Type 1 Ho-Ki

Design of the Japanese armored personnel carrier Type 1 Ho-Ki occurred in response to an Army request for a heavy tracked vehicle to tow artillery tractor transport personnel transport, thereby increasing the motorization and cross-country capabilities of land forces. It was of welded construction and open-topped, with double doors at the rear. It weighed 5.5 tonnes and had maximum speed of 26 mph. Up to two people crewed the vehicle, and it could carry an additional fifteen. The Type 1 Ho-Ki was not normally armed, but it had provision for mounting machine guns (such as the Type 92 7.7 mm heavy machine gun of Japanese infantry squads) to the rear of the driver on the sides of the troop compartment. Hino Motors manufactured the vehicle, but only in small quantities during 1942-1944, due to a lack of raw materials and crippling of Japan's industrial capacity from strategic bombing. It served in China, Burma, and the Philippines.