Universal carrier pulling a 17pdr.....HOW? Arnhem

[Alex van de Wetering]

A good friend is preparing a new Market Garden book. While doing research, he found multiple accounts of Airborne MkIII Carriers being used to pull 17pounders from their positions around Arnhem.
I hear you say....."the Morris C8/AT was the tractor for the 17pounder, not the carrier"..... and that's exacty that why I am posting it here! From the accounts it seems more than one Morris broke down and carriers were used as replacement.....but how?

As far as I know the Airborne carriers had their towing hook removed, so how would they have pulled a 17pdr? I don't think they would go to the trouble of removing the towing assembly from the Morris and putting it on the carrier....so....could they have used chains or a cable to secure the gun to the rear axle? or maybe the loops on the front armour and pulling it backwards? Any ideas?

There are rumours that airborne carrier crews were trained to use rope or chain to move different loads, including guns. Is anyone able to confirm this?

Last but not least....a 17pdr is a pretty heavy gun, if a carrier is used to pull it, wouldn't it point towards the stars with the nose, due to the heavy load???

Guys, any ideas are more than welcome.

regards,

Alex

[Niels V]

Didnt the carriers have two "eyes" on the rear, I think with rope/wire/chain it should be possible to two a gun specially if it had a jockey wheel.
The regular 17Pdr QF AT is pretty damm heavy, I move one regularly, and would imagine that a carrier would struggle, maybe the use the same principle as the Germans and lashed two carries together when towing?
But I am guessing that they didn't think much about if the carries would struggle, and in the situation just did what ever it took

[shaun]

Yes, The 17pdr is a heavy gun , but very well balanced.infact the 6pdr is far heavier on the hitch than a 17pdr ( I have both )
A carrier would not bat an eye lid at towing a 17pdr. Easy to hitch up with chains ( I doubt at the time in action they would be to worried about scratching some paint on the tool plate)

[Petr Brezina]

The "airborne spec" carrier from the rear. Seems to be possible to chain up 17pdr to the lifting eyes. I think it just needed a tricky driving when using the brakes - to not to damage differential, other parts were not important.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Niels, Shaun, Petr,

Thanks for your comments and ideas. Very much appreciated!
We did indeed speak about the lifting eyes...I just wasn't sure they were beefy enough to take the weight of the 17pdr.

Yes, The 17pdr is a heavy gun , but very well balanced.infact the 6pdr is far heavier on the hitch than a 17pdr ( I have both )

That's interesting Shaun....so that would mean the Carrier would stay pretty level with the 17pdr hooked up(?)....or would it still climb with the nose, when the crew started actually pulling?

Alex

[Jim Burrill]

Holland is Flat!