Take A Ride In A WW2 Universal Carrier 

Impressive service record.

@@historicalmachines Thanks for the reply. Dad was a very humble man. In fact I had to hound him to tell me about his experiences during the war. He would say I'm no hero, I was just doing my job and doing what had to be done. His advice was to avoid war at all cost, and that there was nothing glorious about 'the meatgrinder'. A classic example of this was during Operation Desert Shield in the build up for Desert Storm in 1990/91. We were watching the news on TV, and the 'green young American soldiers were shouting "We're gonna kick ass, we're gonna kick ass!" Dad very quietly mumbled; "We'll see what they're like when the 'nuts and bolts' start flying".

Well .... almost 85 years later ... ;-)

It was the ATV in the day. In fact there is archival footage of Bren Carriers almost doing 90 degree drops and still being able to keep going forward.

William Scott I believe, when the seat's raised up as in this case, it also moves forward. As you say though, a tight squeeze.

I don't know about American vehicles but I think quite a few British vehicles have similar arrangements

That's a Vickers not a Bren, this would ruin your units day, that's for sure!

It really did. In fact when the Germans captured a few, they recognized how good it was and appropriated the design. When it's so good that the enemy starts using them, you know you hit a home run.

@@jakublesko4847 113,00 in total I believe

Not to mention because Commonwealth nations couldn't get enough of this they made tank conversion of the Kangaroo, essentially making the modren Armored Personnel Carriers.

Ernest Johnson Typically WW2 tracked vehicles are steered by application of the brakes on the side you wish to turn towards. The Differential then ensures that the outside track is driven faster than the inside one, causing the vehicle to turn.

Ernest Johnson "The steering mechanism in Universal Carriers is both ingenious and complex. Turning the steering wheel left or right first acts upon a cam which slides a central shaft connected to the front road wheel assemblies left or right, in effect serving to 'warp' the tracks in the direction you want to turn. This by itself will generate a drift in whatever direction you're turning, which is enough for minor changes of course, but not enough for distinct change in direction. That is accomplished by turning the wheel farther, which then begins to activate the drum brake on whatever side you're turning. (It should be noted at this point that a carrier doesn't turn like a wheeled vehicle; because of the combination of track warp - at the center line - and braking, it actually slews more or less on the center axis.)"

***** Thanks for your info,

+Francis5795 Because some Universal carriers were armed with Vickers m/gs.

Some of these things were even modded to take along flame throwers.

@@historicalmachines my dad drove one of these , from D-Day onwards , he was in the Middlesex regiment, and yes he said they had vickers machine guns and were called machine gun carriers

They had to. But even then the armor was less than an inch thick.

IIRC the seat could be set lower and then you look out through a slit in the armour

compwiz101: Then again, I would suppose that it wasn't necessarily a front line vehicle. Although exposed to danger from time to time, it must have been used mainly for resupply and casualties I would think.

@@chippledon1 As I recall, these were also used to support assaults, fitted with Vickers, Bren, or flamethrowers. Still more protection than the infantry running with them had!

compwiz101: This is true !!

I think the problem with the vickers was that: 1) too big for the weapon hole 2) you would need a whole gun crew dedicated to fire that thing where as the bren gun can be operated easily by one man

Your friendly neighbourhood Nazi treads

Then it would be a tank, and these were not designed for the same job as a tank...

At least full traverse 360° machine gun.

@@sidobakul7008 this wasnt meant for conflict

@@artilleryfire6576 you are funny dude🤣

@@sidobakul7008 and what do you mean by that?

I'd call it one of the best. That's why they used it throughout the war and the Brits made over 100,000 of them. Cheap, functional, versatile. They weren't generally used as front line combat vehicles but more as armoured go-anywhere transports. Perfect for bringing ammunition and supplies up to the front line and evacuating casualties back to the rear.

one of the worst vehicles in ww2 was definetly the maus

@@jrd33 Or towing support weapons like AT guns and light artillery.

Did you not notice the large compartment in the back for carrying infantry and stores?

It's a transport, not a battletank. And as a transport it's very, very good. The US used trucks in the same role but they didn't handle muddy roads and offroad performance was out of the question. These things didn't care whether there was or was not a road, they could traverse whatever.