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The Universal Carrier, usually known as a Bren Gun Carrier (even when it was not carrying a Bren), was a small, tracked British-designed military vehicle, used widely by Allied forces during World War II. Universal Carriers were usually used for transporting personnel and equipment, or as machine gun platforms.
Development
The design of Universal Carriers was influenced by the Carden-Loyd Mk.IV Tankette, developed during the late 1920s. The first Bren Gun Carriers were produced by Vickers from 1936. There were several different types of Carrier that varied slightly in design according to their function. It was obvious that production of a single model would be preferred and the Universal appeared in 1940. The Universal would be the most widely produced of the Carriers.
As with the earlier Carriers, the Universal had the driver and commander at the front sat side-by-side; driver to the right with a vertical steering wheel. The hull in front of the commanders position jutted forward to give room for the Bren gun (or whatever was fixed there) to fire through a simple slit. The engine was in the centre of the vehicle and the final drive at the rear. Either side of the engine were two areas in which passengers could ride or stores be carried.
Universal Carriers were commonly used as platforms for infantry support weapons such as the Vickers machine gun or the Bren or Boys anti-tank rifle or to carry weapons such as the 3-inch mortar along with its crew. The Universal was also used to tow anti-tank guns such as the 2 pounder. When the 6 pounder anti-tank gun came into use the Universal was also used for that role but the subsequent 17 pounder was too much for such a vehicle.
Universal Carriers were only lightly armoured on their fronts and sides, sufficient to protect to some degree from small arms, shrapnel and explosive blasts but were open at the top leaving the occupants completely unprotected from about shoulder height upwards.
The Canadian designed and built Windsor Carrier was a related vehicle. Similar body and mechanicals but some 30 inches longer and with an extra road wheel. Five thousand were built and sent to Europe.
Production
In the UK, several companies contributed to the manufacture of the Universal among them Ford UK.
Ford of Canada made 28,000 Universal Carriers. They were also manufactured in Australia and New Zealand.
Variants
- The original model.
- Mk. II
- Equipped with a towing hitch.
- Wasp
- A flamethrower-equipped variant.
- LP1 Carrier (Aust)
- Australian built version of the British Bren Gun Carrier.
- LP2 Carrier (Aust)
- Australian built variant of the Universal Carrier. Also produced in New Zealand.
- 2 Pounder Anti-tank Carrier (Aust)
- A heavily modified and lengthened LP2 carrier with a fully traversable 2 pounder anti-tank gun mounted on a platform at the rear and the engine moved to the front left of the vehicle.
- 3-inch Mortar Carrier (Aust)
- A design based on the 2 Pounder Carrier with a 3-inch mortar mounted in place of the 2 pounder. Designed to enable the mortar to have 360 degree traverse and to be fired either from the vehicle, or dismounted.
- The Carrier, Universal, T16, Mark I. was a significantly improved vehicle based upon those built by Ford of Canada, manufactured under Lend Lease by Ford in the United States from March 1943 to 1945. It was chiefly used by Canadian forces during the war as a gun tractor. After the war, it was used by Swiss and Netherlands forces. It was longer than the Universal with an extra road wheel on the rear bogie, the engine was a Ford Mercury delivering the same power. Instead of the steering wheel controlling the combination brake/warp mechanism, the T-16 had track brake steering operated by levers (2 for each side).
- Fahrgestell Bren (e)
- A captured carrier of 1940, reused by the Germans with a 3.7 cm PaK gun.
- Praying Mantis
- An experimental vehicle - the hull was replaced with an enclosed metal box structure with enough room for a driver and a gunner. The whole unit could rotate upwards from the rear of the tracks to give an elevated firing position.
See also
External links
World War II British armoured fighting vehicles
Universal carrier | Universal Carrier | Bren carrier | ユニバーサル・キャリア | Universal carrier | Universal Carrier
"Universal Carrier"