The Bren Gun

The Infantry Company has 9

The Carrier Platoon come under HQ Company hence the HQ having 14. Without the Carriers the Company HQ would only have 4 which would be in the AA Platoon.

Just to add a bit more each gun (50) in an Infantry Battalion would have a 1,000 rounds and 25,000 rounds held in Platoon, Company and Battalion Reserve.

 

I did a little reading before going to bed last night and checked on George Forty's Handbook of the British Army and the Osprey Batallion and Company Tactics. There is also that beautiful site BayonetStrength.

It boils down to this:what batallion are we speaking about, Rifle or Motor batallion? If it's Rifle then the Carrier Pt. comes under the Batallion HQ, if Motor the there is a CP under each Company.

Rifle:
Carrier Platoon - the Bren carrier was an attempt to provide a fully tracked, lightly armoured vehicle, which could transport a Bren gun team across exposed ground and set up a firing position to support the advance of the Rifle Platoons.
In its earliest form the Platoon operated ten Bren carriers, with a HQ and three Sections of three carriers each. Platoon HQ had a single machine crewed by the Platoon Commander, driver-mechanic and batman. Each of the three Sections had three carriers, with an NCO, rifleman and driver-mechanic in each vehicle. The first carrier was commanded by a Sergeant, the other two each by Corporals. Each carrier mounted a Bren gun, and one in each Section also had an anti-tank rifle. There was also a 15-cwt truck with its attached driver from the Admin Platoon.
Motor:
The Scout Platoon is perhaps the most striking feature of the Battalion and provided each Company with its own Carrier Platoon. Each carrier had a commander, gunner and driver. There were three carriers per Section, plus a motorcycle orderly, and three Sections per platoon. Platoon HQ deployed two more carriers, plus two Scout Cars and two motorcycles. Each carrier and Scout Car had a Bren gun, and each carrier a Boys anti-tank rifle.

 

Hi Combover.
We certainly had a Bren to each platoon. Maybe more, I never counted them....Rifles Stens and Piats along with huge amounts of explosives and mines, with more available from the RE Field park stores. I carted the Bren about. And I must say I much preferred it to a rifle.

Even more so, when we took over from the infantry on offensive patrols, out on the deserted villages (like Vortum) on the wetlands near the River Maas.

Though after 67 years I still recall it with a feeling of "Did I do all of that"? Then again I certainly did. It was a completely different world.....

 

"Did I do all of that"? Then again I certainly did.

Phrase Of The Year!

 

To be perfectly honest. When I look back at the things we did, and the battles we took part in, then although still very realistic, its a hell of a long time ago.

What is odd, is that everything for me remains in my mind with such clarity. Not bad for a very old man .... Bugger it

 

Sir, the other day I had an exchange with a member of the forum whom I congratulated on a award received. The response was "That's nothing, just a Been There, Done That medal". My reply can only be: "I was Not there, and I did Nothing".

Thank you.

 

A few personal notes about the Bren.

I first fired a .303 version with drum sites in 1980 at the time the Cadet unit I was with had a mixture of .303 Brens with Drum and Leaf sights.
We had 2 different length barrels which were variously explained away as jungle version, (we also had No 4 and No 5 Lee Enfields) or an attempt to decrease the accuracy.

I joined the army in 1983 and had the LMG as my personal weapon until I got an LSW in 1993 (each Sapper field section was issued with an LMG).

We had an AA mount for the weapon but it was a monopod and none too stable.
You still got a spare parts wallet (also containing a spare gas plug for an SLR 'same as the GPMG kit did' but we were never issued spare barrels)
1 box of twelve mags were issued per gun with myself carrying 6 mags in my ammo pouches and one on the weapon my No 2 would carry the rest somewhere. (One of the other troops in the squadron mounted the magazine boxes onto old radio carry frames and carried them on their backs).
We had canvas covers for the LMG's to protect them when they were mounted on the vehicles (we used to really well oil the canvas)

Loved the weapon and never had any faults with the weapon itself although did have a few burns from expended cases (especially if the commander of my 432 was firing while I was driving 'ouch down the neck'. Same happened when doing quick anti-air action were the No 2 holds the bipod above his head while standing and the No 1 fires the weapon)

We had one bloke on the range who fired his LMG next to me and watched his barrel go about 5 ft down the range after a couple of rounds (had not locked the barrel properly)

The worst thing I can remember about the Bren and that changed with the LMG was the replacement of the multi part magazine release catch for a single unit (no more risk of losing the springs)

Something that always stuck with me as well was the claim by the instructors that the smallest part had the longest name (the little ball bearing you depressed to remove the barrel locking nut)
'Barrel Locking Nut Retainer Plunger'

 

Now I used the Bren when I was in the forces and it was a very accurate weapon, now had it been belt fed rather than hauling those magazines around then it would been super. Now how many of you used it on a fixed tripod so that you could sweep an area in front of you at night with sustained fire.

 

Something that always stuck with me as well was the claim by the instructors that the smallest part had the longest name (the little ball bearing you depressed to remove the barrel locking nut)
'Barrel Locking Nut Retainer Plunger'

My Grandfather told me that. Apprently it was 'spring mounted barrel locking nut retaining pin and plunger.'

 

I flipped the channel just in time last night to catch Sean Connery's brief scene in the Longest Day, where he was talking to the British beach master with the bulldog.

In the States we had Jack Hogan's 'Kirby'.

If you ask anyone here who grew up in the fifties and sixties what a 'BAR' is, I'll bet they say the rifle that Kirby carried in the "Combat!" TV series, even if they are not a WWII buff.

It was a must see on Tuesday nights. Anyone know if it was on in Canada?

 

Pardon my ignorance, but what was the requirement for the BAR once the M1 Garand came into service? The cartridge was the same, right?

 

Yes it was the same cartridge as the M1, and .30 Browning,

It was fully automatic though and and provided additional firepower at the squad level. It wasn't crew served like the BREN but other squad members often carried additonal magazines for it.

 

Hi Guys, this is my first post on the forum. I've been reading through the thread and I thought I would post a pic of one of my recent purchases. Take a good look and see if anyone can ID it.



And some other stuff from my collection, This is a pic of my Bren Fixed Line Sight (Mentioned earlier in the thread)



This one shows the FLS Mounted (Not mine)



L4A2/4



My Lithgows



All the best.

 

You appear to have a VERY early Mk1 with Mk1M barrel.

 

.303 Bren and 7.62mm LMG (Bren conversion) My last posting included taking cadets on the ranges they were still 1980s equipped with .303 Bren. Wonderful bit of kit! The .303 has a sound of it's own. Nice to double tap with. The GPMG has a beaten zone where the fall of shot falls in a circular pattern at closer ranges and elongates into a cigar shape at longer ranges so guns would where possible fire a pattern over the target are, ideally three criss cross patterns to 'beat' the area. The .303 round Mk 7/8 was a harder hitting round because of it's mass although not as high velocity as the 7.62mm, I can still list the IAs (Immediate actions) Gun stops, cock gun ,mag off check mag for bad filling, mag on continue, gun stops again, cock gun, mag off, safety on, slide gun back, lift barrel locking handle, move gas regulator up one setting. barrel back, lock handle, safety off continue firing. Magazines filled 28 rounds to ease springs, ten mags rapid change to second barrel -each gun had two. A blank firing barrel could be issued, this had a half moon plat across the flash hider, to break up the wooden bulleted blank. Reliable, accurate and when in full chat - pure music.

 

You appear to have a VERY early Mk1 with Mk1M barrel.

Its not a mk1,

I was hoping this would catch people out. You need to look carefully and then you will see the diffrences.

The L4A2/4 is Ex Falklands Islands defence force, I also have a 1973 L4A4 which is Ex New Zealand Army.

 

Czec ZGB-30 .303 prototype ?

 

ZGBvz34, virtually a Czech made pre-production Bren. I think we had two at Enfield for trials followed by 62 for troop trials in December 1934..

Regards
TonyE

 

Well well. Everyday is a school day. That's a very nice thing to have!

 

John Inglis Co. Ltd., produced 186,802 Mk 1 Bren Guns for Canadian and other Commonwealth countries.