Chi-He

Chi-He

Chi-Ha Kai

Chi-Nu

Chi-He

Chi-Ha Kai

Chi-Nu

Japan

II Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
2.7	2.7	2.7

Class:

Medium tank

Research:9 200

Purchase:16 000

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Description

The Type 1 Chi-He is a Rank II Japanese medium tank with a battle rating of 2.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.65 "Way of the Samurai" along with the initial Japanese Ground Forces Tree. Featuring a better armour, slightly better mobility with the same 47 mm Type 1 gun as it's Chi-Ha Kai predecessor, the Chi-He is an enjoyable tank to play in the early ranks of the game.

This tank is the middle-range Japanese traditional design: there is no surprise but it gets just a bit better every time, as does the enemy. Do not change tactics and play just like with earlier vehicles: stick to allies and use mobility to get to the point with other fast vehicles. Use its good gun depression to hide behind hills and snipe enemies. With its good reverse speed, it can easily get out of nasty situations or hide quickly.

Survivability
Nothing impressive here in terms of armour, the Chi-He features 50 mm, poorly angled, frontal armour. This is not the kind of plate that can take any punishment at the BR, it will only bounce poorly aimed shots. 5-man crew is very survivable, leaving some room for mistakes. Side armour is vulnerable to HMG and auto-cannon fire, beware flanking fast tanks.

Mobility
This is one of the main feature of the Chi-He, it enables it to do anything a commander want with it. Want to be first on the spot? With some skill/luck, the Chi-He can! Want to flank? follow other light tanks in the move, provide them with enhanced firepower! The enemy team is coming over? Hit the gas (in a rearward position) and fire while retreating.

Firepower
Comparatively to other light/medium tanks at this BR, the 47 mm Type 1 gun is quite surprising with 77 mm of penetration at point-blank range and has a good reload speed. Plus, this fires APHE shells, which do great post-penetration damage. Comparatively, the 20-K (45 mm) gun on Russian BR 1.0-2.7 tanks has only 62 mm of penetration in similar conditions. A top-mounted MG is really useful when dealing with unarmored SPG and SPAA one might encounter at the BR.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour Type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour
• Cast homogeneous armour (Gun mantlet, Machine gun ports)

Armour	Front	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	50 mm (15°) Front plate 12 mm (76°) Front glacis 50 mm (20°) Joint plate 8.5 mm (65°) Lower glacis	20 mm (15-30°) Top 25 mm Bottom	20 mm (0-20°) Top 8.5 mm (63°) Bottom	12 mm
Turret	25 + 25 mm (10°) Turret front 50 mm (0-10°) Gun mantlet	25 mm (10°)	25 mm Turret rear 50 mm (0-57°) Machine gun port	12 mm
Armour	Sides	Roof
Cupola	50 mm	12 mm

Notes:

• Suspension wheels both 15 mm thick
• Tracks are 20 mm thick.
• Front of turret has bolted on 25 mm armor to total up to 50 mm thick as the rest of the front.

Mobility

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	49	10	17.2	372	458	21.63	26.63
Realistic	44	9		212	240	12.33	13.95

Armaments

Main armament

47 mm Type 1
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
120			-15°/+20°	±180°	Vertical
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	13.3	18.4	22.4	24.77	26.35
Realistic	8.3	9.8	11.9	13.16	14.0
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
4.30	3.80	3.5	3.3

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 90°
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
Type 1 APHE	APHE	77	75	67	58	50	44
Type 1 HE	HE	4	4	4	4	4	4

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Fuse delay in m:	Fuse sensitivity in mm:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):	Normalization At 30° from horizontal:	Ricochet:
								0%	50%	100%
Type 1 APHE	APHE	808	1.49	1.2	9	17.92		47°	60°	65°
Type 1 HE	HE	822	1.4	2	0.1	85.26		79°	80°	81°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks on the Chi-He

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	7th rack empty	8th rack empty	9th rack empty	10th rack empty	11th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
120	91 (+29)	76 (+44)	73 (+47)	62 (+58)	51 (+69)	40 (+80)	29 (+91)	21 (+99)	15 (+105)	9 (+111)	1 (+119)	no

Turret empty: 73 (+47)

Machine guns

7.7 mm Type 97
Hull mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
3,000 (20)				499	-16°/+10°	±19°
Pintle mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
1,000 (20)				499	-10°/+70°	±60°

Usage in the battles

As successor of the Chi-Ha, the Chi-He has a redesigned hull with thicker armor, a more powerful engine and an up armored turret from the Chi-Ha Kai, so the front is overall at 50 mm effective. This will result in a very similar play style as the Chi-Ha Kai with the added benefits of being an upgrade.

Unlike the Chi-Ha Kai, the Chi-He has some more armor & a beefier engine to rely on and it is able to brawl on its own with the fast fire rate.

The best practice for the Chi-He (and other WWII-era Japanese tanks) is to always point forward, the front armor has pre-angled sides, so angling only hurts your pre-angles and weaker side armor. It's not worth trying to get more out of the 50 mm frontal effective protection.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• 47 mm cannon can do some decent damage
• Small profile
• Gunner supported stabilization, can take accurate shots at low speeds
• Top-mounted MG
• Fast reverse speed (2 reverse gears)
• Fast in forward motion
• Frontal transmission
• Awesome gun depression of -15°
• Fast reloading rate

Cons:

• Thin side armour means angling front armour could expose weak armour
• 47 mm is not accurate in long distance fights
• Packed 5-men crew can lead to an easy knock out if penetrated
• 50 mm front armour, poorly angled
• Big ammo racks in the turret (carry only half-ammo load)
• Long and narrow hull: hard to turn on the spot

History

Development

The Imperial Japanese Army's main tank, the Type 97 Chi-Ha, was becoming rather outdated by the turn of the decade in 1940. The 30 mm front plate armour was vulnerable to standard anti-tank weaponry and the riveted design post a hazard to the tank crew by spalling. In 1941, work began on modernizing the design up to new industrial standards.

The first step in the modernizing design was to go towards a welded design rather than rivveted. The front glacis plate was also simplified into a large flat 50 mm armour plate rather than the curved one. The increased armour meant an increased weight, so the Japanese added the improved Type 100 diesel engine, capable of pumping out 240 hp to propel the tank. This new tank was accepted as the Type 1 Chi-He.

During the tank's preparation for mass-production, a request by the commander of the 7th Tank Regiment calling for an improved armament on the Type 97 Chi-Ha was received by the Mitsubishi factory. With the Type 1 Chi-He still needing time to enter production levels, let alone the resources needed to manufacture completely new tanks, it was placed on hold and priority was placed on improving the Type 97. This lead to the cheaper method of adapting the Type 97 to using the Type 1 turret with the 47 mm cannon, producing to the Type 97 Chi-Ha Kai. This delayed the mass-production of the Type 1 Chi-He until February 1944, resulting in only 170 tanks produced before the end of the war.

Combat usage

Despite its relatively early production life over late-war Japanese tanks and its improved characteristics, the Type 1 Chi-He would see its combat life held in reserves in the Japanese home islands. They would never see use in the battlefield before Japan surrendered in August 1945.

Media

An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

Read also

• [Devblog] Type 1 Chi-He – An Updated Classic

Sources

• [Forum] Type 1 Chi-He 一式中戦車 チへ
• [Wikipedia] Type 1 Chi-He medium tank