Bren gun

Bren Mk1 - .303 British. This example is missing the folding metal butt strap on top of the stock: note the dovetail mount and screw hole on the side of the receiver under the magazine, which was for attaching a dial sight which does not seem to have ever been issued, and is only present on this version.

Bren Mk1 (M) - .303 British. Simplified version with no grip or butt strap on the stock and with dovetail mount on the left side of the receiver deleted, and a slightly different flash hider

Bren Mk2 - .303 British. Even more simplified wartime production variant: note the lack of the Mk1's expensive stainless steel flash hider, differently-shaped carry handle, non-adjustable bipod legs, and the simplified ladder rear sight without the adjustment drum of the Mk1. The Mk2 also has a distinctive lightening hole drilled in the middle of the magazine release catch, though this Mk2 part could end up on other variants as a replacement.

Bren L4A4 - 7.62x51mm NATO. Note the almost straight magazine (due to the rimless 7.62 NATO rounds) of the same type used by the Canadian C2A1 heavy-barrel FAL, and the slotted flash hider.

The Bren Gun was the main light machine gun used by British Commonwealth forces throughout the Second World War. A derivative of the Czech ZB26 Machine Gun (much like the Japanese Type 97 light machine gun) designed by Václav Holek, the name is a hybrid of those of the two manufacturers, Brno and Enfield. During WW2, Brens were also manufactured by John Inglis and Company and Long Branch Arsenal in Canada, the Lithgow Small Arms Factory in Australia, and the Ishapore Rifle Factory in India.

The Bren is a relatively slow-firing gas-operated machine gun (480-540rpm depending on variant) with an overhead-loading magazine, ejecting spent casings downwards. This forces the weapon's sights to be offset to the left side. It was known throughout its service life for its reliability and accuracy; while some claim that the earlier versions were actually too accurate to the point it impacted their usefulness as suppression weapons, these claims are largely unfounded.

The Mk1 Bren is the first production version, with a dovetail mount for a scope that does not seem to have actually been issued, a rear grip and a folding buttstrap. Canadian-produced variants lacked the dovetail mount, grip and buttstrap and had a slightly different flash hider, and were known as Mk1 (M). In 1941 a simplified version, the Mk2, was produced, primarily by Inglis in Canada: this featured extensive changes to reduce the amount of milling required to produce each gun: they also featured some concessions to lightening including a distinctive hole drilled in the magazine release catch, had a simplified flip-up ladder-type rear sight with an adjustment knob at the top rather than the large adjustment drum of earlier models that controlled an aperture sight, a simplified carry handle, a fixed charging handle rather than the folding one of previous versions, lacked the Mk1's expensive stainless steel barrel, had a sheet metal buttplate instead of a buffer, and guns made in England deleted the ability to mount the Vickers K-style 100 round pan magazine, which had rarely been used anyway. The Mk3 and Mk4 were light variants for paratroop use developed in 1944, with a slightly shortened barrel and various parts milled down further than a standard Bren to reduce weight: Mk3 was the term for a Mk1 modified in this fashion, while the Mk4 was the same done to a Mk2. After Britain joined NATO in 1954, the Bren was modified to fire standardised 7.62x51mm NATO ammunition using inch-pattern FAL magazines, with this variant becoming known as the L4.

Captured Brens were pressed into use by Nazi Germany under the designation 7.7mm Leichtes MG 138(e).

A belt-fed Bren derivative, the Taden Gun, was produced in 1951 using the .280 British intermediate round, but was axed along with the Enfield EM-2 due to the standardisation of the 7.62x51mm NATO round.

The Bren had an incredibly long service life: while it was partially supplanted by the FN MAG in British use, 7.62mm examples continued to serve and were used in combat by British forces in the Falklands War: they continued to be used to train British cadets until the introduction of the L98A1 Cadet Rifle in 1987. The Irish Reserve Defence Forces did not fully phase out the Bren until 2006, and the Indian Army not until 2012. It is still manufactured by Indian Ordnance Factories as the "Gun, Machine 7.62mm 1B."

Specifications

(1935 – 1971)

• Type: Light machine gun

• Caliber: .303 British, 8mm Mauser (China), 7.62x39mm (China) .30-06 (Italian police), 7.62x51mm NATO (L4 and later)

• Weight: 24.8 lbs (11.3 kg) loaded (Mk1 & Mk2), 21.5 lbs (9.8 kg) (Mk3 & Mk4)

• Length: 45.5 in (115.6 cm) (Mk1 & Mk2), 42.9 in (109 cm) (Mk3 & Mk4)

• Barrel length: 25 in (63.5 cm) (Mk1 & Mk2), 22.4 in (56.9 cm) (Mk3 & Mk4)

• Capacity: 30 round box (usually only loaded with 27-28 due to spring issues), 100-round pan (Mk1 only, rare), 20 / 30-round inch-pattern FN FAL magazine (L4)

• Fire Modes: Semi-Auto / Full-Auto

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The Bren gun and variants can be seen in the following films, television series, video games, and anime used by the following actors:

Film

Title	Actor	Character	Note	Date
Dunkirk		British soldiers	Mk1	2017
The Siege of Jadotville		Irish soldiers		2016
Cockneys vs. Zombies				2012
The Flowers of War		Nationalist Chinese Soldiers	7.92x57mm Mauser variant	2011
Shaolin	Nicholas Tse	Cao Man	7.92x57mm Mauser variant	2011
Shaolin		Cao Man's soldiers	7.92x57mm Mauser variant	2011
New Kids Turbo	Flip van der Kuil	Barry		2010
John Rabe		Nationalist Chinese Soldiers	7.92x57mm Mauser variant	2009
Red and White (Merah Putih)		Dutch soldier		2009
Tobruk				2008
Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, The	John Hannah	Jonathan		2008
Frontier(s)	Samuel Le Bihan	Goetz		2007
Black Book				2006
Kokoda (2006)	Christopher Baker	Blue		2006
Kokoda (2006)	Travis McMahon	Darko		2006
The Last Drop	Nick Moran	Pvt. Alan Ives		2005
Lakshya		Indian and Pakistani soldiers	Indian 1B version	2004
LOC Kargil	Sunil Shetty	Sepoy Sanjay Kumar	Indian 1B version	2003
	Ajay Devgn	Lt. Maroj Kumar Pandey
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels	Huggy Leaver	Paul		1998
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels	Suzy Ratner	Gloria		1998
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels	Ronnie Fox	Mickey		1998
Seven Years in Tibet		British-Indian	Mk 1	1997
An Ungentlemanly Act		British and Argentinian soldiers	L4A4 Bren	1992
Farewell To The King	Nick Nolte	Learoyd		1989
Tumbledown		Scotish guard soldier	L4A4	1988
Empire of the Sun		Imperial Japanese soldiers		1987
Hell Raiders (1985)		Dutch Soldiers		1985
Death Raiders				1984
Les Morfalous	Jean-Paul Belmondo	Sergeant Pierre Augagneur		1984
The Africain (L'Africain)		The poacher	L4	1983
Bukit Kepong		Bukit Kepong police officers	Mk I	1982
		Police Jungle Squad
		Communist terrorists
The Wild Geese		Various mercenaries		1978
A Bridge Too Far		British soldiers		1977
Paper Tiger		British soldiers		1975
Mission in Kabul (Missiya v Kabule)	Algimantas Masiulis	Gerhard Epp	Without magazine; supposedly Mk.1	1971
The Last Grenade		British soldier	On Jeep mounted	1970
Too Late the Hero	Sean MacDuff	Private Rogers		1970
The Last Escape			L4, visually modified as Degtyaryov DT; top mounted on a Soviet tank	1970
Kill Rommel!	Anton Diffring	Captain Richard Howell		1969
Kill Rommel!	Carl Parker	Lieutenant George Morris		1969
Kill Rommel!	Renato Romano	Sergeant Atwell		1969
If...	Malcolm McDowell	Mick Travis		1968
How I Won the War	Michael Crawford	Lt. Goodbody		1967
How I Won the War	Lee Montague	Sgt. Transom		1967
How I Won the War		Musketeers (British soldiers)	Mounted on Dodge M-37, Daimler Dingo, Ford F-60	1967
Cast a Giant Shadow	Stathis Giallelis	Ram Oren		1966
Judith	Peter Finch	Aaron Stein		1966
Judith	Shraga Friedman	Nathan		1966
Judith		Haganah fighters		1966
So Darling So Deadly			Seen in Golden Dragon's lair	1966
Death is Nimble, Death is Quick	Joe Abey	Inspector Khamar		1966
The Unvanquished (L'Insoumis)		French legionnaires and Algerian insurgents		1964
The Longest Day	Sean Connery	Private Flanagan		1963
From Russia With Love				1963
Dr. No		Crab Key guard		1962
Escape from Zahrain		Police		1962
Konga		British soldier		1961
The Guns of Navarone	James Darren	Private Spiros Pappadimos		1961
Gorgo		British troops	Mounted on Centurion tank	1961
The Giant Behemoth		British soldiers		1959
Yesterday's Enemy		British soldiers	Mk 1	1959
Dunkirk		British soldiers	Mk 1	1958
The Young Lions		British soldiers		1958
Desert Rats, The		Australian commandos		1953
Paratrooper		British paratroopers		1953
Went the Day Well?		German Paratroopers		1942
Somewhere in France				1942

Television

Show Title / Episode	Actor	Character	Note	Air Date
The Prisoner	Patrick McGoohan	No. 6		1968
Blott on the Landscape	David Suchet	Blott	Mk.1	1985
Sahara (1995)	Alan David Lee	Bates		1995
Foyle's War - Season 1		British soldiers	"The White Feather" (S1E2)	2002
Foyle's War - Season 2		British soldiers	"Fifty Ships" (S2E1)	2003
Atonement		British soldiers	Mk1	2007
Kokoda		Australian soldiers		2010
The Promise		British paratroopers	Mk1	2011
Parer's War		Australian Commandos		2014
Endeavour - Season 2		A reenactor of British Army of WW2	Mk.1; "Trove" (S02E01)	2014
Arrow - Season 5			seen in gunstore; "Vigilante" (S5E07)	2016-2017
The Crown		British military	episode: "Misadventure" (S02E01)	2017
Madiba		South African Police		2017
The Mandalorian	Gina Carano	Cara Dune	mocked up to resemble a blaster	2019

Video Games

Game Title	Appears As	Modifications	Notes	Release Date
World War II Online: Battleground Europe			Bren Mk2	2001
Battlefield: 1942			Secret Weapons of WWII Expansion pack	2002
Forgotten Hope			Man-portable, mounted in machine gun nests and bunkers and on the Universal Carrier and M3A1 Halftrack	2003
Call of Duty				2003
Hidden & Dangerous 2				2003
Call of Duty 2				2005
Darkest Hour: Europe '44-'45		With deployable bipod	Mounted on Bren Carrier	2006
Call of Duty 3				2006
Clive Barker's Jericho		w/ bayonet	unusable	2007
The Royal Marines Commando			Bren Mk2	2008
Mare Nostrum				2008
Karma Online				2011
World of Guns: Gun Disassembly	Bren MKII		Bren Mk2	2014
Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades			Bren Mk2	2016
Ghost Recon: Wildlands		Heavily customized, fitted with a wooden vertical grip	Bren Mk2	2017
Call of Duty: WWII	Bren		Bren Mk1 (M)	2017
Post Scriptum	"Bren Mk. III"		Mk3 lightened variant	2018
Battlefield V	Bren Gun		Bren Mk1	2018

Anime

Film Title	Character	Note	Date
Strike Witches	Pierrette-Henriette Clostermann		2008
Strike Witches 2	Pierrette-Henriette Clostermann		2010
Strike Witches: The Movie	Pierrette-Henriette Clostermann		2012
Girls Und Panzer: This is the Real Anzio Battle!		Mounting on a APC	2014
Strike Witches: Operation Victory Arrow	Pierrette-Henriette Clostermann		2014 - 2015
Brave Witches	Nora Taylor		2016 - 2017

See Also

• Royal Small Arms Factory - A list of weapons produced by RSAF Enfield