Bren re-enactment

[woodsy]

Yesterday I took part in a mock battle as part of the entertainment at the World Ploughing Champs held here over the past week. The photo shows me with a Mk 2 Bren firing some of Peter Jackson's special movie blanks. These are made on a special full-length case with a long tapered crimp to duplicate the live round profile and they feed beautifully through a standard mag. The BFA plug has a fairly generous hole as you can see the blanks are quite powerful. In this scenario Gun Sgt. Woods of the RNZ Artillery led a futile attack against a small German contingent who refused to die or surrender! Both sides subsequently withdrew with light casualties (very PC! )

[britplumber]

Rod, It looks like your doing all the work there!

[woodsy]

There was another 5-6 to the right of the picture with rifles, and about the same number of Jerries with a Kubelwagen and a field gun.

[Kev]

......"refused to die or surrender!"


+1 LOL , Cheers woodsy

[beerhunter]

Good stuff but Sgt. Woods needs to hold the gun properly when firing from the hip. That is say, not by the carrying handle in the AA position.

[woodsy]

Beerhunter, I have tried the 'official' way (holding around the bipod as shown in the training poster and found that the exhaust gases can be fairly painful unless your hand is well to the rear). Back in the 60's we were taught that the carry handle method was preferred, but only as a last resort. The thinking was that one or two well sited Brens could provide better covering fire in an assault than hip-firing which was considered to be ineffectual and also exposed the gunner to too much risk, thereby losing one of the principal weapons. 'Fire and movement' was the preferred assault procedure, and also the method for bringing the Brens forward. The 'John Wayne' approach is really only for movies and re-enactments!

[daniel]

Think it's time for an update!

Both pictures are taken at fort Veldhuis in the Netherlands.