Tank History
Delivered to the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) as Type 95 Ha Go light tank.

Wartime History
Transported to Timor.

Wreckage
This tank was abandoned near Dill.

Simon Hill adds:
"I am an amateur historian working on East Timor for the United Nations in Dili, and I was taken to a site where there is the remains of a Japanese Type 95 Tank. While the Tank I would describe as being in its last stages of decay and irrepairable, it is nonetheless an intresting find. Its history is unknown except for unconfirmed reports from my friends father who died in 2009, who recalled during the Japanese occupation of a Japanese tank 'trying to negotiate' a hill near Metinaro where the wreck is now on the beach. However the Tank broke down and was quite possibly abandoned and then disabled during the Japanese withdrawal or forcably 'decommissioned' by the Australian's in 1945/6 as were so many other Type 95's in and around Dili. "Tacitolu" in Dili was the main 'wrecking ground' and by all accounts would be rife with 'buried relics' but this is the only discernable Type 95 I've ever seen on Timor. The Tank may have been used as 'target practice' but we found it to hold remains of the plethora or MG munitions consistent with Japanese WWII MG's mounted on the forward mantle.

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Last Updated
April 19, 2021