As I said in the previous chapter I was picked by the RSM to join the HQ carrier platoon as a driver. I was very fortunate to get this job and enjoyed my time serving in the carrier platoon throughout the war, they were a real good bunch of lads. I must have driven thousands of miles cross North Africa, Sicily and Italy, but I have never driven any kind of vehicle since the war
| The Universal Carrier was often called a Bren gun carrier by us . The Carrier was the only fully tracked APC used by the British Army during W.W.II. It was employed in various versions, from radio carrier to flame thrower carrier. Weighing about 5 tons, the Carrier could do over 30 mph and would go just about any where. It was basically a little tank that was used for troop transport, ammunition carriers and forward reconnaissance vehicles. |
 |
| The armor was only a quarter inch thick and its only armament was a 303 Bren gun mounted next to the driver. This machine gun was the work horse of the British army in the war. The Bren was developed in the mid 1930's by Enfield in partnership with the Czech Bruno company to mimic the Czech ZB26 Light Machine Gun. The name was derived from "BR" for Bruno, and "EN" for Enfield. Production proper of the Bren began at Enfield in 1937 |
 |
Most of Enfield's manufacturing ability was used during the war to produce Bren Guns. It was designed to fire a standard .303 rifle cartridge from a removable 30 round magazine (known as a "cartridge charger" by the British.) The Bren was designed to be used as a light group support weapon which could be carried by a single soldier and deliver a short but powerful burst of automatic fire equivalent to that of a Vickers belt fed Machine Gun. It could fire full or semi automatically and was almost unrivaled for it's accuracy. During the war the Bren was manufactured in two styles, the Mk 1 and the Mk II. The Mk 1 was manufactured only in Canada, while the Mk II was manufactured in both Canada and the UK. The only significant difference between the two was external. The Mk 1 came fitted with a "dial" ranging site, a folding charging handle, and a removable secondary handle fitted under the butt stock. The Mk II was more of an economy model with a simple "peep hole" ranging site, a slightly simpler butt stock, and a fixed charging handle. It was considered one of the finest guns in the world and still remains in service today with many countries.
| I was taught to drive the carrier by Sgt. Evens. He was a hard task master and had a large drill stick that he would bash your hands with if you did not double clutch when changing gears. You either learnt fast or had a very bruised hand by the end of the day. After about a week he had taught us well enough for any of us to take these little tanks just about any where no matter how rough the terrain was. |
 |
The first carriers we were issued with had tiller steering like a real tank. You had to be very careful how you handled the tillers or you could send the carrier into a spin. Later the Battalion was issued with the Ford V8 engine carriers that had been built in Canada. These were a lot easier to drive because they had a steering wheel like a car. As a driver you had to make sure that your carrier was all ways in good working order. This meant knowing a little about how the engine worked and keeping the tracks in good condition by checking the pins very day
| The carriers carried 5 men. The Commander/Gunner, Driver and 3 riflemen. We carried hand grenades, flares, Extra ammunition, water, food, 2 Jerry cans of petrol, spare split pins in case the tracks broke, shovels and pickaxes. Now that we had learnt to drive the carriers the next month or so was taken up with more training with the rest of the Battalion getting ready for the coming battle |
 |
|
|
|
