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This Ha-Go was captured by Australian troops at Milne Bay, New Guinea, during August 1942. Photographic evidence and the official Australian War History indicate that two tanks were landed and that both were Type 95s. The action there was the first defeat of Japanese land forces during the Second World War. The principal Australian Army Units involved in the action were the 18th Infantry Brigade (AIF) and the 7th Infantry Brigade (AMF). After their capture, both Japanese tanks were shipped to Australia for technical assessment, and then transported (originally from north Queensland by rail flatcar) to various centres around the country in aid of War Bond drives. Eventually, after the end of the War, they were sold at a Commonwealth Disposals auction to Hughes Trading Company in Coburg, Victoria, where they were left to languish in a yard. The guns of both tanks had been removed by the Japanese before capture and, although the guns were recovered by Australian forces, they were never returned to the tanks.
In the mid-1970s, John Belfield (the owner of the Melbourne Tank Museum) managed to purchase one of the tanks from Hughes and has since restored it; during restoration, the names of nine soldiers from the capturing units were found scratched into its side. It is now on display with a three-colour camouflage scheme in a diorama that depicts the tank at the time of its capture, along with contemporary photographs and news reports. Although it is missing its gun and right hand track, a fake gun has recently been fitted.
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2000
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1: Front left view
Taken: 2000 (Estimated)
Contributor: T. Larkum
Photo ID: 1189
Added: 21 April 2009
Filename: Scan_Typ...
Views: 218
Select/Has Priority: 21/0
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