[7] The 57 mm main gun, designed for infantry support, was a carry over from the Type 89 I-Go medium tank.

[8] In 1942, a new version of the Chi-Ha was produced with a larger three-man turret, and a high-velocity Type 1 47 mm tank gun.

[5] With the Type 89 I-Go fast becoming obsolete in the late 1930s, the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) began a program to develop a replacement tank for infantry support.

However, at the time IJA was also interested in the lighter and less expensive Type 97 Chi-Ni prototype proposed by Osaka Army Arsenal, which had the same 57 mm main gun.

[7] With the out-break of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, the peacetime budgetary limitations were removed and the more capable and expensive Mitsubishi Chi-Ha model was accepted as the new Type 97 medium tank by the army.

The cannon was a short-barreled weapon with a relatively low muzzle velocity, but sufficient as the tank was intended primarily for infantry support.

[13] The tank carried two 7.7 mm Type 97 machine guns, one on the front left of the hull and the other in a ball mount on the rear of the turret.

[6] The shortcomings of the Type 97, with its low-velocity 57 mm gun, became clear during the 1939 Battles of Khalkhin Gol against the Soviet Union.

In addition "about 300" of the Type 97 tanks with the older model turret and 57 mm main gun were converted.

[23] By that time, the Japanese industry had been badly crippled by the American bombing campaign; as a result, few of these newer vehicles were ever built.

Subsequently, the Type 97 chassis was utilized to manufacture nearly a hundred SPGs, consisting primarily of 75 mm guns.

[27] The Type 97 was deployed in China in combat operations in the Second Sino-Japanese War with considerable success, as the ill-equipped National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China forces were limited to only three tank battalions consisting of British exports of the Vickers, German Panzer Is, and Italian CV33 tankettes.

[28] Its first real test in combat against opposing armor came with the Battles of Khalkhin Gol in July 1939 against the Soviet Union.

[31] Soviet shells struck the tank's drive gear, hull, and the engine area, causing the vehicle to erupt into flames.

The 1st Tank Regiment was attached to the IJA 5th Division, which was among the first Japanese military units to land at Songkhla in southern Thailand.

The thick and wet jungle terrain did not turn out to be a decisive obstacle for the generally light Japanese tanks.

Terrain dictated the battle and IJA tanks were emplaced in hull defilade positions or even buried up to their turrets.

Similar conditions were repeated in the Kwantung Army's defense against the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, although there was little tank-versus-tank action.

[41][page needed] Japanese armor was used because American aid to the Nationalists, including tanks and other vehicles had been severely curtailed.

Type 97 tanks captured during the Soviet invasion of Manchuria were turned over to the Chinese Communist army.