 The fully enclosed and armored casemate of the Type 3 Ho-Ni III with the Type 3 75 mm tank gun was intended to address these issues, and an order of 57 was placed with Hitachi Ltd in early 1944.Production was hampered by material shortages, and by the bombing of Japan in World War II, and only 31 to 41 were completed by the time of the end of the war.The Type 3 Ho-Ni III utilized the chassis of the Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tank.