Farewell to the last Bren Guns

[Peter Laidler]

This is how the British Army said farewell to the Bren in 1999 in a press release.

THE BRITISH ARMY SAYS FARWELL TO THE BREN

The British Army said farewell to its last Bren guns in front line service during February 1999. Two guns, both 7.62mm L4A4 variants were handed over for posterity to the Infantry and Small Arms School weapon collection at Warminster. The last two guns were withdrawn from Radley College CCF after 20 years service there after being replaced with the current LSW.

Lt.Col. ‘Tug’ Wilson, Regimental Secretary of the Small Arms School Corps said
“The first British made Bren was fired on 3rd September 1937. Few realised at the time that exactly two years later, Europe would be at war. The first Mk1 Brens had a questionable start following doubts about its reliability while in action with the BEF in France in 1940. These questions were quickly addressed and thereafter, the Bren served in every theatre of war where the British and Commonwealth armies fought. It was first fired in anger at Arras in France during 1939. The loss of some 27,000 Brens in France in 1940 (leaving only 2,300 for the defence of the UK) was a massive blow and a massive programme to re-equip the Army with this valuable asset was immediately undertaken. Eventually, over 250,000 were manufactured at Enfield, the Daimler Car Company in Birmingham, Toronto in Canada and at Lithgow in Australia.

After wartime service it went on to serve in Palestine, Korea, Malaya, Suez, Kenya, Cyprus, Borneo, The Falklands and more recently, the Gulf. It fought with the Australian and New Zealand armies in South Viet-Nam. When it was first due to be phased out, back in 1969, nobody quite realise it then that it was only half-way through its long and distinguished career. It would go on to serve for another 30 years.

The Bren was the backbone of the basic formation, the infantry section
The Bren was made as a standard infantry weapon and as a result its role was always at the sharp end of the basic formation, the infantry section. In this role every soldier in every corps or regiment learned to use it. It gained many friends for it’s hard hitting volume of fire and reliability. Many old sweats remember by heart the first stoppage drill of ‘cock gun, magazine off, new magazine on, carry on firing’! These two guns were originally made in 1945 and are probably older than 95 percent of the soldiers in the British Army. Indeed, these guns could have been used by the grandfathers of most current soldiers. These last two guns will take pride of place among other representative examples, including prototypes and one of the earliest British made Brens, dated 1938.

Capt. Peter Laidler, our Technical Officer and a REME Armourer since 1963 adds:
“The Bren was manufactured in three basic marks. The first was the finely machined and beautiful Mk1 Enfield made version. These guns cost £40 each. The Mk2 version was manufactured as a joint venture by the Monotype Corporation, a wholly owned wartime subsidiary of the Daimler Car Company. The Mk2 was cheap at £30-18/-. It did away with all unimportant machining and other frills. None the less, it excelled at what it did best, as a killing machine.

The Mk3 version was a lightened gun designed in 1944 for the forthcoming battles in the jungles in order to clear the Japanese from Burma and Malaya. During the late 50’s, many Brens were converted to fire NATO 7.62mm ammunition. Eventually, there were 9 service variations of the 7.62mm L4 series. While the designation of the Bren changed nominally from ‘BREN’ to ‘L4’, to every soldier it remained as simply ‘the BREN’. And when you needed supporting fire, there was nothing so reassuring as the ‘pop-pop-popping’ of a Bren

“Buying the Bren was like shopping at Marks and Spencers, …..you get what you pay for”!
The last two guns are lightweight ‘jungle’ Brens manufactured in 1944/45 and converted to 7.62mm specification in 1960. After a faltering start, the simplicity, reliability and accuracy of the Bren was never questioned. 62 years continual service from September 1937 to February 1999 is a feat unmatched even by the Vickers with 58 years to its credit. The weapon collection now holds working representative examples of each including the Vickers. At £40 each, including royalties, the Bren was the most expensive choice at the time but given its distinguished service, one that we have never regretted and one that has represented tremendous value for money. It is difficult to imagine a more solid reliable piece of kit, it has certainly earned its keep. As my old Dad used to say, it’s a bit like shopping at Marks and Spencers…. “You get just what you pay for!”

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