wc dodge

[Nick Balmer]

Hello,

The only threatre of war where the British used Dodge 3/4 ton T214 WC 52 weapons carriers during World War II appears to have been South East Asia, in Burma and India.

They don't appear to have been used in the Middle East until just after the end of the war. The 15th/19th Hussars had them in Palestine by late 1945 and up until 1947 at least when they went to Sudan.

The earlier versions of 1/2 Dodge Weapons carriers, ambulances and fitted for radio were used by British and Polish forces in Italy in quite large numbers.

I would imagine that this was because the American's undestandably had decided to standardise on the more capable 3/4 ton version, and had passed the earlier models on to their Allies.

A photo taken in Palestine or possibly the Canal Zone shows the weapons carrier to be a dark colour, presumably Olive Drab, or perhaps a British green. The had on the righthand rear panel a 41 on an arm of service badge, which is probably green over dark blue.

The other markings are sadly concealed behind soldiers in the photo.

This unit had a mixture of Sherman Tanks, Canadian GMC C15 TA armoured personnel carriers, M9 Halftracks, Bedford QL, and MWD trucks.

Regards

Nick Balmer