Acquaintance with this machine gun took place in the 10th grade of the specialized school No. 6 in the city of Penza in the classroom on … military translation. Since the school was "special", with the study of English from the second grade, it turned out that, in addition to English itself, we studied continental geography, English and American literature in English (we learned by heart the poems of Byron, Shelley and Kipling), and we also had technical translation and military translation. In addition to the English teacher, the CWP teacher was present at the military. In the classroom, we studied the military structure of the NATO and US armies and even learned to interrogate prisoners of war: "Now I interrogate you (pig)!" - and it was forbidden to use the last word, like many others, just as "figurative". Of course, we learned to disassemble and assemble the Kalashnikov assault rifle, but one day our military instructor brought us a Bran machine gun, and we disassembled and assembled it “in English”, that is, we got acquainted with all the terms and the name of the successively performed operations. I don't know why, but then I really liked him, first of all, of course, for its unusualness. Only the handles - one on the barrel, and the other on the butt, what were they worth! But why he is like that and why he differs so much from the PKK, the military leader did not explain to us. Then years passed and I came across the memoirs of tanker V. P. Chibisov "English tanks at the Cool Log" (Novosibirsk, 1996). In them, he described in detail the armament of the Matilda tank, including the Besa and Bran machine guns, which he even called a "gentleman machine gun" - so it seemed to him complete, thoughtful and convenient. Here is "Demon" - that "no", "not a dandy", a weapon for work, and this, this - a real gentleman.
"Bran" Mk I with folded cocking handle.
That is, this weapon is certainly interesting and deserves the most detailed story about itself.
So, the history of "Bran" began long before, in fact, its appearance, during the First World War, where the British used heavy machine guns "Vickers" Mk I and Lewis M1915 light machine guns. True, they did not like the BAR M1918 A2 automatic rifle, which fired English.303 cartridges (7, 7 x 56 R), and then in 1922 they attended to the creation of a committee that should test various samples of foreign light machine guns and choose the best one.
The competition was attended by: two Browning machine guns - the American BAR M1918 A2 and the Belgian FN M1922, then the Danish Madsen in the British version under British cartridges; French "Hotchkiss", modification of the LMG Mle 1909 - Mle 1924, used by the British cavalry during the war; American "Lewis" (type D) modification of 1915; and "native" Bidmore - Farhar Mk I. They shot a lot and for a long time, then in 1924-1930. held four more competitions, established the first prize for the winner in the amount of £ 3000, but none of the machine guns passed the test.
During the trials of 1927, the Czech machine gun ZB-26 by Vaclav Holek (1886-1954) also hit them for the first time. The latter, being self-taught, like Browning or Degtyarev, managed, however, to create a completely competitive model, which had already been adopted in Czechoslovakia and was produced at a plant in Brno. True, the Holek machine gun was designed for the German 7, 92-mm Mauser cartridge without a rim, and the British needed a weapon chambered for 7, 71-mm rim cartridges used in the Lee Enfield rifle.
"Bran" and next to him his Czechoslovak predecessor ZB vz. 26.
Another competition began on October 29, 1930. This time, the French Darn machine gun was tested, which, however, due to delays had no success, the Hungarian Kirai-Ende and the British Vickers-Berthier Mk I. The Czech machine gun was also tested and showed good results. By this time, China had acquired a license for its production, so this weapon had already fought. Each year, a sample appeared that was somewhat different from the previous one, so that the improvement of the basic model went "step by step", that is, "step by step".
Machine gun ZB 30 - MG 26 (t).
In June 1931, the ZB 30 sample received the British designation GBS 30 (Great Britain - Sbroevka), took part in the test together with the French Darn machine gun and the British Vickers-Berthier Mk II. The fire was conducted on targets at a distance of 500 to 2500 yards at the Hight range, the survivability of the weapon after 10,000 rounds was determined at the Royal Small Arms Factory (RSAF) in Anfield, Middlesex. In "Protocol No. 1188 "about the GBS 30 it was reported" … the GBS machine gun is an excellent model, made of good materials, and can be recommended for adoption."
Experienced Czechoslovakian machine gun ZGB-30 in.303 caliber.
However, only the ZB vz. 33 fully satisfied the British military. On the sample modernized by Anton Marek, Emanuel and Vaclav Cholek, the length of the gas outlet pipe was changed, the barrel was made without ribbing (in the Czech model, the ribbing went to the very gas outlet tube of the barrel), and, of course, the shape of the store was changed. In Czech it was straight, but in English it turned out to be strongly curved for British.303 cartridges with a rim. A four-position gas regulator was also installed, allowing reliable operation even when the mechanism is contaminated with carbon deposits. However, he was once again tested together with the domestic VB Mk II in August 1934, and ultimately the "Czech" bypassed the "Englishman", revealing the complete superiority of the weapons of Czechoslovakia. This was followed by army trials in Her Majesty the Queen's Own 4th Hussars, and the royal hussars also spoke in favor of a foreign machine gun, although, as you know, foreigners in England at that time were not very fond of.
Experienced Czechoslovakian ZGB-33 machine gun in.303 caliber.
A total of 33,500 shots were fired on each test barrel. Tests began in January and ended in early February 1934. Theoretically, the machine gun was designed for 70,000 rounds. The machine gun was named "Bran" - short for Brno-Enfield, but its first sample, which received the mark Mk I, saw the light only on September 3, 1937. It took British engineers almost three years to develop and test production technologies. The fact is that, as it turned out, making such a good weapon is not very easy. It was necessary to perform 226 operations only for the manufacture of the receiver (!), And all of them were carried out on … milling machines! That is, initially it was necessary to take a 10-kilogram steel blank, and then pass it through several different machines and eventually remove 8 kilograms of shavings from it! The part itself, which was going to be assembled, weighed only 2 kg! To manufacture the shutter, 270 operations had to be performed, and in both cases, 550 measurements had to be taken, and the tolerances reached 0, 0005 inches (0, 0127 mm). By the end of 1937, 42 "branes" had been produced, and from May of the following year the volume of production reached 200 units per week.
Light machine gun "Bran" Mk I.
On August 4, 1938, the Bran Mk I was officially adopted by the British Army. Production growth reached 300 units per week. First of all, the new machine gun entered the motorized units and looked at it "almost like a relic", but even there only senior non-commissioned officers had the right to first handle it. However, by 1940, the plant produced 30,000 of them, which made it possible to saturate the troops with them and train not only non-commissioned officers, but also privates to work with it. True, it turned out that the magazine, loaded with 30 rounds, often jammed. But if you load 28 or 29 rounds into it, then this trouble was avoided.
Now each British infantry unit, consisting of 10 people, received its own "bran". The crew consisted of two infantrymen: No. 1 - machine gunner, shooter, No. 2 - assistant (ammunition carrier). Each department relied on 25 equipped magazines, and on the 1937 sample form, pockets were specially provided for carrying them. The machine gun turned out to be convenient and "soldier-resistant", in addition, it was ideal for conducting dagger fire during defense, and in the attack it could be fired from both the hip and the shoulder. The rate of fire of 500 rounds per minute made it easy to control, and the overheated barrel could be easily replaced with a new one, since there were six of them for each machine gun!
The Bran L4A4 light machine gun chambered for 7, 62x51 NATO cartridges.
By the time Britain entered World War II on September 3, 1939, the production of "brands" had reached 400 a week. 90% of the machine guns were sent to France, where they were lost. After the Dunkirk tragedy, only 2, 300 of them remained in the army. But the Germans took them into service under the name "Leichte MG-138 (e)". The threat of being left without a light machine gun was so great that urgent measures were taken to increase production. A new model of the Mk II was urgently developed, in which only the principle of operation remained from the old one. The complex drum sight was removed, the additional left-hand grip under the butt was removed, the bipod was also simplified. Then the Mk III and Mk IV samples appeared. The first with a barrel shortened to 565 mm (its weight was 8.6 kg), the second with a modified butt. In Canada, a machine gun was produced for the Chinese chambered for 7, 92 mm and with a direct magazine. At the same time, the Mk I model also continued to be produced even in 1944, so that several types of machine guns were used in the army at once. In total, about 300,000 machine guns of all these types were fired during the war years. In Taiwan, in 1952, a new version was launched - the M 41, chambered for American cartridges. 30-06 (7.62 x 63).
During the Second World War, even the natives of New Guinea shot from the "brands"!
The adoption in 1953 of the American.308W (762x51) cartridge as the main rifle cartridge for NATO led to the fact that the British.303 "branes" had to be remade for this new caliber. This is how the Mk III "bran" appeared, redesigned for this standard NATO patron. His barrel is chrome-plated, which increased the survivability of the weapon, the magazine is straight, there is no conical flash suppressor. It is called "L4-A4". Used by the Royal Marines in the Falklands and during the Gulf War. So it is quite possible to refer it to "long-livers".
(To be continued)
