Type 39 Light Tank

The Type 39 was a Chiseian light tank or produced for use by the Chiseian Royal Army from 1919 - 1922, primarily seeing combat in the First Escar-Varunan War. It was the first indigenous Chiseian tank to enter service. It was a small, two-man tank, armed with a 7.62 mm machine gun and with a top speed of 12.8 km/h. The design was extensively produced, and would remain in service until most remaining units were scrapped or destroyed during the Second Escar-Varunan War.

History
Chiseian interest in tanks was first stimulated by the experiences of military attaches and expeditionary forces in the First Donlander War, where tank technology was first introduced by the State of Yorcke, and through officer exchanges with the Zusian Räichsheer. Design on the Type 39 began in 1917, based on the experience of Royal Army military attaches and expeditionary forces in the Anglian wars, who were interested in a cheap and easy to maintain design that could be used as part of lighter armoured spearheads, used in concert with armoured cars and heavier tank designs then in development, such as the Type 40.

The first prototype, produced by Kendou Automotive in early 1918, was recieved with skepticism by the Ministry of War. The Type 39s two were controlled by the driver, seated at the front with a gunner beside him who had control of a 7.62 mm machine gun on a limited-traverse mount with approximately 550 rounds of ammunition. For its time, the prototype exhibited good mobility with acceptable operational range, but was deemed somewhat mechanically unreliable. Nonetheless, its extreme ease of production and maintenance, its potential as an all-terrain artillery and supply tractor, and the outbreak of the First Escar-Varunan War just a few months later all contributed to an initial order of 15 units for further trials, followed by a subsequent 15,000 unit production run. Full-scale production began in 1919, and the Type 39 would see active service for the first time in 1920, after the Yamataian invasion of Chisei. Though used on occasion by cavalry units as well as by the Royal Marines, it had insufficient trench-crossing capability for assaults against fortified positions but was again praised for its agility and its suitability for hauling light artillery and supplies. 8,670 units were ultimately produced before the end of production in 1922, as newer light tanks and armoured cars replaced the Type 39 in combat roles.

After the war the Type 39 would remain in service as supply tractors, training vehicles and for use by security forces. 23 saw combat during the New Year Rebellion of 1924, while 192 vehicles were shipped to Minami Imoshima and Chiseian Osova between 1925 and 1930 for use by colonial authorities, with some used against insurgents and in border skirmishes. Several thousand were scrapped, and small quantities sold to other nations such as Hyspania, Gyunghwa and Sarethan.

802 Type 39s remained in service at the outbreak of the Second Escar-Varunan War; 670 with colonial units, and the rest in rearline service on the mainland as artillery tractors or convoy escorts. By this point, the design was hopelessly obsolete and easily defeated by anti-tank rifles. They were also unable to keep up with the speed of more advanced armoured forces or even cavalry, meaning many were simply abandoned or scrapped in the first few months of the war. Nonetheless, a few hundred Type 39s would remain in service until late in 1938, when the last surviving units in service with Saramosiri homeguard militias were scrapped.

Survivors
Two surviving vehioles are known: one partially disassembled, captured by Yamataian forces in 1922 and currently held in a private collection, and the other missing its engine, tracks and armament, currently displayed in the Kawano Royal Tank Museum.