No Longer Lurking

Back in 2015 I posted an article about Japanese Heavy tanks, entitled Japanese Monster. In it I mentioned several Japanese tank designs I had discovered in the UK archives. These designs and some proofs for them went into a chapter in my upcoming book, which due out in about two weeks at the end of October. It can be pre-ordered right now, with a £4 discount direct from the publishers.

Cover of my first book. Can you name the tanks and guns?

Part of my contract with the publisher forbade me talking about the contents of the book without their prior permission.

Well, I've gotten permission.


Earlier this week I published an article on tanks encyclopedia (note: I've had a few other articles published over there already), containing the details of one of the Japanese heavy tanks I had re-discovered, the Mitsubishi 104. The article is written by me, and contains the details I was able to get from the UK files.

As I was a bit short of an article this week, I decided to link to it, as a quick article. However I feel I'd need to pad this post out a bit more. So here's the plans from the archives.

First the British drawing of the Mitsu-104.

Next, the big prize, the original plans the above drawing was made from.

Finally the document was talking about all identified Japanese tanks. It included a review of their suspension. This diagram should give you an idea about the suspension style the Japanese used. From the layout of the wheels and suspension arms I suspect this is actually from a Type 97 Chi-Ha.