Universal Carrier

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"Oi Wilson, watch where you swinging that gun ya blighter."

"Where a goat can go, a man can go. Where a man can go, he can drag a gun."

– William Phillips, Major General of the British Army

The Universal carrier, more commonly known as the Bren Carrier, holds the record as the most produced armored vehicle in history. It primarily served in the British Army as an IFV equipped with a Bren LMG (Thus the name). It had a reputation as being a reliable workhorse. Much like the Sherman or Churchill, there were variants for just about anything.

Early War

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IRL

Where the Wehrmacht had Trucks (and horses) and the Soviets had Trains (and horses), the British had the Universal Carrier (and no horses). Designed in the 30s, The Bren Carrier was first produced to meet a request from the War office for a replacement for their current fleet of Artillery Tractors. Several variants were intially, ordered, but eventually a single design was settled upon to be the "Universal" design. The Universal Carrier was so ubiquitous, it could be found wherever the British had a presence (so, everywhere), with this ubiquity (and the general level of mechanisation of the British Army) in part due to the massive depletion of British horse supplies due to that previous kerfuffle and the loss of their stud farms in Ireland after its independence.

Most often Bren Carriers served in their intended roles as Artillery tugs, and were mostly used to drag QF-6 pounders. However, they also served in Carrier sections and usually carried either a Boys AT rifle or a PIAT, as well as a 2 in. Mortar in each section in addition to the Bren guns equipped on each vehicle. While the British did experiment with Mechanized battalions (in halftracks and the like), the majority of their infantry tended to travel with heavy equipment towed by Universal Carriers, or under support of their tanks.

Of the Subvariants, the most notable and interesting are the Wasp, which carried a Flamethrower, and the Praying Mantis, a development by the British to provide fighting platforms for their troops that could see over the Hedgerows being used by the Germans during the Normandy campaign, though ultimately this design saw limited service.