The Bren Gun by Neil Grant

Author:Neil Grant
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The Bren Gun
ISBN: 9781782000846
Publisher: Osprey Publishing Ltd

Since repeated stripping and reassembly, cocking and dry-firing led to wear and poor fit of the working parts of the gun, old and worn-out guns were deactivated and converted into ‘Drill Purpose’ guns for recruit training, clearly marked as ‘DP’ in white paint. The 1942 edition of the manual also found it necessary to urge stripping and reassembly be limited to that necessary for cleaning, and to prohibit practising stripping and assembly ‘against the clock’, though this prohibition was not always obeyed.

Of course, men did not always remember their training perfectly amid the adrenalin of combat. Lieutenant Tony Pawson of 10th Rifle Brigade recalls ambushing a German motorcycle and side-car in Tunisia in early 1943:

I had a Bren gun. Instead of lying down and firing in short bursts, I was so excited I fired the whole magazine standing up from the hip. I planned to fire at the motorcycle to prevent it getting away, but missed. One of the Germans had a go at me. I was stupidly still standing up. Despite all my Bren gun training I couldn’t understand why it wasn’t firing – of course the magazine was empty and I hadn’t got another magazine handy. (Quoted in Thompson 2010: 277–78)

Other men went to the opposite extreme, focusing on the drills they had practised no matter what was going on around them. Sergeant James Bellows of 1st Royal Hampshire remembered that on D-Day:

I witnessed something that you only expect to see in training. These two men were firing with their Bren gun ... the gun jammed. They both slithered to the bottom of the hole they were in. With a Bren gun you’ve got a wallet with various parts and various tools for various stoppages, and they opened the wallet, as on par for parade, took out their tools, stripped their gun, cleared their fault, put it back together again, closed the wallet, even put the little straps through their brass links, then went back up the hill and carried on firing. (Quoted in Bailey 2009: 319)

Most men, of course, fell somewhere between the two extremes.

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