Carrier Platoons and Companies
During the early years of the war all Australian infantry battalions were authorised a platoon of Universal Carriers. The Carrier Platoon's main roles were to transport the Battalion's crew served weapons and conduct reconnaissance. The carriers were also occasionally used to transport infantry.
Experience in New Guinea in 1942 demonstrated that, like almost all vehicles, the Universal Carrier was ill-suited to the dense jungle terrain common throughout the south-west pacific. As a result, when the Australian Army restructured its six front-line infantry divisions as Jungle Divisions in 1943 the infantry battalion Carrier Platoons were disbanded and replaced by a single divisional carrier company. The divisions which were retained on the British-pattern organisation retained their battalion carrier platoons. Due to the Universal Carrier's vulnerability in jungle terrain the divisional carrier companies were mainly used to transport supplies to forward positions and provide defence for the division's rear areas. While the carrier companies continued to train for offensive roles it is unclear if they were ever used for this purpose.
Universal Carriers were also issued to anti-tank and armoured regiments during the war:
- Several anti-tank regiments were issued with 2 pounder guns mounted on modified Australian-built Universal Carriers.
- Standard Universal Carriers were issued to the Army's Armoured Regiments in 1941 and early 1942 for training purposes and to provide the Army with a minimal armoured capability until the arrival of large numbers of M3 Grant and M3 Stuart tanks in April 1942.
Read more about this topic: Australian Armoured Units Of World War II
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