POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Bren light machine gun

Object No. H4863

The concept for the Bren gun started in Czechoslovakia in the 1920s. One of the many hard-learned lessons military tacticians faced in the First World War was that manoeuvrability was a paramount concern. The machine guns used in First World War campaigns lacked any real rapid manoeuvrability. In the the years after the war, as European nations rebuilt their armies, the concept of a light machine gun was considered. Czechoslovakia considered several designs, opting for the ZBvz26 hand held machine gun, made in the Czech city of Brno. The British army too were considering light machine gun designs. Along with the American Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR), the ZBvz26 proved most suitable. The British signed a licence agreement with the Czechoslovakian Brno factory in 1935, and began manufacturing their modified version of the ZBvz26, the Bren Gun Mk1, to issue to the Commonwealth armies. The Lithgow Arsenal, or Lithgow Small Arms Factory in New South Wales, Australia, manufactured the Bren Mk1 for the Australian armed forces during World War II. The Australian army used the Bren in several significant campaigns, including the New Guinea and Pacific operations defending Australia from the Japanese Imperial Forces. The Bren gun is seen being used in many pieces of footage shot in World War II. Damian McDonald Curator, 2012