Bren carrier hedge row teeth info

[BIG MIKE]

Lads i'm looking for information or pictures on universal carrier's with the hedge row teeth attached to thier front , like on the shermans and stuart tanks in Normandy. Did they have them on UC's? thiers got to be sumthing out thier, i've looked everyware for field modifications with no luck . anything would be great right now Cheers Mike

[lightweight]

I couldn't find a picture of one with a hedge cutter on, but I did find this if you're looking to do something a little different!

 

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa64/lightweight0_3/UC_with_attachment_carrier_flotatio.jpg[/img]

 

 

[ford 369]

I think what you are talking about is called a Cullen hedge row device which was a field mod made from scrap iron but I do not know if they were fitted to carriers

Nigel

[Rick W]

Weren't they a beachead mod picked up from the German beach defences and cobbled together to put on the tanks?

[Bodge Deep]

Yes Cullins-Cullens Cutters... usually beach defences (hacked up hedgehogs)

Wasn't Cullins/Cullens the army engineer who came up with the idea?

 

Stuarts & Shermans but I don't recall ever seeing a Carrier with them fitted...

probably wrong though :whistle:

 

[AlienFTM]

Yes Cullins-Cullens Cutters... usually beach defences (hacked up hedgehogs)

Wasn't Cullins/Cullens the army engineer who came up with the idea?

 

Stuarts & Shermans but I don't recall ever seeing a Carrier with them fitted...

probably wrong though :whistle:

 

 

 

I personally doubt that a carrier had enough weight behind it to shift a centuries-old Normandy hedge. I'd expect the nose to dig in, the back end to lift and the clutch to burn out long before it even touched the root system.

 

I don't think a CVR(T) would have the umph to shift a Normady hedge.

 

But that is only IMO.

[Bodge Deep]

I wondered about that too... it'd take quite a bit of grunt to rive a hedge up by the roots I'da thought :dunno:

[Great War truck]

Did the British and Canadians encounter such a severe bocage problem as encountered by the Yanks? My thought was that the Eastern end of Normandy did not have such bocage and would not have needed the device fitted. I certainly have never seen a picture of a carrier with it on and would agree that their weight would not have been enough to push a hole through it anyway.

 

If you want to do something different with it convert it in to a Wasp or a Conger.

 

Tim (too)

[Jack]

Tim is correct there, the eastern flank was flat and empty. The Americans used them as mention on their Stuarts and Shermans and yes it was Cullins who invented this field mod to get through the hedgerows.

 

American intelligence was warned of the vast hedgerows but rejected it so much so that no man was trained in hedgerow combat. Ironically, the Big Red One that was based here in Dorset and Devon where in perfect hedgerow country, with Devon having bigger hedges than Dorset - perfect training ground - would of saved many lives.

 

Knowing a thing or two about hedges I would also agree that they would be more than useless on a UC. Even though the Shermans weighed in at 30 tonnes it was still not that straight forward for them, they were using GMCs full of TNT to blow holes in these hedgerows - they are that tough. If you charged into a hedgrow in UC I think that everyone will be smashed to pieces or ejected from it!

 

 

 

Somewhere in Normandy :dunno:

[LeeEnfield]

Never seen a UC fitted with this modification; as already mentioned, its a weight/momentum thing, and the UC, whilst nippy, didn't have the weight.

 

Might be worth aproaching the tank museum, Bovington, who have a dam good archive of stuff, for a POSITIVE answer. ;-)

 

Andy

[Bodge Deep]

RIVE? no thers a word you dont hear every day. Outside of Cumbria that is

 

 

I'm in Kendal... I'm allowed to use it! :-D