Thread by @FightingOnFilm

THREAD: The Weapons of Siege of Jadotville (2016)

Lets take a look at the plethora of weapons seen in the film we covered this week!

First up a vehicle mounted Browning M2! - the tip of a pretty big iceberg! 1/
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The company's Marksman/Sniper makes ample use throughout the film of an Lee-Enfield Rifle No.4(T) with a 3.5x scope. He's a force multiplier, picking off enemy heavy weapon crews like the M2 above! 2/

In this shot we see Dornan as Cmdt Pat Quinlan with a FN FAL. The Irish troops arriving in the Congo were the first to be equipped with Belgian-made metric-pattern FN FALs.

Note in the background, a chap with an SMLE MkIII - a classic! /3

During the episode we wondered if the FALs used by the Irish troops were Belgian or British-made. Thanks to a badly translated manual I (Matt) thought they were UK-made, but thankfully some former Irish servicemen have commented to let us know they are in-fact Belgian-made FALS!

We interupt this thread to bring you a Soviet DShK mounted on a Land Rover. What's not to like? A DShK and x vehicle continues to be a battle-winning combination even today. Significant firepower! 5/

Early in the film we are shown the Company armoury, complete with a Vickers medium machine gun, half a dozen FN FALs and some Rifle No.4s stacked in the corner. A nice teaser of what is to come. 6/

This is a great shot of one of the stars of the film, the Carl Gustav M/45 'Swedish K' submachine gun. A weapon which remained long in Irish service and sees liberal use in the film - great to see as it doesn't appear in many films! /7

FN FALs and a Bren light machine gun, significant firepower from one slit trench. Firepower and well prepared positions were a key element of the actual battle at Jadotville. More on the Bren later... 8/

Make way. Vehicle-mounted Vickers coming through. Another of the stars of the film, the Vickers MMG. However, no one in the film holds the weapon's spade grips properly and actors are frequently seen pulling the belt the wrong way. This, however, is a great scene! 9/

A brief interruption to what is shaping to be an epic thread - but Rob and I discussed most of these guns in-depth during our latest episode on the film during the #AllyTally. Check it out below if you haven't had a chance yet! #FightingOnFilm

https://twitter.com/FightingOnFilm/status/1404991250118369280?s=20

Did I mention the improper Vickers grip holding? With his thumbs up on top of the grips I'm not exactly sure what he's pushing the gun's trigger with...

No wonder the gun goes down not long after he starts using it! 10/

Ok, one last bit on the Vickers, here's Dornan/Quinlan manning the overturned Landy taking on an attacking Fouga Magister. He seems to be doing great despite having just taken a 7.92x57mm round through the shoulder... the wonders of morphine! 11/

Here's a mercenary rocking an M1919A4 with a makeshift front grip for hip-firing, much like a WW2 USMC Stinger but without the stock and not an AN/M2, there is contemporary footage of a merc using a similar weapon in the Congo /12 #Ally

Now this is a hell of a shot. It includes two very interesting guns a Belgian Vigneron submachine gun (far left), 2 SMLEs, a No.4, a Mauser, a Sten MkII, a FAL and in the centre a Franchi LF-57 (what a rare gun that is to see!) The armourer went all out on this one. /13

I suppose its time to talk about that Bren gun scene. AKA Sniper Bren.
Here we see the sniper taking aim at a man 500 yards away through the Bren's rear aperture sight, lovely bit of cinematography by the way! 14/

Quinlan spots the man in the white suit directing the Mercs and asks the sniper if he can shoot him. The sniper replies - "yes with the Bren on single shot".

This is the contentious bit! 15/

Throughout the film we've seen the sniper doing excellent work with his No.4(T), showing he's more than capable of shooting this chap. So why does he switch the the Bren? Stability of the bipod perhaps? Is the Bren really more accurate than an bolt-action sniper rifle? 16/

In short, no. The Bren definitely isn't more accurate. Though chats with Irish vets this week have stated that during small arms comps one section of shooting was for accuracy at range with the Bren on single shot. And for a LMG the Bren is an accurate weapon... 17/

Though not as accurate as a scoped rifle! It might have been a nod to the Bren's reputation in service at the time or a reference to an actual event. In terms of film making it adds an extra wow-element to the scene. Hard to top the sniper's earlier long range headshots. 18/

It's a great little scene he single-loads a round (although as Rob spotted its not a live round) and shoots the chap. I explain in practical terms of the weapons why making this sort of shot with the Bren was a bit silly when he had a scoped rifle. Check out the ep for that! 19/

But the sniper makes the shot, despite the Bren being an open bolt weapon & all the jolting that will create on a shot like this. Good job he didn't miss & need a follow up as he had no mag on. /20

A classic, the FN MAG (General Purpose Machine Gun) in the assault role, a Merc charges forward firing [one thing to point out about the Mercs (or rather how the film portrays them) their tactics are unsophisticated... 21/

In terms of support weapons the Mercs call on a platoon of Land Rover-mounted 3in Mortars. Significant firepower! 22/

By comparison the Irish/UN forces appear to have just one 60mm M2 Mortar - which they get a very lucky hit with. One hit knocking out a whole Katangan mortar battery - skills. 23/

The Katangan Gendamerie manage to bring up a Browning M1919A4 during one of the attacks which puts down some decent suppressing fire. 24/

Ammunition Supply.

From what I've seen the Mercs would have needed .50 for M2, 12.7×108mm for the DShK, .303 for the Lee-Enfields, 7.92x57mm for Mausers, 7.62x51mm for numerous FALs, 9x19mm SMGs and .30-06 for the M1919A4s
So bit of a logistical nightmare! #OperationalLevel 25/

Finally, we'll conclude on Falques' MAT-49 submachine gun which he uses near the middle of the film. Novel for its folding magazine housing, which I'm sure appealed to him as a former French Foreign Legion Paratrooper.
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So there we have it guys, perhaps our most indepth #FoF firearms thread so far - very much hope you enjoyed it, we discussed much of this (including #SniperBren) during the episode, so if you haven't already please check it out -
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