Inside The Chieftain's Hatch: Ho Ni

Unearth the incredible story of the Japanese Type 1 Ho-Ni tank destroyer with our Chieftain 🤯 Join him as he explores its ingenious tactics and uncovers its unique design. Get ready for a Japanese ride through history, commanders! 👌
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[@killergames391]

Metallurgist here! The cracking of the steel during impact such as from a 37mm can come from high carbon content / improper heat treat OR impurities within the steel itself such as phosphorus or sulfur. You do not want sulfur in your steel as it fall apart at the grains. However more can be learned as the steel crack over time. For steel to crack over time it needs to be under extreme stress or under cyclical loading. Cyclical loading will produce fatigue failures which are the most common type of cracking seen. The armor plates are not under cyclical loading, and the bolts would normally never produce enough force to crack the steel. Thus the stress has to be coming from the steel itself. When steel is cooled off quickly or quenched it produces a microstructure known as martensite. Martensite gives steel much of the strength it needs in knives, tools, and armor. Martensite needs to be tempered though, as martensite itself is carbon trapped within the iron crystal grains and creating dislocations (stress) within the steel. While it makes strong, without tempering to allow the carbon to a line itself, the steel is brittle. Untempered Martensite (with most alloys of steel) will cause micro cracking and eventually will cause major cracks. Now look at the superstructure, all of the cracks run to a bolt hole, while the bolt didn’t cause enough stress to crack the plates it did create a focal point. The armor cracked over long periods of time, indicating sub quality tempering. And from all of this, it can be deduced that Japan nearing the end of the war was at least rushing, if not skipping the tempering cycle for their steel to get it to the military as fast as possible as the only armor plates to suffer this were the add on armor instead of the Chi-Ha hull that was converted.

[@synalra2388]

This was an interesting read, thanks! Learning ftw!

[@billhanson4921]

they used the old Vickers process in hardening it generally gave a more brittle face to the steel, it was outdated and replaced by the west.

[@teamidris]

Legit logic :o) That is some seriously unnatural cracking :o My thought was they were going for resistance against small arms fire only. Say 50 cal and maybe 20mm max. But that is a total mega guess. Crap process is more likely.

[@wadejustanamerican1201]

Very cool, thanks for the information it was much appreciated.

[@TheChieftainsHatch]

I have been educated.

[@kirkstinson7316]

That entire TD needs to be submerged in PB blaster for about a year

[@ptonpc]

It would vanish.

[@ScrogginHausen]

50/50 mix of acetone and ATF.

[@tankolad]

Because the engine takes air from the crew compartment rather than directly from the outside, the little hatch above the driver's bulge was probably for ventilation. When open, the intake would create a draft that travelled the entire length of the crew compartment.

[@luzernerschutze7564]

But wouldn't it make more sense to put a ventilation slit on the sides or on the back of the tank?

[@SonsOfLorgar]

​@@luzernerschutze7564 not in tropical climates, the design is a primitive form of climate control, especially as the top of the tank will always be less exposed to enemy fire.

[@MrKokozzz]

World of Tanks - RaZi

[@michaelguerin56]

Such an arrangement might not pull road dust straight into the driver’s face, as in the Churchill.

[@princeofcupspoc9073]

Thanks! Finally someone who knows about tanks. 🙂

[@Flurb_Xray]

Hi, just little side note: The Polish 7TP used Diesel as well.

[@robertcolbourne386]

2 videos In the last 3 days ! Love it . Making up for lost time 😂

[@Ody9]

I see chieftan, i click

[@CTXSLPR]

Seconded

[@davidchurch5932]

Thirded... So say we all.

[@MrKokozzz]

World of Tanks - RaZi

[@thuering6229]

@@MrKokozzz ???

[@martintusnovits7492]

The perfect arty player 😂

[@iatsd]

16:50 That's a late production Shinoto hull. The Ho Ro (in your other video) is built on an early production hull - which makes me wonder if all the Ho Ro were built on hulls sent back to Japan for remanufacturing.

[@billhanson4921]

the Japanese used the Vickers method for hardening steel which was abandoned in favour of the Krupp process, the Vickers process generally produced more brittle armour, and the Krupp gave a more flexible type of armour... thats what i think has happened to the armour.

[@larryjohnson1966]

What can I say. Marines are great at killing things, not preserving anything. Gotta love them though. Thanks for the tour Chief.

[@blakewinter1657]

Very interesting! Japanese vehicles are a very under-covered subject. Also, I love that the background music is finally toned down, makes it much easier to listen to!

[@bumblebeebob]

Don't fret the little rants Nick. They're actually little gold nuggets of information. 👍

[@captianmorgan7627]

Thank goodness there isn't music playing loudly over the entire video.

[@paulkirby2761]

It cuts a sad sight parked next to that immaculate looking German Nashorn(It looks like a Nashorn) and would definitely be the sort of exhibit I'd quickly walk by without stopping when at a tank museum but The Chieftain made it very interesting. It's why it's really worth waiting for a proper guide whenever at these museums. Everything tends to have an interesting tale to go with it, be it a combat story or the journey it took to somehow survive and end up where it is and the various design features which reflect either clever engineering approaches or the limitations of available resources or how it took influences or even guns from other tanks etc. If I went through a tank museum without a guide, I 100% know that I'd breeze passed most of the tanks that simply weren't either ginormous or historically iconic and that's a bit of a shame really since those other tanks are probably far more rare and interesting. Also, kudos to whatever commander or order was placed to send some of these examples back from the war. I'm sure to most US or allied commanders which were preoccupied with more pressing matters, the likes of a small and obsolete sort of tank like this when compared to the latest and greatest US tank and SPG examples at the time was more tempting to simply just bulldoze off out of the way and leave it to rot while advancing onto the next conflict area.

[@jangustl_wt2358]

Its a Hummel spg.

[@garywayne6083]

@@jangustl_wt2358 yup - the only of three surviving Nashorns in the US is at Ft Benning

[@feedingravens]

I once had the idea to become that in the Deutsches Museum here in Munich, a huge technical museum. Because I noticed exactly that, people act as if they would be paid per km, simply walk past everything. Just being there when the just look for a second and ask them "Have you seen this?" and show them some random detail one can talk about. And maybe start them to begin to look, start seeing things, start thinking about what and why. It is fun.

[@julianshepherd2038]

It's covered in history

[@WarpedHorizon]

22:38 Correct that is mechanical fuel injection for the engine. What you see there is the pump, inside is a cam driven by and synced to the crankshaft, that sends high pressure fuel at just the right moment to the cylinders. Each one of those fuel lines loops around so they are all the same length, so they can be timed correctly. In the cylinders will be the actual injectors that atomize the fuel for the best burn. It's a really neat tech that is still used today, the Cummins P-pump is a common application with a number of videos explaining how they work.

[@old_guard2431]

Beat me to it. The more common system has the pump built into the injector. Other than requiring high pressure tubing to connect the pumps to the individual injectors, no real down side to this kind of system.

[@genebohannon8820]

This farm raised boy knew on the Ho Ro video they were the pumps. I thought funny there are two?

[@boydgrandy5769]

When I was stationed on Guam in 1980, (Refit Site 3, USS Hunley AS-31), my wife and I took a short trek into the hills above Apra Harbor where we found the remains of a tank fight by the US Army and the Japanese garrison of the island in 1944. There were three M-4 Shermans still there, still in paint with ~2" holes in the turrets or hull, and several piles of rust with track and sprockets poking out. All the guns had been removed, so I had no idea what the Japanese AFVs were, but they were obviously then skinned and of poor quality steel. As a matter of interest, Japanese Army vets would fly out to Guam, head out into the boonies to where their old fighting positions were and collect remains (bones, including skulls) of their dead buddies, leaving them at little shrine posts near the shore. This was also still ongoing in the 80s. Once a year, Shinto priests would come out, and collect the bones, take them back to Japan and perform a Shinto funeral, complete with funeral pyre on the remains. That went on for 30 years after the war.

[@RaptorJesus]

Japanese AFVs get a bad rap, but honestly they were pretty excellent...when fighting the conflicts they were designed to fight. In China, Japanese armor was incredibly useful. They could go basically anywhere, armored *enough* for what they'd face, and providing pretty great fire support for the infantry. And frankly, I'd argue that they were still surprisingly good when fighting the US, given they weren't designed for it *at all.* Japanese tanks punched way, way above their weight. But a featherweight doesn't stand much chance against a heavyweight, no matter how good they might be in their own class.

[@189Bearshed]

John Masters autobiographical “The Road to Mandalay” describes the artillery shell with hammer method clearly.

[@jayfelsberg1931]

There is a story from one of Max Hastings' books told by the British that, during the Burma campaign, they came across some odd holes in the road they were traveling. Careful inspection showed each hole occupied by an artillery shell and Japanese soldier with said hammer. A British officer went to each hole and shot the Japanese with his .38 Enfield revolver.

[@biggseye]

My Father fought in the Island hopping campaigns in WWII, US Army, an NCO, started in antiaircraft, a "Dancer" as they were called, the loader on first the 3 inch then the 90mm AA guns. Later involved in infantry combat and ending up in the Group that went in the caves of the various Japanese held Islands to root out the dug in enemy. We talked a lot in his later years about various things. I believe that the damage done to this Ho Ni could be from a .50 BMG round. He told a number of stories about the Jap tanks, light and medium. They were so poor quality that they knocked out many with jeep mounted M2's. Some were disabled using armor tipped 30-06 rounds from a BAR. Also the trick with burying cannon rounds and bombs was a real hazard for the allies. Their favor trick was to wait until a road had been swept of mines and then sneak in at night an bury munitions. in one case he relayed was of a jeep carrying 4 men running over a buried, what he believed was an aerial bomb. They found what was left of the jeep and its contents up and over a 40 foot cliff. Take this information for what it is worth.

[@dcross6360]

If you are still at ft Sill, see if the curator can give you a tour of the airship hangers. Lots of secrets in there

[@i_nameless_i-jgsdf]

Glad you later found out that the frontal armor of the superstructure is overlapped armor, the plate you measured is actually applique armor plate of 25 mm ontop of the actual armor plate of 25 mm so it is 50mm in total, but the side of the superstructure has no add on armor so they are only 25mm.

[@martinricardo4503]

I lived many years at Ft.Sill as an Army brat and AD myself. We lived on Knox Rd during the late 60s and the cannon walk was our back yard. At that time you could crawl all over and inside the vehicles/guns. There was a Stuart tank, a buzz bomb and Atomic Annie among many others. The MPs would come and chase you off if you shimmied out to the end of Atomic Annie's barrel but we never got in trouble for it. A different time back then.

[@MrKokozzz]

World of Tanks - RaZi

[@doughudgens9275]

I fondly remember the Artillery Park at Fort Sill in the 80’s. To actually see up close the things I only saw in books is great. The German 8.8cm flack gun was on a big mount, and “Atomic Annie” just to mention a few. I’m glad they have been moved inside for protection. I’m looking forward to more videos from the collection!

[@MrKokozzz]

World of Tanks - RaZi

[@ivankrylov6270]

Watch ho-ro episode - happy See ho-ni episode 5 minutes later - HAPPY

[@smokerjim]

Vision slits - an exercise in optimism if ever there was one

[@paoloviti6156]

Very interesting video, i was quite surprised that you mention that the Japanese radios are of good quality because I compared, as an Italian, to the Italian radios that are awful and rarely worked, a big problem that afflicted both the armoured forces and airplanes. Good job as always 👍 👏

[@AppalachianMotors]

That was an injection pump. Diesels have injectors in the engine, but the injection pump provides fuel pressure to fire the fuel injectors. The pumps are usually located on the side of the engine and driven off the crank or timing set, but they decided to place that one there. There are multiple reasons I can think of it makes it easier to bleed the air out of the system diesels will have a hard time starting with air bubbles in the fuel system, they ran out of space, or that was how the original vehicle was configured and when they cut the top open they weren't going to bother to change it.

[@Rom3_29]

HoNi, in Oklahoma, HoRo far away from home. Ran when parked condition.

[@michaelharle722]

We tend to forget how good these little Japanese tanks were. For the early to mid '30's. They'd be competitive with the Matilda I and early Stuarts. Totally inadequate to take on Matilda II and the Shermans. But that kind of machine was just not envisioned when they were designed. Like most Japanese equipment, not replaced in a timely manner.

[@timengineman2nd714]

That was the pump for fuel injection nozzles. (Which are basically spray heads (almost always) in the cylinder heads.)

[@TheHangarHobbit]

The reason Japanese steel shatters is because the ore they had to work with had a lot of impurities. and this affected everything from aircraft struts to battleship armor.

[@billhanson4921]

they used an obsolete hardening process as well.

[@joeperson4792]

Lots of photos of Marder III's with shattered top armor after getting hit, so same thing. At least Japan double it.

[@billhanson4921]

depends on how thick it is and what it was hit with, a lot of top hits were big artillery rounds or results of scuttling charges.

[@buckwaddell301]

The son went to Sill for basic last year, 114 degree graduation day !! Great museum there also !! Would have liked to have seen those tanks as they are not on display…

[@ROBERTN-ut2il]

The Japanese 47mm was a Sherman Killer. "The Type 1 47 mm AT gun was introduced to combat service in 1941, with the intent of it replacing the Type 94 37 mm (1.5 in) anti-tank gun. It was very effective for its role, with American personnel calling it "an excellent weapon, with mechanized carriage and a high muzzle-velocity" that "proved most effective in combat," though it was not always available in sufficient numbers. It had a high rate of fire and with AP shells was capable of perforating the front armor of the M4A6 (a slightly more heavily armored variant of the M4 medium tank[citation needed]) at 800 yards (730 m), though standard doctrine was to wait until tanks got closer if possible to ensure good shot placement.[7][8] The weaker APHE shell, while incapable of penetrating the M4 Medium's 93 mm (3.7 in) of effective front armor, could still penetrate the tank's side (38-45 mm (1.5-1.8 in))[9] of vertical armor), the most likely part of the tank to get hit, at a distance of more than a kilometre.[10] Armor penetration of Type 1 APHE shell[6] Range Penetration at 0° Penetration at 30° 250 yards (230 m) 3 inches (76 mm) 2.25 inches (57 mm) 500 yards (460 m) 2.75 inches (70 mm) 2 inches (51 mm) 750 yards (690 m) 2.45 inches (62 mm) 1.7 inches (43 mm) 1,000 yards (910 m) 2 inches (51 mm) 1.4 inches (36 mm) 1,500 yards (1,400 m) 1.6 inches (41 mm) 1.2 inches (30 mm)

[@Mike_EOD]

Its strange to think their WW2 tanks are widely mocked, however Japan is now celebrated world over for their cars/bikes etc. Its cool how much a country can change in half a century.

[@saladiniv7968]

you probably meant century, not decade

[@tomhenry897]

Thanks to American help

[@Wernerrrrr]

You make Japan look like some backward nation around the time of WW2. It was not. Their planes and ships were up to modern standards at the start of the war and in some cases (e.g. the "Zero") better than allied counterparts. As stated in this video armour wasn't a priority for Japan and it certainly shows. Don't forget they already managed to beat Russia in 1905.

[@mbr5742]

Post WW2 the JSDF needed vehicles capable of dealing with the Kaiju threat...

[@ARCNA442]

@@Wernerrrrr Japan very much was a backward nation at the time of WWII, and their planes and ships were about a generation behind the US/UK/Germany. For instance, the famed Zero entered service with less than 1000 hp in 1940 when the F4F was making 1200 hp. The most powerful Zero variant didn't even crack 1400 hp, while the F6F and F4U had over 2000 hp years earlier. That lack of power was why the Zero was built so lightly - it was the only way they could hope to build a halfway competitive fighter. The reason it did so well early in the war wasn't because it was a good plane, but because the Japanese pilots had years of combat experience in China, once that went away, the Zero was slaughtered. It should also be remembered that Japanese fleet that beat the Russians at Tsushima was mostly built in Europe. Of Togo's 33 battleships and cruisers, 23 of them (including all of his battleships and armored cruisers) were built in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and the United States. Japan didn't commission its first home-built battleship until Satsuma in 1910.

[@mattarmstrong9205]

It’s an injection pump. It’s how diesels at the time controlled the fuel delivery. It’s like a cars distributor but for fuel rather than spark

[@uio890138]

Japan never had much nickel to add to their steel, those stress cracks are an indication of low nickel content of the steel. Late war German armor did the same thing, because they were running out of nickel.

[@MGB-learning]

Always an outstanding video and presentation.

[@jonathanzobel1662]

I've been thinking of visiting Fort Sill this year. Now I really want to go!

[@axewolfjack]

Ft. Sill!! Did my Basic/AIT there back in 04-05.

[@mimisansan3333]

IIRC Japanese Tanks during WW2 generally used face hardened armor rather than rolled homogenous, which would explain the brittleness

[@benmoore8537]

Great video as usual. That item your referring to is a classic Japanese injector pump. Similar to what you would see on a diesel Toyota Landcruiser.

[@OldCrowle]

Chieftainism of the day: „Vision slits should be called blindness slits“

[@teamidris]

Happens a lot. Farming should be called gating. All you do is open gates to check animals. Everything is gates :D

[@cyonemitsu]

Great video! Many Japanese armor tests and projectile evaluations describe penetration performance against two different types of plates, a rolled homogenous plate and a face-hardened plate. It is likely that much of the Japanese armor found on tanks was of a face-hardened and consequently more brittle variety, not to mention limits in terms of resources for the processing of metals, as well as a bottleneck in the availability of machine tools could have contributed to performative inconsistencies, especially as the war dragged on, but at that point, I'm mostly speculating.

[@SampoPaalanen]

At least in older times Japanese native iron ore was of varying quality as well (it's the reason for the folding in their sword blades it's way to get more out of the ore you got without wasting it) so that might have also been a contributing factor since during wartime there would not have been time to purify the low quality ore as well as they could and thus you'd end up with armor plates of inconsistent quality or worse plates with clear weak spots.

[@cyonemitsu]

@@SampoPaalanen Around the start of the war, the vast majority of their iron and steel supplies were from imports, mostly via US scrap metal imports. The primary barriers for refining these materials would've been the availability of manganese, molybdenum, and vanadium, manganese in particular largely came from 3 countries, one of the largest being the US, and even in 1919 when Carnegie Steel gave the Japanese the rights to STS, it was assessed that to make STS, the cost would be around 20x what it would be to make in the US. The local iron ore deposits had functionally zero bearing on the metallurgical situation within post-industrial and especially wartime Japan.

[@janflorovic5880]

The 47mm was still more than enough against M3 Lee It lacked against M4 Sherman tho but that tank didn’t arrive in the pacific until Tarawa in late November 1943

[@davidjernigan7576]

Seems like the armor plate has either too high a carbon content, or the hardening/heat treating process was incorrect.

[@iatsd]

@@razor1uk610 What utter shite. US armour was soft (both tank and naval) and was known for being inferior to British tank and naval armour. The British actually bought armour plate from Czechoslovakia in the 1920's and 1930's for use on British naval ships when they were suffering some shortages because it was known to be of very high quality. German armour was variable depending on when it was made simply because they had constant problems with the supply of alloying metals. Japanese naval armour was soft on the cruisers and exceptionally good on the BB. Watch Drach's video where he compares the actual test and battle performance of US and Japanese naval armour. Japanese tank armour was brittle simply because the Army didn't have the experience and didn't know what to order; late war (43-44 produced) Japanese tank armour has been shown to be better than early or very late war armour because they learnt their lessons in 38-41 and were able, until supplies went to crap in mid-44, to correct it.

[@kimjanek646]

Didn’t they use face hardened armor for their tanks? 🤔😵‍💫

[@iatsd]

@@kimjanek646 A lot of the tankettes produced in the 30's were case hardened steel as they were only expected to deal with small arms rounds. By the time the Type 97 medium was in production they had switched to a properly produced RHA steel, but they were still specifying the wrong steel type and it was too brittle - better quality, but still the wrong type for taking rounds over 20mm. Late war ('43 onwards) specs fixed that after encounters with British and US armour in '41 and '42, but by that stage they were having trouble producing it to spec so they were no better off in the end.

[@redhunter68]

​@@iatsd what exactly are you talking about lol. Early war? Mid? Late? Shame that US steel was so bad that the British had to resort to using American tanks, aircraft, and an assortment of naval vessels because they couldn't keep up. Something that has only gotten worse to this day.

[@kalaharimine]

Ho-ni, I''m home.

[@jimkomola787]

For what it's worth, the armor superstructure on the Ho-Ro is riddled with hairline stress cracks as well, just not as obvious as on this example.

[@fredorman2429]

The chieftain mentioned the possibility of modeler nitpicking. As a plastic modeler and a re-enactor for both the Roman army and the revolutionary war I can attest that his detailing of the vagaries of Japanese armor suspension may forestall any mean spirited “Ahah” one-upsmanship.

[@skriv0in0navn]

At 17:08 its not stowage boxes to my knowlage, it should be armour plating for the engine ventilation as this is a air cooled engine, and under the hatches above them should be acess to the cooling fans and the top of the engine. if you compare it to the Ho-Ro, you will see where the vents originally was placed. which then later on moved out and downwards (with the chi-ha kai modification as far as i can see) so they blow the air out under the mudgard of the tank (i pressume to prevent bullets or molotovs). the engine should be cooled by 4 centrifugal fans, with 2 placed on each side. that is just what i have seen from schematics of the powerplant from an japanese pdf which appears to be looking into the compression release on various japanese engines from this era from what i can tell.

[@old_guard2431]

This might explain why the fuel injection pump is hung out the front of the engine. That gets it out of the way of the air flow.

[@Frostfly]

I wonder if they were using a fully hardened steel plate, vs face hardened. Also always a question of what they alloyed with and how good their processes were.

[@SlavicCelery]

Can we get this man a combination metric and freedom unit measuring tape? I used them all the time for my job.

[@TheChieftainsHatch]

You won't believe how bloody hard they are to find around here.

[@SlavicCelery]

@@TheChieftainsHatch Ace Hardware! At least that's where I've had good luck in the past. Granted my current primary tape is 1" wide and a bit heavier than I like to carry around on a regular basis with my whole kit.

[@AdamMGTF]

Doesn't the USA armed forces use metric? Imperial is the most annoying left over from the days of empire. I wish we would get rid of what's left of it here in the UK. 😅

[@xirensixseo]

from a materials standpoint, lets assume its creep or fatigue that caused those fractures. assume creep, the armor is under an extremely large load relative to what it should be, maybe internal load, maybe external, so much so that it fractured. i doubt it. assume fatigue, thats alot of cycles under the sun and rain. still not likely, i suppose its a weakness in the material itself if caused by fatigue. ideally, i'd be able to examine the cracks with a magnifying glass, calipers, and torch light, to even get an idea of the true cause of those fractures, but thats not very likely so, beats me

[@shawncarroll5255]

Even though it's diesel fuel, I see another problem with location of the fuel injectors on this and the Ho-Ro. There is going to be two areas now that are vulnerable to producing major fuel leaks, both the engine compartment and the back of the gun mounting. So for example being strafed from above, you have two places for the tank to brew up. It may be harder compared to gasoline to catch on fire, but when people are deliberately trying to do that, well you can still get it hot enough to catch on fire. It just has to be a little hotter.

[@teamidris]

Not really because the engine now only has the injectors. They leak a lot less than the pump. (Usually) If the pump gets hit it is now really easy to change.

[@mfree80286]

@@teamidris Yes, *but*... if you nick or crack one of those injector lines in a firefight while the engine is running the crew is going to have a very bad time once the cloud of diesel vapor ignites.

[@teamidris]

@@mfree80286 Oh hell yes, that would be quite a flame. I forget though, back in the day the injector pipes used to fatigue crack. Sometimes the lit up the engine bay on any vehicle. Here you could see a leak and fix it easily.

[@mabloodhound]

I'm familiar with your comment from Model Railroader and this is still sued to this day in the RR hobby as new examples are still coming out.

[@TheKencoffee]

I theorize the small hatch above the driver is for rectal exhaust fume ventilation.

[@calvingreene90]

You can torch off rivets and replace the worn-out sprockets and rivets take less machines to make. Something Japan was short on. That looks like an injector pump but given all the pipes it could also be where injection timing was controlled but that sounds like begging for fouled nozzles.

[@teamidris]

Summer and winter timing settings though. Plus it is easy to work on with bad fuel.

[@McRocket]

Heaven is a 1/4, a cocotte and The Chieftain describing track-tensioning in the background. ☮

[@davidfromkyushu6870]

Concerning Japanese naming conventions, it was using the old Imperial calendar that begins with the first emperor and continues to today so a Type 90 came out in 1930 or 2590 but because only the last two digits are used in the name it appears to roll over in 1940 to 0. So the Type 0 fighter came out in 1940 and the Type 1 anti-tank gun came out in 1941. Still the same calendar though.

[@josephravu5039]

This is two videos now where we've had to wait until the fifteen minute mark for a description on track tensioning. Why has it taken so long?

[@oycat7265]

やっぱりカッコイイなぁ。

[@kevkfz5226]

unusual vehicle. Interesting

[@denisvermeirre1024]

Looking through vision slits, the vision is the slits.

[@teamidris]

Riveted sprockets. Probably decided it was easier to send the whole assembly out and re-condition the old one behind lines. The rivets do pull up really hard as they cool and are way better than a bad bolt. The assumption is you need a lot of kit for rivets, when all you need is a hot fire and big hammer.

[@enorataillieu3827]

I think that the little hatch was used in the event the driver neded to close the big heavy hatch in the front while under attack or when driving. It looks like it was not possible to close the big hatch in front of the driver , unless you go outside and close it. With the little hatch directly above it, the driver can put his hand trough it and push the big hatch down.

[@KartarNighthawk]

With 50mm armour on the shield, a gun that might do more than scratch the paint on a Sherman, and evidence that it might survive the odd 37mm shot, this is probably the best Japanese vehicle to see action in the antitank role. And isn't that a damning indictment?

[@JanoTuotanto]

The little hatch is for the white flag that pops up when the vehicle is out of action

[@Morcosfarkas]

On a *japanese* WW2 vehicle? That sounds unlikely... :)

[@chilternsroamer872]

"Girls und Panzer" reference?

[@Morcosfarkas]

@@chilternsroamer872 No clue, never seen it

[@Riceball01]

@@Morcosfarkas It's a fun show. The basic premise is that this gril's school is going to be shut down, and in order to prevent it they make a deal that if they can win the tanking championship the school stays open. And taking is what it sounds like, each team (of varying sizes) operates various WWII tanks from various nations and "fight" each other. using live shells that somehow simulate the ballistics of their live counterparts, can blow tracks off, yet a direct hit won't harm the lightest of tanks. and whenever a tank is knocked out, a small white flag automatically pops out of a hatch to indicate that the tank has been "killed".

[@CAP198462]

It’s carbon coated, so it’s very safe.

[@McRocket]

0:53 - 'But, Sir? You said 'artillery piece'. Not 'artillery shell'. So that is what I buried in the road. Not my fault it did not blow up, round eye tanks'. ☮

[@Ghostmaxi1337]

I shure hope you also do the 10,5 cm Selbstfahrlafette IVb which was visible in the back.

[@dougstubbs9637]

The armoured plates over the final drives establish the very argument against riveting plates….cracks at the holes needed for rivets. Japanese armour, De Havalland Comet….classic cases of holes becoming cracks. Tragic.

[@mikepette4422]

This was a fun one ! It was odd to see the closed captioning not really matching the Chieftains actual words. They were kinda close but a lot of alternatives written down. Frankly, I liked the Chieftains word choices better.

[@AbuctingTacos]

I had no idea this was in Fort Sill. I've tried my damnest to get into that museum but it isn't easy without clearance. I couldn't even get in with someone who was stationed there. They never stop firing artillery and I always wonder how much ammo they use in a month

[@marethyu7593]

Depends on the unit. One of the units here fire 70-80,000 rounds per year. Can’t speak for the others

[@mikeevans2055]

Ft. Sill, lived there many years as a youngster.

[@FRIEND_711]

Okay, first I do have to give the Chieftain credit where credit is due, this is a lovely video as always, he did a good job of it. However @23:40 is why I'm making this comment. We don't know how many Sherman tanks were knocked out by the Ho-Ni I's but we do know that the Ho-Ni I's knocked them out. In fact I looked into it myself and from the Japanese and American reports I read, the Ho-Ni's specifically that Ho-Ni right there that fought in Luzon went on a freaking rampage. Four Ho-Ni's on Luzon, working as both tank killers and armillary support. (fun fact, the ho-ni is technically designated as a 砲戦車：gun tank, there's still debate over what a gun tank really is but basically it's a hybrid vehicle between an SPG and a TD.) During this they knocked out a number of American vehicles, one of them was in fact an M4 which testaments and reports show that they knocked it out 500 meters away from the front. (unheard of when thinking of Japanese tanks.) When most armored vehicles were knocked out and most of the commanders dead, three remaining Ho-Ni Is were organized into the 戦車撃滅隊 or Tank Annihilation Unit from April 19th~May 28th 1945 until only one vehicle remained. That one vehicle also still going tank hunting until it too was knocked out on June 3rd 1945. Were these tanks the best: No Was there room for improvement: Yes. Were their performance bad: Hell fucking no. If anything these vehicles were probably the most effective vehicles against American armor, and guess what, the American military themselves agreed to that, as they wrote that down in their report about the Ho-Ni I.

[@innsmouthresident6802]

The museum needs to get its act together this is a rare vehicle at least stop the rust!

Interesting vehicle

[@timwerner7771]

So funny! ..."You will probably need more arms and feet than you actually have"..

[@SgtScoobie]

Miso ho-ni. Love you long tim. 😂

[@steeljawX]

This is just speculation, but I'm guessing that the reason why the Japanese riveted the sprocket wheel on was because A. They kind of knew these things weren't going to last and B. They knew with more certainty that it'd be more "productive" to use the sprocket wheels they've produced on more tanks than to create an excess for vehicles that might make it back to the shop, but probably wouldn't. Also sending things back to the shop would be a huge hamper into their work flow. Japan was pouring everything into their navy, then their air force, then their army while the armor gets the scraps left over. There just wasn't enough resources to go around and it was more important to them to keep the Kaga and Akagi fully stocked and the Yamato and Musashi in tip-top shape just in case. . . . . . By the time all 4 ships were sunk, they didn't have enough materials or time to redirect attention to armor development. So again, speculation that it's partially the strict limit on resources and very speculatively that they knew their vehicles couldn't stand against Allied armor and just relied more on desperation than reliability. If the vehicle got to position and fired, that was a success.

[@iroscoe]

On the artillery shell in a lobster pot fighting hole being employed as a human detonated anti tank mine the book Burma The Longest war describes how they were neutralized by some shooting the "detonators' in the head with a revolver ,presumably they had been told only to detonate when a tank approached.

[@wisewarnanazara317]

During my time in high school, I've seen the photographs of a dead Japanese in a hole in a road literally hugging an aerial bomb.

[@ditzydoo4378]

Japanese WWII anti-armour techniques seems to, shall we say. Not favor the unlucky Japanese participants survival over making the enemy go boom. 0~o shocking, simply shocking.

[@newlevelgraphicsdavidframe2870]

That lid is where the fuel goes

[@mark_wotney9972]

Wonder if the cracking could be caused by corrosion like you get from sodium exposure on stainless steel?

[@billhanson4921]

nah it was the Vickers process they were using it was outdated, it gave a very glass hard face on the metal, and didn't allow for much flexibility.

[@johnmcmickle5685]

I think the round that hit was probably smaller I think a37mm anti r than a 37 mm. Probably a round from an M2. I think a 37 mm would go through 25 mm of armor.

[@frostedbutts4340]

The front armor where it hit first has another 25mm welded plate on top for a total of 50mm. I wouldn't want to be in in when it happens but it has at least a chance of stopping a 37 at a bad angle.

[@josemariacagigamata4864]

Hi ! Is that part ot Fort Sill open to the public for visit ??

[@gummonster1]

I love these Japanese tank destroyers as they look so silly and uninspired. Definitely a mythical sight indeed to see that this thing actually took a hit and didn't spontaneously combust. I don't think it was hit by a 37mm because M4's were in abundance in Luzon in 1945, which is why this vehicle was needed by the Japanese to begin with, and a 37mm would have punched through the superstructure. More than likely it was hit by a stray .50 cal from a P-47 Thunderbolt from quite a long range in a strafing run. If the Japanese crew saw the plane coming, they would have abandoned the vehicle before it was ever hit because if they were perched on a mountain, they would have been an easy target.

[@LeewardStudios]

Vertical v. Horizontal springs, just flip them left to right on the vehicle. Makes for more efficient manufacturing and commonality of parts. Important with limited resources. Just a theory.

[@christianguzman8228]

Hm, we must have just missed each other because I was on the range when they were firing a few weeks ago.

[@jeremywells9019]

They really need to restore these.

[@danielstickney2400]

The Japanese probably dealt with the rivetted sprocket rings by swapping the entire sprocket wheels from side to side. You'd have to remove the sprockets to change the inner rings anyway, so just slap it on the other side and drive on. Those sprockets don't look particularly worn on either side so it may not have been a problem. Japanese radios may have been excellent but their aircraft radios were hobbled by poor ignition shielding and the then poorly understood phenomena of precipitation static. Neither of which is likely to be a problem on a diesel powered ground vehicle. Most of what we do know about precipitation static today came from US research during the war. Poor quality steel was a problem for Japan throughout the war because of shortages of chromium, molybdenum and other alloying metals They knew how to make good steel but lacked the inputs.

[@davidcox3076]

Good point. Their alloys were only ever going to be as good as the supplies they had.

[@bobbiemanueldelapena4997]

Hoooneeeeeyyyyy! -Rosa Mel Paquete, Far Cry 6 😂

[@anthonydevault8425]

When my brother was in the national guard we went to fort sill to see him and saw this thing. I actually was amazed that the thing was still around

[@AdamMGTF]

Looks like a case of good luck more than good management. It's a shame it's not been looked after

[@saynomoreification]

Feeling so ho-ni

[@paulbalogh4582]

The US was good at doing the Ho Ni Po Ki!

[@user-be1fc7ru2c]

Automobile is itself a moving room.

[@fresatx]

Me So Ho-Ni! 🇯🇵

[@scottn7cy]

The crack was from a Marine throwing a rock.

[@RyllenKriel]

In summary this is the Chieftan's favourite tank!

[@G-Mastah-Fash]

Oh Chieftain me so Ho Ni

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

Ventilation hatch?

[@newlevelgraphicsdavidframe2870]

They used diesel because after having a fire in the tank to protect the crew.