The front cover of this book shows a Japanese Type 97 tank, the smaller version of this image in the book has the following caption:
Type 97 medium tanks - Modified attached to units in Manchuria for winter night training
Just what is modified? The picture isnt great really (Ive certainly seen worse though), but what was done to make the Type 97 more suitable for winter and night time use?
Many Type-97s in Manchuria had their turrets removed and had a steel prow fitted, to clear paths through the dense forests that can be found there.
Can’t find any reference to a mod that would allow it to be used as a winter night training vehicle, although there were a lot of specialist vehicles based on the Type-97 such as AA tanks, mine clearers, bulldozers, self propelled guns, engineering vehicles and bridge layers.
I’ve only checked one book up to now, I’ll have a look through a few of the other AFV books I have tomorrow and see if any of them mention anything.
Thanks for the reply. The Type 97 image that I mentioned dont seem to be much more than basic gun tanks really…although all you can see is the front and a little of the hull side (a couple of infantry soldiers obscure the rest).
Yeah looks like it could be (im no expert on Japanese tanks past or present!) a Type 95 Ha-Go light tank
Here’s a http://www.warbirdpictures.com/ATC/ATC-JapaneseLight-2.jpg Type 95 at Aberdeen Proving Ground (I think).
