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That One Terrible Gun Myth in Siege of Jadotville (ad-free)
🕑 Added 2023-09-15 12:00:01 +0000 UTCThe Netflix film "The Siege of Jadotville" recounts the fighting between Katanga soldiers and mercenaries and Company A of the 35th Irish Infantry Battalion, who were deployed to the Katanga province of Congo in 1961 as part of the UN peacekeeping mission there. The Irish soldiers fought valiantly and won a tactical victory, but ran out of food and ammunition and were forced to surrender. They were held captive for about a month before being released, and the fact that they had to surrender put a pall over the story for many decades. The movie helps to rehabilitate their image, and is generally outstanding in technical firearms matters.
BUT...it has that one scene where the sniper has to make a long-range precise shot and opts to do it with a Bren gun and a single cartridge instead of his No4 MkI(T) sniper's rifle. There has long been a myth about the Bren gun's accuracy, and this is just another repetition of it.
For a live-fire practical debunking, see the video from The Armourer's Bench:
Comments
Bruce Brodnax
Do you think the continued use of this trope is due to Carlos Hathcock's use of a M2 w/ scope for making what was for a long time the longest yardage kill [actually a "miss," since he was officially aiming at the *bicycle*, because the .50BMG is officially for antimateriel use, not antipersonnel...]?
EyeBall
The producer/director likely conceived this idea was to make the scene, in their cinematic viewpoint, much more dramatic than using the scoped rifle. After all, since that character had successfully used his scoped rifle several times, using it again would have been repetitive, and therefore, boring to the director.
Ed McEneney
Thank you Ian for the great video.
Kenneth Marshall
I'd pick a rifle, However that particular BAR was a friend's and it was an amazing gun. you could do single shots or double/short bursts and hit reasonably small targets with ease with it rested on its bipod. I was very impressed
Patrick Benjamin
Would you choose to shoot a single Shot from the BAR or use a rifle? Not being a jerk, I'm just curious.
Kenneth Marshall
I have fired an open bolt BAR that was capable of amazing accuracy. I was very surprised at 100 yds I could hit 4x6 red bricks easily pulling off in single shots. Some open bolt guns can shoot well with practice, but generally they are not used for intended accuracy roles but occasionally they can pull off more than some would give it credit for.
Ed McEneney
Movies will choose entertainment over truth. I love in the movie how the round makes that “ting” sound before he puts it in the chamber.🤣
Guido Schriewer
have a fal of those! assume they did not expect any cavalry to get them out, huh.
ViejoLobo
Note how quickly the sniper goes to the BREN, giving the false impression that this was SOP. Maybe all this BREN accuracy nonsense grows out of the scope mounts on the early guns: if it can be scoped it must be accurate, Ja?
Logan
Yup, haven’t even watched the video to know which scene drove me nuts too! I need to take a accurate shot better get my open bolt machine gun with a single bullet!
Sonny Hughes
Ian, Thanks for taking this on! I really liked that movie but always though the shot with the Bren was .... odd. In case you have not read it, "Heroes of Jadotville: The Soldiers' Story" by Rose Doyle goes into a significant amount of detail on the period leading up to, during, and after the siege. It can be a little halting to read as Doyle includes a *lot* of quotes from men who were actually there but I think their input gives a better sense of how confused things were at the time with the command chain. While the book is not weapon-centric it does cover what they had available and how effectively they were used from the prepared positions used by the Irish troops Best regards!
