Universal Carrier

A Universal Carrier of 52nd Reconnaissance Regiment catches air on manoeuvres, Scotland, 10 November 1942

The seven mechanized divisional cavalry regiments in the BEF during 1939–1940 were equipped with Scout Carriers – 44 carriers and 28 light tanks in each regiment. There were 10 Bren Carriers in each infantry battalion in the same period.[10]

The reconnaissance corps regiments – which replaced the cavalry regiments in supporting Infantry divisions after 1940 – were each equipped with 63 carriers, along with 28 Humber Scout Cars.

Universal Carriers were issued to the support companies in infantry rifle battalions for carrying support weapons (initially 10,[11] 21 by 1941,[12] and up to 33 per battalion by 1943[13]). A British armoured division of 1940–41 had 109 carriers; each motor battalion had 44.[14]

British troops leap from their Universal Carrier during an exercise.

A British Carrier platoon originally had ten Universal Carriers with three carrier sections of three Universal Carriers each plus another Universal Carrier in the platoon HQ. Each Universal Carrier had a non-commissioned officer (NCO), a rifleman and a driver-mechanic. One Universal Carrier in each section was commanded by a sergeant, the other two by corporals.

All the Universal Carriers were armed with a Bren gun and one carrier in each carrier section also had a Boys anti-tank rifle. By 1941, the carrier platoon had increased in strength to contain four carrier sections; one carrier in each carrier section also carried a 2-inch mortar.

By 1943, each Universal Carrier had a crew of four, an NCO, driver-mechanic and two riflemen. The Boys anti-tank rifle was also replaced by the PIAT anti-tank weapon. The Universal Carrier's weapons could be fired from in or outside of the carrier. A carrier platoon had a higher number of light support weapons than a rifle company.

To allow the Universal to function as an artillery tractor in emergencies, a towing attachment that could allow it to haul the Ordnance QF 6 pounder anti-tank gun was added from 1943. Normally the Loyd Carrier – which was also used as a general utility carrier – acted as the tractor for the 6-pdr.[1]

In Motorised Infantry Battalions in BAOR (British Army of the Rhine) in the early 1950s the Universal was issued one per platoon carrying the Platoon Commander, driver, signaller and the 2” Mortar group Nos 1 & 2.

Universal and the earlier Bren carriers were used by Australian Army units in the Western Desert campaign.[15]

Captured Universal Carriers were used in a number of roles by German forces.

A total of around sixty Bren No.2 Carriers and Belgian army Vickers Utility Tractors were converted into demolition vehicles. Carrying a large explosive charge, these would be driven up to enemy positions under remote control and detonated, destroying both themselves and the target. Twenty-nine of both kinds were deployed in 1942 during the Siege of Sevastopol. They achieved some success in destroying Soviet trenches and bunkers, but a significant number were destroyed by artillery. Others were disabled by land mines before reaching their target or were lost because of mechanical breakdowns. A difficulty for the Germans using these foreign-built vehicles was the lack of spare parts.[16]

• An attempted conversion to self-propelled artillery consisting of a single T16 carrier fitted with a six-Model 1968 recoilless gun mount was developed in the late 1960s or early 1970s.

Bren Carrier No.2. Note a single rear compartment for one soldier with a sloping rear plate.

Universal Carrier Mk II

Flamethrower-equipped universal carrier at the Israeli Armored Corps museum in Latrun

Praying Mantis prototype at The Tank Museum

• Pre-Universal:[10]
  • Carrier, Machine-Gun No. 2 – 1937
  • Carrier, Bren No.2
  • Carrier, Scout Mk 1
  • Carrier, Cavalry Mk 1 – 50 built by Nuffield, discontinued with reorganization of cavalry light tank regiments of Mobile Division[10]
  • Carrier, Armoured Observation Post
  • Carrier, Armoured, 2-pounder (40 mm)
  • Carrier, Armored 6-pounder (57 mm)
• Mk. I (the original model)
• Mk. II (updated stowage and layout, battery moved behind the divisional plate, towing hitch)
• Mk.III (welded hull, modified engine covers)
• Wasp: A flamethrower-equipped variant, using the "Flame-thrower, Transportable, No 2". The Mark I had a fixed flamethrower on the front of the vehicle fed from two fuel tanks with a combined capacity of 100 imperial gallons (450 l). 1000 produced.[15] The Mk II had the projector in the co-driver's position. The Mk IIC (C for Canadian) had a single 75 imperial gallons (340 l) fuel tank on the rear of the vehicle outside the armour protection, allowing a third crew member to be carried.
• Praying Mantis: An attempt to produce a low-silhouette vehicle that could still fire over obstacles. A one-man design based on Carden Loyd suspension was not adopted, but the inventor was encouraged to design a two-man version. This version appeared in 1943 and was based upon the Universal Carrier. The hull was replaced with an enclosed metal-box structure with enough room for a driver and a gunner lying prone. This box, pivoting from the rear, could be elevated. At the top end was a machine-gun turret (with two Bren guns). The intention was to drive the Mantis up to a wall or hedgerow, elevate the gun, and fire over the obstacle from a position of safety. It was rejected after trials in 1944.[17] A Mantis survives in The Tank Museum.

An Australian 3 inch mortar carrier

Windsor carrier, Overloon Museum

T16 carrier

• Carrier, Machine Gun, Local Pattern, No. 1: Also known as "LP1 Carrier (Aust)". Australian production similar to Bren carrier but welded and some minor differences.[18]
• Universal Carrier MG, Local Pattern No. 2: Also known as "LP2 Carrier (Aust)". Australian-built variant of the Universal Carrier. Also produced in New Zealand. Used 1938–1939 Ford commercial axles; the 2A had 1940 Ford truck axles.
• 2-pounder Anti-tank Gun Carrier (Aust) or Carrier, 2-pdr Tank Attack: A heavily modified and lengthened LP2 carrier with a fully traversable QF 2 pounder (40 mm) anti-tank gun mounted on a platform at the rear and the engine moved to the front left of the vehicle. Stowage was provided for 112 rounds of 2pdr ammunition. 200 were produced and used for training.[19]
• 3 inch Mortar Carrier (Aust): A design based on the 2 Pounder Carrier with a 3-inch (76 mm) 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. 400 were produced and were ultimately sent as military aid to the Nationalist Chinese Army.[19]

• Mk.I* (certain differences, otherwise similar to British model)
• Mk.II* (certain differences, otherwise similar to British model)
• Carrier, 2-pdr Equipped: Canadian modification to mount 2-pdr gun. 213 used for training.[18]
• Wasp Mk II*: Canadian version of the Wasp flamethrower variant.
• Windsor Carrier: Canadian development with a longer chassis extended 76 cm and an additional wheel in the aft bogie.

• T-16: 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 longer than the Universal with an extra road wheel on the rear bogie; making for a pair of full Horstmann dual-wheel suspension units per side, the engine was a Mercury-division 3.9 litre displacement Ford flathead V8 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 (two for each side). During the war, it was chiefly used by Canadian forces as an artillery tractor. After the war, was used by Argentine, Swiss (300) and Netherlands forces.

• 2 cm Flak 38 auf Fahrgestell Bren(e): Single barrel German 2 cm Flak 38 cannon mounted over the engine compartment of a captured Bren carrier.
• 3.7 cm Pak auf Fahrgestell Bren(e): Captured carrier of 1940, reused by the Germans and fitted with a 3.7 cm PaK 36 gun.
• Panzerjäger Bren 731(e): Bren carriers captured by the Germans and fitted with a triple Panzerschreck transport rack as a tank destroyer. They were not fired from the Bren gun carrier, only transported.[20]

• Fiat 2800: In 1942, at the request of the Italian Army (Regio Esercito), Fiat produced a prototype carrier copied from a captured Universal Carrier; it was known as the Fiat 2800 or CVP-4. It is uncertain whether production vehicles were manufactured. Bren carriers captured by the Italians in the field were often fitted with Breda M37 machine guns.[21]

•  Australia[14]
•  Belgium (used by in-exile Belgian forces in the Middle Eastern regions during the war, after the country was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany in 1940)
•  Canada[22]
•  China: 1500 UCs supplied by Australia during the war,[14] with a sizeable number of these (about 400) being 3-inch mortar-carrier versions. The pro-Japanese Collaborationist Chinese Army also received carriers captured in Singapore by the Japanese.[23]
•  Czechoslovakia Mk.Is used by Czechoslovak battalion 11 in the Middle East, Mk.Is, Mk.IIs, Mk.IIIs, Mortars used by Czechoslovak Independent Armoured Brigade in UK and Western Europe, 15 UCs Mk.II received from the USSR - served in I Corps of the Czechoslovak Army-in-exile on the Eastern Front)
•  France: used by Free French Forces[24]
•  Nazi Germany (by the German Wehrmacht, which operated a small number of seized UC vehicles captured mainly from the UK)
•  Japan Used captured vehicles, many of them seized after the capture of Singapore.
•  Greece (fielded by Free Greek troops following the country's fall to Nazi German occupation in the Middle East, like the exiled Belgian military forces)[9]
• Azad Hind: The Indian National Army received carriers captured by Japan after the fall of Singapore.[23]
•  Ireland: 26 Mk. I carriers received in 1940 and 200 Mk. II carriers from 1943 to 1945.[25] Still in service in the 1960s.[26]
•  Kingdom of Italy: a few captured UCs used by the Regio Esercito unit of the Italian Army[27] and one locally produced copy (the Fiat 2800)
• Nederlandse regering in ballingschap: used by the Royal Netherlands Motorized Infantry Brigade.[28]
•  Poland: operated by the in-exile Polish Armed Forces in the West[29]
•  Portugal: the Portuguese Army received more than 178 universal carriers from 1942.
•  United Kingdom (the main operator in WWII)
•  United States (57 UCs en route for Canadian troop units in Hong Kong were in the Philippines when the Japanese invaded both Hong Kong and the Philippines, with 40 UCs taken over and operated by the US 1st Provisional Tank Group[30])
•  Soviet Union (received 200[14] before the end of 1941 and 2,560 Universal Carriers and similar Lloyd Carriers starting from then until the end of WWII in 1945[31])
•  Thailand (118 UCs operated in 1944, possibly supplied (covertly) by the UK)
• Yugoslav Partisans[32]
•  New Zealand[33]

•  Afghanistan[34]
•  Argentina (250, including T-16s, supplied by the UK between 1946 and 1950)[35]
•  Biafra (very likely obtained from a French trader, with some converted and modified locally with extra armour)[36]
•  Costa Rica
•  Egypt[26] (possibly provided by departing British forces from the Middle East)
•  France (small numbers used by the French expeditionary corps, the CEFEO, fighting in Indochina[37])
•  Israel[26] (received many from withdrawing British troops in Palestine, aside from buying them from the scrapyards of various European countries after WWII and capturing them from Egypt between their conflicts)
•  Kuwait (former British stocks, which were retired from frontline service in 1961)
•  Federal Republic of Germany (the Bundeswehr received 100 ex-British UCs in 1956)[26]
•  The Netherlands: a number operated following WWII (possibly ex-British UCs), especially in the independence war in their former colony of Indonesia (the Dutch East Indies) between 1945 and 1949, as part of the Indonesian National Revolution. A small number were lost and subsequently taken over by the new Indonesian Republic's military. Some were armed with a M40 recoilless rifle(Danish army).[26]
•   Switzerland (used and fielded predominantly US-built T16 versions of the Universal Carrier up until possibly the early 1960s)