Not sure if this is the correct place? A book I am currently reading has the author refer to Bren carriers being used in the defence of Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. I was not aware of this and wondered if this is correct and if so was it standard equipment at all? The book is Combat Officer - A Memoir of War In The Sout Pacific by Charles H. Walker ISBN 0-345-46385-4 From the book The Bren only seems mentioned in relation to Guadalcanal and on some rear area islands and is not mentioned in later island battles and apart from the short action above seems to have been mainly used as a carrier rather than in any fighting role. Any thoughts or information on this anyone?
I got put onto the following by a chap in the Axis History forum. http://www.mapleleafup.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2781&highlight=american Seems there were Bren carriers in use The debate on that thread seems to be wether they were the Brit or NZ manufactured carriers.
The Germans also used some captured Bren Carriers in combat. One version I saw had three panzerschrecks mounted on it, though it only saw limited use towards the end of the war, mainly in Berlin.
universal carrier the us built a copy of the bren called the universal carrier. the 2 looked alike but had different drivelines and the copy was not as good as the real bren carrier. they had a habit of showing up in odd places.
Wasn't "Bren" just a popular name for a vehicle actually called "Universal Carrier" in the British military too?
You are correct Roel. It was also built in Canada, New Zealand and Australia I think so if a version was also built in USA, you could say it really was a "universal" carrier for the allies. It got the common name of Bren since thats what it was normally armed with in British service, though some in the desert had Boyes AT rifles instead of the Bren and later some were used for carrying mortars.
2 different carriers according to Hogg the 2 were different. the bren was a gun carrier while the universal was an attempt to modify it into a more widely useful carrier. the attempt did not go well.
The Universal Carrier was used in a wide variety of roles in ETO including field ambulance, flamethrower AFV and gun tractor. As far as I know it was succesful in all roles, even though in many it didn't carry a Bren at all.
