Hi Guys
Just thought I would share a nice WW2 Bren tools and spares pack/wallet I recently picked-up, I haven't seen one of these before so it is a nice companion to the Bren items I have.
Hope these pics are of interest.
Cheers
Hi Guys
Just thought I would share a nice WW2 Bren tools and spares pack/wallet I recently picked-up, I haven't seen one of these before so it is a nice companion to the Bren items I have.
Hope these pics are of interest.
Cheers
Nice item. I had never seen one before.
John
Thanks - having Googled it, they are less rare than I thought, but not something I had come across before.
Bang on Steve (and top marks for spotting it LOL!), yes, this is allegedly one of the last of the consignment/trial guns sent to the UK army by the original Czech manufacturer just before Enfield started producing them under licence for the British Army. The story is that after Dunkirk, even though the Brits had lost most of their Brens by abandoning them in France, a number still in stock (including these Czech guns) were given to the Irish Republic to help keep them on side, and these were sold off by the Irish Army in the 2000s. There are some variations on this story, but it is a great provenance to have one of the original pre-Enfield Brens. Whether the story is completely true some may question, but there is a general consensus that this is what actually happened.
A bit more info for you. The Irish Republic placed an order with the Czech manufacturers in 1937... they were at this time producing them in 303 for export sales. After the outbreak of WW2 the order fell through, and Churchill stepped in (1940) and offered to complete the order. I have one of the 1940 dated double dovetail Enfield made guns - not Kings Crown marked though, but still with the stamp on the right side of the receiver. This is one of the guns supplied to the Republic by the British government to fulfill the Czech placed contract.
As an aside, all these guns were converted to DP in the 1950's when the Irish army purchased the Bren Mk111.
Cheers,
Steve
Thanks Steve for sharing more info on this, and I can confirm the DP mark is on mine also.
I have a copy of : 'The Bren Gun Saga', so if there is anything you want to know, let me know.
Will do
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