Type 89B I-Go Otsu | I-Go Kō - 八九式中戦車 イ号 - Footage.

The Type 89 medium tank I-Go 八九式中戦車　イ号 was a medium tank developed by the Japanese in 1928, after the army wanted two types of tanks to be created. A light 10-ton tank based on the French Renault FT tank and a 20-ton design modeled after the Vickers Medium tank.
The weight of the initial prototype and its low speed did not impress the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office, and a new requirement was issued for a lighter tank.

By April 1928, the new light tank design was finished and the prototype of the Type 89 light tank was completed in 1929.
The Type 89 would eventually be re-classified as a "medium tank" because the weight increased to over 10 tons due to several improvements.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which built a new tank factory to specifically produce this model and production would began in 1931.
The 89 would be the worlds first mass produced Diesel engine tank and would become the first main battle tank of the Japanese Army.
The 89 would see many improvements over the years and would resulted in a second version of the vehicle the Type 89B I-Go Otsu, which had
a air-cooled Mitsubishi A6120VD 120 hp (89 kW) diesel engine, the front hull were replaced by a single shallow-sloped frontal armor plate which provided more protection for the driver and the tank had a new "asymmetric shaped" gun turret complete with a cupola for the commander, and the machine gun relocated to the left side of the hull.

The 89 would see action from 1932 until the end of WWII,
it would first see combat during the First Battle of Shanghai in 1932, and in the Second Sino-Japanese War it would prove effective in campaigns in Manchuria and China, especially against fortification and the Chinese light tanks.
It would be obsolete by the time of the 1939 battles of Khalkhin Gol, against the Soviet Union, but would still be used in the later battles in China and By 1942 it would gradually withdrawn from front-line combat service , but would still be used in the Battle of the Philippines, Battle of Malaya, Burma campaign and China.

They proved to be no match against Allied vehicles like the American M4 Sherman and would mostly be used as static defense.

八九式中戦車（はちきゅうしきちゅうせんしゃ）は、1920年代後期に開発・採用された大日本帝国陸軍の戦車（中戦車）。日本初の国産制式戦車として開発・量産された。秘匿名称「イ号」（「ロ号」は九五式重戦車、「ハ号」は九五式軽戦車）

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■ Information obtained from several sites.
■ Wikipedia
■ tanks-encyclopedia
■ the.shadock.free.fr/Surviving_Panzers
■ preservedtanks
■ pantser.net
■ the.shadock.free.fr/Tanks_in_France

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