"carrier sections piat and 2" mortar" Topic

1 carrier with piat and 1 with 2" inch mortar but how were they mounted and was the intention that they were from the carrier.

Cheers
Jesper

I would expect them to be used dismounted as the carriers were generally used for transport, not combat.

I think as we've noted on a few threads, there was an adaptation of the 2-inch mortar that could be fired from a carrier. The PIAT could be fired from an enclosed place as there was no back blast, so could be fired over the lip of the side armour, though I think that might be somewhat adventurous given the reloading spring.

Generally speaking dismounted action was preferred, as it was always underlined that carriers were not tanks and should not be handled in a cavalier manner, as they were basically only protected against rifle calibre fire.

Gary

here there is an indication that it was to be fired from the gunner position but looks odd (scroll down)http://www.6thaarr.com/universal-carrier.html
and can't see how it's mounted.
Here is one with 2" fired from the carrier.
link
And here is a deployment of the carrier section in combat. (scroll down to picture 10)http://www.perthregiment.org/rperth13.html seems the 2 inch was manned and fired from the carrier, again no info on what mounting, piat left on the carrier.
Here is a 2 inch mounting in gunners position (scroll to Lynn Eades reply)http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/showthread.php?t=14407 but at odds with the above picture where it is fired from passenger position, but good picture of how it is mounted.

As one of the main uses of the 2" mortar was to lay smoke being able to fire it from the carrier to enable the carriers to be screened from fire would seem a useful thing. If you are close enough to a tank to fire a PIAT from the carrier you are in big trouble. Even in a shoot and scoot situation if your PIAT round doesn't take down the tank you have problems.

There's another shot of the 2-inch mortar in firing position on that same google images page, third from the left on the top row. Looks like a very large shotgun from that angle, chimes nicely with the MLU image. At least I wasn't just imagining about the 2-inch with an enlarged base plate.

Re the PIAT, the two sketches on the 6th Abn Armd Recce Regt page show stowage for Scout Pl carriers in a Mot Bn. The first has the PIAT and the Bren both held in 'ready position' adjacent to the gunner's position, while the second image shows them stowed in the rear of the vehicle. Obviously the Bren is close at hand for the gunner, but not in a position to be fired, and looks the same for the PIAT.

Now we know that the firing aperture of the carrier could accommodate the Bren gun and the Boys anti-tank rifle, but was it wide enough for a PIAT?

Gary

It's my understanding the 2" mortar mounted on the carrier was only supposed to be used for smoke and illumination.