Equipment of Carriers in the Carrier Platoon

[Christopher Ono]

Hello,

Michael Dorosh suggested that I try to pick the brains of the experts here on this forum regarding a question which I had. He specifically suggested that Geoff Winnington-Ball might have the answer.

The No. 4 Platoon of a Canadian light infantry battalion in WWII (circa 1944-45) has on its TO&E 13 carriers.

I assume that these would be the Windsor universal carriers for the most part. I know that the various carriers dedicated to towing/carrying (in the AT platoon and mortar platoon) were generally unarmed.

My question is:

Would any of these carriers in the carrier platoon be modified to be Bren gun carriers or otherwise armed, or would they be unarmed as a rule?

I've seen units with Vickers MMGs mounted, but I believe these were typically part of the Divisional MG units and not from the standard infantry battalion carrier platoon.

As a follow on question while I'm here, were Wasp-type carriers simply modifications of carriers already in the battalion, or were they assigned from division or specially formed units?

Thanks in advance.

[Mark W. Tonner]

Christopher;

Below is a basic Orbat for a Cdn Carrier Platoon 1944-45:

Cheers

[Christopher Ono]

Thank you very much for the illustration - I have seen the TO&E on paper in a typed format but not illustrated as shown above.

Any insight into whether any of the carriers indicated would be armed with bren guns, Boys ATRs (earlier on) or PIAT launchers, or did that vary from battalion to battalion? I am running on the assumption (as mentioned above) that they were all unarmed but I have yet to see documented evidence either way.

Thanks for the response. I suppose I will have to dig further...

Chris, essentialy the UC was a delivery vehicle not an AFV. It was desiged to transport a Bren team and two Riflemen to a desired location while possibly under fire. On the insides of the rear compartment you will notice there are metal bars tacked on the sides to create slots. These slots held a leather bag with a dozen Bren mags. The bags also had a shoulder strap. I doubt that they were often used in this manner but we were still being trained in the drill after the war.
The Mortar and 6pdr carriers did much the same thing they delivered the weapon to the site where it was to be used then retired to await the "H for Horses" signal to come and pick the weapon up.
One piece of equipment that is not often mentioned is sand bags the drivers would often line the bottom of their compartment with them as extra protection against mines.
Having said all that we know there were many modifications to suit specialized purposes.

www.dileas.mapleleafup.org

[Mark W. Tonner]

Christopher;

First of three scans concerning carrier stowage, I do not have a date for these sketches:

# 1:

[Mark W. Tonner]

# 2:

[Mark W. Tonner]

# 3:

[Mark W. Tonner]

Christopher;

Your original question was:

Would any of these carriers in the carrier platoon be modified to be Bren gun carriers or otherwise armed, or would they be unarmed as a rule?

An answer:

The carrier platoon had 9x Bren LMG's =

1x Bren LMG in the platoon commander's carrier
2x Bren LMG in each section of three carriers (2 carriers armed with a Bren, 1 not armed)

4x three carrier sections with 2x Bren per section = 8 Bren LMG's
1x platoon commander's carrier with 1x Bren LMG

Total: 9x Bren LMG's per platoon.

[Christopher Ono]

Ah. It appears that I was operating under a misconception. I had thought that Bren Gun carriers (and other variants) were universal carriers which had been specially modified (via welding/cutting/etc.) to have a more or less semi-permanent Bren LMG (or other armament) to fire through the forward port in a flexible mount of some sort.

From these diagrams it appears that the configuration was fully customizable and could include (optionally) no armament, a Bren Gun, a Boys ATR or even a Boys AND a Bren at the same time. I take it these weapons were "loose" in the sense that they could be mounted in the port as shown and then dismounted when necessary?

I now understand the configuration possibilities better. Thank you very much for posting the diagrams, as well as your specific armament response.

[Mark W. Tonner]

Cheers