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| IJA 11th Tank Regiment  Gordon Page c1990s  Ministry of Defence 2015 |
Wartime History Delivered to the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) as Type 97 Chi-Ha Medium Tank. Assigned to the 11th Tank Regiment under the command of Colonel Zueo Ikeda on Shumshu Island. On August 18, 1945 a Soviet force of 8,360 troops from the Soviet Army and Navy supported by naval vessels and aircraft made an amphibious landing on Shumshu Island, despite the fact Japan had accepted the terms of surrender and the Pacific War had officially ended. Although the Japanese were in the process of disarmament they responded to the landing with a counter attack in accordance with their right to defend Japanese territory. Aided by a fog that covered the landing area, forty Japanese tanks from the 11th Tank Regiment attacked the Soviet landing force by rushing the beach area. For more than two hours a vicious close quarters battle ensued as the Soviets rushed to deployed anti-tank guns. During the Battle of Shumshu, the Japanese tanks claimed to have killed 100 Soviets troops but lost twenty-one tanks in the last Japanese armor action of World War II. Wreckage This tank remains in situ on the battlefield. The turret and main gun remain in place. By the 1990s, the left track had broken off the front drive wheel and was laying across the road wheels. The right track was missing off the the front drive. The main gun remains in place and the machine guns are missing. References The History of Battles of Imperial Japanese Tanks - Part II - Shimushu Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation "Joint expedition of the Russian Ministry of Defence, Russian Geographical Society and Russian search movement for detection and reburial of dead Soviet soldiers at the Shumshu Island" (photos 2015) Contribute
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 Type 97 Chi-Ha |
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