest they rated the quality of the armour steel as being metallurgicaly very good, if only thick enough to stop .303 and non AP .50 ammunition

A pity that certain major nations have so few tanks in the collection. But I guess that's the nature of war - the losing side isn't going to have many tanks left...

It is so unbelievably refreshing to hear a non-biased breakdown of a japanese tank.

we REALLY need vids on japanese tanks. theyre very very VERY rarely mentioned in so many ww2 vids, even more rare to see 360 degree around view and inside view.

"They lined the inside of the tank with Asbestos to keep it cool" *WOW* ... If only they knew back then what we know now lmfao...

This tank was mainly designed for island and jungle warfares were people didn’t thought tanks could go there. Japan had a very limited access to iron and steel so they saved those for building warships.

Impressively objective presentation of this wonderfully flawed but historically malighned tank. Most people would simply be inclined to harp on about its gross inadequacies. But of course, it is the Tank Museum.

Really interesting. Thanks, again, the Tank Museum.

0:30 is like having mega blocks when everyone else has legos, everyone else has a tank so to copy you pull a field gun with a bull dozer

firing and loading two guns commanding the tank and rubbing against asbestos in an enclosed space.....great job.

Very interesting! Thank You for posting!

I’m glad that there was some photos of the interior. As you can easily see, tanks were not a priority in the Japanese military in World War Two.

I'd like to see the only surviving Type 3 Chi-Nu restored to running condition.

In a way you can say that the Renault FT-17 really had a lot of clones, copies and upgrades, the Ha-Go being one of them.

Many of these Ha-Go and the medium Chi-Ha tanks were used during by Communist forces during the Chinese Civil War and the Korean War

Excellent, highly informative video once again!

Corporal Jones defeated one of these armed just with his bayonet. “ THEY DON’T LIKE THE STEEL UP ‘EM !”

Just seen the story of US battleship California, after being raised from Pearl Harbour and put back in service, being used for shore bombardment and taking on a group of Japanese tanks with her main guns. Apparently one Japanese tank sustained a direct hit from a 15" naval shell - I will bet there was a warranty claim on that one!!

This little tank was actually one of the most successful tanks of WWII.

I hope that guy doesn't fall over on the Ha-Go, he'll crush it.

I wish the museum could acquire some more Japanese tanks. Though, I doubt there are many to go around.

I never thought I would ever describe a tank as being cute.

"Oh my God, the tank is lined with asbestos!"

In Pohnpei, Micronesia, there is a wreck parked next to the tourist information office in downtown Kolonia. It is of this type of tank. It appears to have been destroyed more by the local terrain and weather than by Allied fire. Still, there is enough of it left to show how well Japanese tank doctrine was adapted to the jungle warfare of the Pacific.

Interesting driver hatch/shield arrangement 11:22.

Full respect due to Mr Willey but I've noticed that sometimes he reminds me of Rick from Rick and Morty when it seems he's suppressing a burp whilst talking. Love it.

David Fletcher: "The Americans really liked machine guns...." David Willy: 'Look what I have!!!'

Excellent presentation! Instead of the usual ridicule thrown upon this tank on the internet, an actual explanation of its design, including the economic and strategic question of incentivizing japanese technological development, and function as light infantry support planned to fight against Chinese infantry, not soviet heavy armour or even Shermans (even though they probed at Nomonhan). People always ignore that the warring great powers of WWII were not all at the same level of technological and economic development and forget that the Japan of the 30s was not yet the ultra high development Japan of today. They built the tanks that their industry could build, to fight against another, least developed enemy, China. Comparing it to German and allied armour on a 1 x 1 base doesn't make sense in that regard.

Cool touch that asbestos liner.

" Look at that cute little panzer over there, cute and cuddly like a puppy :D. KILL IT! >:D"

I never understood the British & American preference for petrol engines, over diesel engines. Detroit's excellent 71 series, 2-stroke engine was already in production. It should have been put into much wider use.

Now tanks being defeated by spearmen in old Civ I and Civ II makes total sense. Those were the Type-95s!

In one of my books , the United States Marine Corps in World War II, they discuss another flaw with this tank. The rivets on the riveted armor tends to fly off inside the tank when the tank was hit by high explosive rounds from something like a 75 mm pack howitzer.

You gotta remember something.. The Japanese were island hopping, not land grabbing. They assessed that they would not need a heavy tank like a Tiger, or T34. It had to be mobile, fast and be small enough to navigate tropical forests.. NOT fight on vast land based battlefields like Kursk. That's what the Ha-Go was. Fast, agile, and lightly armored like the Zero-sen. And they were right. On Iwo Jima, Tarawa, Okinawa the American tanks bogged down in the sand and were picked off by Japanese artillery for a long while...

The largest offensive depolyment of Japanese armor in WW2 was operation Ichi-go in 1944 against China, where over 600 Japanese tanks conducted a Blitz style campaign. The largest defensive deployment was Opeartion August Storm against the red army, where over 1000 Japanese tanks were involved.

We need both davids to talk about it

Since Asbestos is dangerous ... Might I suggest... an Asbestos-substitute ... or something that looks like it... and can just be a "display substitute" without being a dangerous thing to have around. The original asbestos insulation can be bagged, sealed, and displayed in another capacity outside the tank

Great videos! Great voice! And accent!

best part of it was the clever button on the outside

Love Tanks!

Well this was a good start to my day.

Very effective in Malaya/Singapore because the British high command knew they didn't need to send any tanks to that theatre. So the handful of Type 95s were opposed by just some ancient, MG armed armoured cars.