Bren at War

[Luis Bren]

Troops of the Hampshire Regiment onboard a landing craft during combined operations training at Cowes on the Isle of Wight, June 1942.


THE BRITISH ARMY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM 1939-45 | Imperial War Museums

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Commandos demonstrate a technique for crossing barbed wire during training in Scotland, 28 February 1942.


THE BRITISH ARMY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM 1939-45 | Imperial War Museums

[Luis Bren]

ROYAL MARINES IN THE DUKE OF YORK. JUNE 1943, IN NORTHERN WATERS


ROYAL MARINES IN THE DUKE OF YORK. JUNE 1943, IN NORTHERN WATERS. | Imperial War Museums

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A Bren gunner rests in a cornfield near Briquessard, during Operation 'Bluecoat', the offensive south-east of Caumont, 30 July 1944.


THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORMANDY 1944 | Imperial War Museums

[Peter Laidler]

Nice to see a little Lanchester on board the Duke of York. Is the man in the dark overalls priming the grenades I ask...., or loading a Bren mag. Is that a Boys rifle muzzle we see, bottom left. Incidentally, the very first issue of Lanchesters to the Navy was to the Marines aboard the Battle Cruiser HMS Renown. The only Battle Cruiser to survive the war! There'll be a few more Lanchesters on her sister ship, the Repulse a few miles off the East Coast of Kuantan in Malaya.

That's not a wise move to run across someones back because your steel heel plate would make the other bloke wince a bit!

[Paul S.]

That's not a wise move to run across someones back because your steel heel plate would make the other bloke wince a bit!

My first thought upon seeing that picture was how little I'd like to be lying across barbed wire and have a mate land his bloody big size 9 hobnailed boot with full weight in the small of my back.

As for the RM photo, I think the bloke in the dark BD is the QMS. It appears he's arming the grenades for issue while the Sgt. is issuing the Bren magazines. That is a Boys parked on the deck.

What is slightly surprising is that they have No. 4 rifles. Given that some units were still equipped with SMLEs when they landed at Normandy almost a year later, I'd have suspected ships' company Marines would have been further down on the SMLE to No. 4 change over list.

[Luis Bren]

Men of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, 36th Infantry Division, man a position by the River Mu's weir in anticipation of an enemy counter attack, January 1945.

THE BRITISH ARMY IN BURMA 1945 | Imperial War Museums

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Troops of the 5th Battalion, 2nd Brigade (3rd Carpathian Rifles Division, 2nd Polish Corps), armed with Thompson submachine guns and Bren machine guns, plodding their way through the thick mud at Faenza, 13 February 1945. They are probably coming back from a patrol in the hills south of River Senio which separated them from the enemy.

THE POLISH ARMY IN THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN, 1943-1945 | Imperial War Museums

[Paul S.]

You have to ask yourself, why march through deep glutinous mud when there is obviously drier ground off to the right - except for the photographer wanted a good picture and asked them to do it.

[browningautorifle]

I believe that's an Officer with the Thompson, he's wearing his comin' ashore boots so he doesn't mind the mud.

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My first thought upon seeing that picture was how little I'd like to be lying across barbed wire and have a mate land his bloody big size 9 hobnailed boot with full weight in the small of my back.

That's how we taught to cross wire, even when I started. Later we went under if possible... Now it's just different. When I started, we still trained for WW2.

As for the RM photo, I think the bloke in the dark BD is the QMS. It appears he's arming the grenades for issue while the Sgt. is issuing the Bren magazines. That is a Boys parked on the deck.

He has his hands full of .303 bandoleers, doubt he's half holding grenades too.

That's not a wise move to run across someones back because your steel heel plate would make the other bloke wince a bit!

We were taught to put the foot on his buttocks.

[Paul S.]

That's how we taught to cross wire, even when I started. Later we went under if possible... Now it's just different. When I started, we still trained for WW2.

We were taught to put the foot on his buttocks.

We were taught that too as an expedient, but with rubber soled boots.

[Luis Bren]

British troops man a position in a building in Faub de Vaucelles, 19 July 1944.

THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORMANDY 1944 | Imperial War Museums

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Private Beale of the 6th King's Own Scottish Borderers, 1 November 1944.


THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORTH-WEST EUROPE 1944-1945 | Imperial War Museums

[Luis Bren]

West Indian troops in Britain: Two members of the Royal Engineers, Sapper Sinclair (left) and Sapper Dunn, both from Jamaica, pictured with a Bren gun, at Clitheroe, Lancashire.


WEST INDIANS IN BRITAIN DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR | Imperial War Museums

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1st Battalion, Caribbean Regiment preparing to return from Egypt to the West Indies in 1945: A Bren gunner and rifleman, both crouching use a small bank of sand as cover during training.


THE CARIBBEAN REGIMENT DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR | Imperial War Museums

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An Indian infantry section of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Rajput Regiment about to go on patrol on the Arakan front, Burma.

INDIAN TROOPS IN BURMA, 1944 | Imperial War Museums