There are times when an army has just the right weapon needed for the job to be done. Sometimes this weapon is developed at home and sometimes it comes from outside the country. Such is the latter case when it comes to the Bren gun. Developed by Czech armament industry, initially for their own country, but also for export, it was produced as the Zb 26 and submitted along with a number of other weapons from the UK and other nations, for a 1930 competition. This competition was to find a light machine gun to augment or replace the very heavy Vickers-Maxim gun.

The Americans had developed the BAR which was the sort of thing the British were looking for. However, this weapon has several down sides, among them the inability to change the barrel and the wrong calibre of ammunition. Other guns tested were the Vickers-Berthier, a Masden gun, the French Darne and the Kirali-Ende from Switzerland. As a 'control' a current Lewis maching gun was also tested. The Zb 26 ended up the clear winner as it was one of those guns that was almost without fault and met all specs. The Vicker was second place and this gun was actually placed in production for the Indian Army and British forces in India at a factory in India. Mainly because it was close and easier to manufacture.

The Bren had several benefits over other guns in that it had a top loading clip, had covers to keep out dirt, something important when it came time to fight in the desert, and it could be used with a mount for 'standard' use and also as an anti-aircraft weapon. It was also light enough to be fired from the hip. An interesting note is that the gun was often too accurate in that when firing at a group of soldiers, one was often the recipient of most of the bullets with the others being unscathed. Experienced Bren gunners utilized worn barrels to increase the spray pattern of the bullets.

The Bren was used in great numbers during WWII by British and Commonwealth forces and was also the main gun of its type used by them in Korea as well as the many 'bush wars' the British were involved with during the 50's and 60's. Brens were used in the Falklands and some were used during Desert Storm. The last one was retired in 2002, a truly remarkable life span for a military weapon.

Author Neil Grant does a great job of providing us with the history leading up to the Bren as well as its initial development and it continuing upgrades. Of equal interest is the description of its use during its operational use. Technical fans will appreciate the detail of the gun and operating it that is also provided. It all makes for a very good read and one that I have no trouble recommending to you.

August 2013

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