On their search for a new light machine gun in the early 1930s, the British Small Arms Committee came across the Czech firm »Ceskoslovenska Zbrojovka Brno« which by that time was producing a formidable gun called ZGB 34.
During trials, the Czech gun by far outclassed its competitors in almost every aspect leading to the decision to license home production at the Royal Small Arms factory in Enfield Lock.
After converting all manufacturing documentation from the Czech metric to the UK inch scale, production at Enfield started in September 1937 under the name »BREN«, with BR for Brno and EN for Enfield.
The gas-operated air-cooled new gun characterized by the grip on the front barrel top was an instant success and production undergoing countless variants lasted well into the post-war NATO days.
Ammunition feed was usually from top-mounted half-round box magazines containing 30 rounds while the Mk.1 shown here cound also accept round flat pan magazines with 100 rounds for AA use.
The Red Army received hundreds of Bren Guns as Anti-Aircraft armament on the Matilda, Valentine and Churchill tanks delivered as part of the »Aid for Russia« program in 1941 and 1942.

During WW2 period, Bren guns were produced in Canada as well, by John Inglis Co., Toronto.
Veronica Foster, an employee at this firm, became popular as »Ronnie, the Bren Gun Girl« when posing for propaganda posters in early 1941.
Thus, she was the Canadian predecessor and equivalent of the American cultural icon »Rosie the Riveter«, representing nearly one million Canadian women who worked in the manufacturing plants that produced munitions and materiel during World War II.