Evening star., 1941-11-08

allowed to shoot
Henry McLsmOre. Bren gun and
ride Bren carrier. At the close of.
the demonstration he wished the
procedure had been reversed and
that he had been allowed to ride
the gun and shoot the carrier.
The Bren carrier is that entirely
respectable appearing little vehicle
you see running about the roads of
England in the neWsreel shots.
Built along the lines of a pony cart
1t has a fine air of innocence and
on seeing it for the first time man
wouldn't hesitate to tell his family
to pile in and enjoy a spin down the
road. Certainly it deceived the
American correspondent Having
been on maneuVers with the I'd
Armored Division of the United
States Army and ridden in all the
vertebrae dlslocators it boasts. from
Jeeps to medium tanks, he took a
seat in the Bren carrier with all the
assurance of banker easing down
I in the cushions of his limousine.
No one had told him that the
Bren carrier is perhaps the most
| efficient of all armored vehicles. No
one had told him that the Bren
carrier, despite the fact that it
weighs little more than four tons
and is an open job, has displaced
the light tanks in the British Army.
( Originally designed for the single
purpose of transporting Bren guns
and men to given point and then
rushing back for more, it now does
/ everything In other words, it
( started out to be a carrier, pure and
simple, but like the scrub football
player who, when given chance
in the big game, outShone the stars
and earned his varsity letter, the
Bren carrier is now an ace on the
British starting team.
| The nearest thing TO Bren car
/ rier that the United States Army
/ has is the half-track, a truck with
wheels and tracks. 1t should take
/ advantage of the unguarded frontier
or the friendliness of the Canadians
to get blueprint of the Bren carrier
and copy it. It is as fast and mobile
as a racing car, has tracks al
around
The terrain selected TO show the
visiting correspondent what the car
rier would do was patch Of the
Canadian Wilds not far from Niagara
Falls.
AS if nature had not made these
woods wild enough. engineers had
snooped through 1t (using Indian
guides to keep from getting lost. OF
course and stippled it with tank
traps boulders. quagmires and other
unpleasant obstacles.
The Bren carrier entered these
woods at exactly 12:45 pm. At l245
and a fraction the correspondent
would have gladly exchanged his
seat for one in a barrel going over
the falls. Because on entering the
woods the Bren carrier forgot that
/ it was just carry-all and assumed
the belligerent attitude of tank.
/ 1t shook its fist at trees. slapped
/ the faces of giant rocks, challenged
precipices and laid down the law TO
stumps and abysses, if that is the
plural of abyss. And all this was
done at breakneck speed. -.
On one leg of their course land
this really happened) the machine
was confronted by cliff which, if it
weren't actually perpendicular, was
certainly straight up and down
enough to be called perpendicular.
The ''ular" might have been miss
ing, but nothing more At the foot
of this cliff was a COW. 1t was obvious
to any one who knows anything
about COWS that this one was de-
batting as to the wisdom of trying
to make the ascent. Shed start
timidly forward and then retreat.
After about five false starts she
came to the conclusion that the
climD was impossible and started
an encircling movement to the left.
With a roar of its motors which
seemed to say You sissy, you" the
Bren carrier started up the cliff.
Unable to applaud such courage the
COW turned and watched with look
of admiration in its eyes. 1t was
probably the first time in history
that British Columbians had rushed
in where COW feared to tread.
Following the demonstration of
the carrier the correspondent was
taken to the firing range and al
lowed to shoot a Bren gun. 1t was
all he could do to keep from turn
ing 1t on himself and putting him.
self out of his misery.
Therell always be an England as
long as its men have Bren carriers
to fight from. But it'll be a sore
England, an England on whose
bumps and bruises the sun never
sets.
distributed by McNaught Syndicate. IncI