Believe it or not, but this belonged to the cargo of the Thistlegorm!
You might know the two ‘tanks’ at the SS THISTLEGORM wreck. Actually there were quite a lot on board when it sunk. During the Second World War, they were lifted up from the wreck and got repaired. These British “Universal carrier” aka “Bren gun carrier” were armored personnel carriers. Nickname “Bren carrier” came from Bren light machine gun placed on the right from drivers site, it shot trough a narrow slit. The gun could be removed and used by foot soldier as standard lmg. Bren carrier carried typically four men and/or equipments, it could also tow a 57mm anti-tank gun. In 1967, during the six days war, they were dumped off a cliff into the water to prevent falling into the hands of the Israelis.
Now they lie in a depth of around 6 – 40m. The tank Graveyard is close to the Travco Harbour in Sharm el Sheikh. I counted 5 “Bedford trucks” and 32 “Bren Carrier MK-1” tanks. Don’t miss this underwater museum when you are close to Sharm.
Peter Collings compared their serial numbers to the cargo of the Thistlegorm and proved that they were really on that ship. I counted 29 of them. One is still resting on the cliff. I scanned the area some days ago during our wreck dive Safari.
Two ‘Tanks’ at the Thistlegorm
There are still two Universal Carriers at the Thistlegorm wreck.
(link to the Thistlegorm here)
Model
I scanned the site in one dive and made this nice model. You can find it in the Download area.