Description

The Universal Carrier is a common name describing a family of light armoured tracked vehicles built by Vickers-Armstrong. Produced between 1934 and 1960, the vehicle was used widely by British Commonwealth forces, Polish Armed Forces in the West and Red Army (by Lend-Lease deliveries) during the Second World War. Universal Carriers were usually used for transporting personnel and equipment, mostly support weapons (mortars and flamethrowers) or as machine gun platforms. With some 113000 built in the United Kingdom and abroad, it was the most produced allied armoured fighting vehicle in history. The Universal Carrier was produced in Great Britain by Aveling-Barford, Ford, Sentinel, Thornycroft, and Wolseley Motors. By 1945 production amounted to approximately 57000 of all models, including some 2400 early ones. The Ford Motor Company of Canada manufactured about 29000 of the Universal Carriers. Smaller numbers of them were also produced in Australia (about 5000), New Zealand (about 1300) and United States and India.