"Why did Bren gunners have to have a giant mustache?" Topic

It's a well-established true fact (tm) of history that British Bren gunners had giant mustaches.

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The real question remains, however: why?

Was it…

1 – Only a man with a suitably manly mustache could bear the heavy burden

2 – The bigger the mustache, the bigger the…erm…"gun"

3 – The mustache acted like a bipod for stability

4 – The mustache acted as improvised concealment

5 – All of the above

Well its a know fact that Mustaches are 'wot won the Empire.

6. Protected the face from blowback

I always thought in the british army as one increased in rank they were expected to also increase both their moustache and their pot-belly.

I'm a major, I think. ;)

Sean Connery didn't have a mustache in "The Longest Day", but he did have a terrible Irish accent.

It's not a moustache, it's part of the cleaning kit. Experienced gunners realised that, in the event of a jam, valuable time would be lost looking for the item in the spares wallet, so opted to keep it within easy reach. If you look closely you'll notice two clamps for attaching it to the nostrils. Rumours abound of a similar German device, but they kept freezing up in the cold of the Eastern Front…

This is a funny thread!

Not only bren gunners are subject to this facial hair requirement. British officers wearing berets also have to have mustaches.

It's not a moustache, it's part of the cleaning kit.

That should definitely be on the list. :D

Because it matched the shape of the silly magazine.

Because they thought they said Burt Reynolds gunners, not BREN gunners…

I think I gotta go with #5.

It scared the heck out of the bloody Huns and they could look quite dapper doing it.

It also held a backup supply of tea…sort of a stash in their 'stache.

Because guns don't kill people; people with mustaches kill people.

That may explain why I was such a useless Bren gunner in the school cadet force; I was way too young to have a moustache.

If the size of the moustache indicates the quality of the gunner Burt Reynolds, Freddie Mercury and Tom Selleck would have been the baddest Bren gunners in history.

Paul

That's just how it's done.

Another vote for #5

Mustaches are illegal in the Royal Navy, so clearly the possession of said facial fungus has no bearing on either the subject's virility or marksmanship…

I suspect that Brownjobs are simply too damn lazy to remove their cigarettes from their mouths whilst shaving, resulting in aforementioned unsightly accretion of fur which is so unseamanlike in appearance…

The great British Military "Muzzy" came originally from India, where it was, and still is, considered the mark of a MAN.

They hold two spare magazines and a cup of tea.

"Whats that in your moustache that man"

"Sir, sorry sir"

"what's your excuse soldier"

"Sir, permission to sing sir"

"Granted"

"Sir,……making love in all the wrong places…"

regards
dave

To help with oiling those small parts, and/or tight crevices in the weapon, when having to clean it, naturally.

#1 of course. Which also answers the question of why ALL British Bren gunners were Welsh.

It's a fact. Look it up.

The story is here
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Do Czech Bren gunners have to have a moustache or can they just go all Slovenian on your fourth point of contact?

Why would Slovenes want to be associated with Slovaks or Bohemians?

Although the Bren was pretty neat.

I'm intrigued by the chap in the first pic wearing DPM but clearly with a .303 Bren rather than a 7.62 L4.

In my (1968) Bren manual the heroic instructors also sport alarming moustaches. Perhaps most alarming is the AA drill which involves bracing the butt against the upper inner thigh before loosing off a whole magazine at the offending aircraft.

Big moustaches and balls of steel.

Why did Bren gunners have to have a giant mustache?

The same reason that the pioneers had to be able to grow a beard?

intrigued by the chap in the first pic wearing DPM but clearly with a .303 Bren rather than a 7.62 L4.

Maybe it's to go with his NATO moustache?

I thought pioneer beards were more of a fashion statement, though maybe they kept some kit hidden in there too…

No,
Pioneers had hairy EARS and ed through leather britches
They wiped their ass on broken glass those hardy sons of bitches.

I don't know what Bren gunners do to take a leak.

Old squaddie, dodgy tash, oversized sgt's stripes, – it's got to be from the film 'The Wild Geese', or else a reenactor on a weekend in the woods……..

It could be for the same reason German U Boat commanders must sport a beard. It just seems the right thing to do.

My BREN gunners all have heavy beards, too. And turbans. Sikhs, you know.

a reenactor on a weekend in the woods…….. LOL!!!

All U Boat men sported beards because shaving used up precious fresh water on patrol.

Bren gunners were formed from the slug balancing acts of WWI; British pioneer sergeants had given up the beard thing with the advent of gas warfare (it stops the respirator sealing properly). British officers don't actually wear berets, they walk around underneath them.

Sparker,
It is most gratifying to note that you share a certain natural contempt for Pongos:).

Wasn't it to provide a counter balance?

Martin, the ACF and CCF kept .303 Brens right up to the late 1980s, so the it was possible to see guys in DPM with Brens if they were an ACF instructor, Army Cadet Training Team member, armourer, Small Arms School Corps instructor, etc.

Many British military armouries also managed to hang on to historic weapons as a sort of armourer's hobby. I saw some amazing stuff that was held on to by ordinary armouries – everything from WW2 German weapons to captured Argentine FNs. However, that was clamped down on when Military Bean-Counting arrived with a vengeance in the 1980s/90s, as every weapon in the armoury was then assigned a 'maintenance cost' (even if it was just sitting there, being lightly oiled from time to time), which required them to dispose of the hobby weapons.

However, re that photo; he's also wearing an SAS beret??!! The ACF didn't have an SAS-affiliated unit, despite their best efforts. I'm wondering if it's a still from the film 'The Wild Geese'?

Martin Rapier,
That guy is Tosh in the movie about the mercenary force that goes to rescue President Limbane. It is led by Richard Burton. The Wild Geese.

I don't recall the Bren gunners of my Airfix WW2 British paratroops having mustaches. I'll have to find them and have a look. I'll look at the 1/32 ones anyway; I'm not sure I could see a mustache on a 1/72 figure.