DUS h. 349

The DUS h. 349 was a produced by the Kuijuan Armaments Corporation during the latter part of the Second Escar-Varunan War. Designed to counter newer threats such as the Type 21 Medium Tank, it incorporated a number of innovative features, including sloped armour and a unique 75 mm gun with an automatic drum magazine loading mechanism. Generally considered at least on paper and from its existing service record one of the finest tanks of the war, it was nevertheless unable to make a major difference by the time it was introduced in 1943. Only 24% of tank units ever recieved a single h. 349, and it was also plagued by chronic shortages of spare parts and ammunition, as the Kuijuan logistical and industrial system began to degrade and collapse.

Design & Development
In terms of its design, the h. 349 was a radical response to years of combat experience against superior Chiseian and Arshavati armour, such as the notorious Type 21 Medium Tank, which had exposed the severe shortcomings of aging designs like the P-1342. To compete with these vehicles, it was decided that a new Kuijuan tank would require greatly improved armour, increased firepower, and much better mobility. Furthermore, it would have to be designed amidst a growing crisis in material resources, industrial capacity and manpower for Kuiju.

With design work beginning as early as 1940, the program would suffer many delays due to shifting demands from the Army Procurement Bureau and political meddling from the Grand Secretariat. An early prototype, the P-1467, was put forward by the KAC design team, led by Lieutenant Dorgen Buyamuci, in October 1941. It featured many of the features of the final 1468, including sloped turret armour, a front-mounted turret and a gun in 75 mm caliber, the existing Type 1 75 mm anti-aircraft gun. However the gun was deemed insufficient after testing against captured Type 21s, and army officials also demanded better mobility, so another phase of redesigns was required.

In May 1942 two more prototypes were presented to the Procurement Bureau, which introduced for the first time the experimental 75 mm that would lead to the final design. The gun was officially designated as the KAC 7.5 cm T-221. The gun mantlet was rounded, offering good ballistic protection. The most unusual feature however was the gun's automatic drum loading mechanism containing five rounds with a maximum rate of fire of around 15 rounds per minute, or around 40 rounds per minute at full auto. The gun was designed so that, after firing each round, the spent case would be automatically ejected by compressed air. It had a muzzle velocity of 894 m/s, and armour penetration at a range of 1 km was around 98 mm - sufficient to defeat a standard Type 21. Ammunition was 90 rounds, reduced to 85 in mass production models. Secondary armament was a coaxial 7.7 mm machine gun.

The armour of the new vehicle was a big departure from previous Kuijuan design. The h. 349 would be built by using welded armor on both the superstructure and the turret. The armor design was very simple, with angled armor plates with slopes between 40° to 60°. The maximum front armor was up to 60 mm thick. The side sloped armor was 35 mm while the lower vertical armor was 50 mm thick. The maximum thickness of the frontal turret armor was 50 mm, the sides were 35 mm, and the rear between 25 to 35 mm thick. Most of the turret armor was sloped, which added extra protection. The roof and floor armor were the same 20 mm thickness.

The P-1467 was planned at first to be powered by an unspecified diesel engine, but sometime during the development stage, this was dropped in favor of a petrol engine. The main engine chosen was a 450 hp 19.814-liter air-cooled Caigiya V12 running at 3,500 rpm. A second small auxiliary engine producing just 50 hp was also added. The purpose of this small auxiliary engine was to power up the main engine and provide extra power. While the main engine was started by using the auxiliary engine, this one, in turn, would be started by using a hand crank. The total weight of the prototype came in at 21 tonnes, with the production version slightly heavier at 23 tonnes. The tank was theoretically capable of speeds up to 60 km/h on paper, but in practice this was found to cause significant damage to the suspension, tracks and potentially the engine, resulting in a governed top road speed of 53 km/h - still an impressive level of mobility. Off-road capability was slightly poorer, but still respectable, at around 43 km/h.

A number of foreign consultants are known to have been involved with the project, including representatives from Mitsuhishi and the Achtotlaner XXX company, though their specific contributions are unknown. Elements of the armour scheme and drivetrain may have influenced the XXXX, and a similar autoloading 75 mm was briefly explored in late war Yamataian prototypes of the period.

After a further wave of minor adjustments, trials and additional prototypes, the tank was finally rushed into production in January 1943. Fuel shortages and the allied bombing campaign against Kuiju delayed training, and the first vehicles would not actually enter service until November of that year, shortly after the launch of the Allied Invasion of Hinomoto.

Operational history
The first time the DUS h. 349 saw combat was with the 11th Armoured Cavalry Regiment on the 10th of December 1943, during the Battle of Bulan. Two squadrons of the new models were deployed to defend strategic points on the outskirts of the city; the chosen crews were seasoned veterans of the invasions of Kuye and Uraan. The attacking allied armoured divisions were a mixed bag, with some veteran Chiseian troops but also a large contingent of fresh Singhanese conscripts. The allied forces committed a large force of Type 21 and Type 19 medium tanks, mostly older models, to break through the Kuijuan fortifications and open up a path for motorised infantry, but they were ill prepared for significant resistance beyond static emplacements or anti-tank guns. Consequently, first contact proved disastrous, as the 1468s successfully picked off many of the Chiseian tanks at long range, leading to panic and breaks in the Singhanese formation, which were subsequently exploited by both the nimble mediums and light P-1242s. 102 Type 21s and 48 Type 19s were successfully destroyed, and the assault on Bulan was successfully beaten back and stalled (for a time).

Reports of 'supertanks' on the Kuijuan front shocked Chiseian high command and military intelligence, which had uncovered some details of the 349 project but had largely written off the ability of the Kuijuans to produce and supply enough of the vehicles to pose a real threat to Chiseian counterattacks in the east amidst heavy industrial bombing and a wave of disastrous defeats against Arshavat. Orders were immediately issued to provide additional protection to Type 21s in the field, and the production of the heavily armoured Type 21 Kai was brought forward in response to both the 349 as well as the needs of Chiseian troops fighting in Hinomoto.

In a sense however, initial allied intelligence was correct - the incident at Bulan was one of very few examples of 349s being used to such great effect in practice. Experienced crews were increasingly few and far inbetween, and desperately needed in the struggle against Arshavat. Few Kuijuan officers also made effective use of the tanks - they were often sent far ahead of the rest of a formation, with minimal support, or otherwise forced to accompany infantry, not making use of their mobility or anti-tank capabilities to their full effect. The allied bombing campaign also did indeed sow havoc among the production lines of the new vehicles, severely limiting their rollout and forcing the Royal Army to choose between deploying the tanks widely or only providing them to select elite units.

Intended to replace the aging AUS h. 347 wholesale, many 349s were ultimately cannabalised to provide parts for the former as the war situation grew ever more desperate and their sophisticated suspensions and armaments become impossible to supply or maintain. By the time Operation Soraoka was launched in 1945, only a few hundred 349s remained in workable condition, and almost all were abandoned by their crews or knocked out in combat before the Kuijuan surrender.

Surviving vehicles
Many 349s survived the war in decent condition, and some were captured almost good as new as Arshavati and Chiseian forces advanced into the collapsing Kuijuan Kingdom. Many were subsequently used for armour research and ballistics testing in the subsequent decade, with hundreds of others being scrapped.

349s restored to working condition can today be found at a number of major military museums, including the Wanshu Royal War Museum and the Kawano Royal Tank Museum in Chisei, as well as the National Military Mechanics Museum in West Kuiju.