Abbot

Armaments

Apart from the main gun.

ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN : On the drawing board this was the .303 Bren, a machine gun developed from the Czech ZB30 by Brno and built under licence by Enfield. Hence the name BREN came from the BR from BRNO and the EN from ENFIELD. The only evidence left from this era is the Bren magazine stowage for 3 or 4 curved magazines near the base of the Commanders seat. 7.62mm straight magazines will not fit. Then when the 7.62mm ammunition became the N.A.T.O. standard and the S.L.R. became the standard infantry rifle, the Mk. 3 Brens were rebarreled etc. to fire the new ammunition. The external differences were the straight magazine and the S.L.R. type muzzle. Mine is still stamped 1945 Bren Mk. 3 ! These guns both fitted on the same mount. In 1971 the manual stated that the Bren was soon to be replaced by the G.P.M.G. ( or Jimpy to those who know them well. ) or General Purpose Machine Gun. These being belt fed, needed a new mount to take the ammunition box. So what do you put on yours ? If you are opting for an old looking Abbot with Bronze green gloss paintwork and Larkspur radio equipment then it would not look out of place with a .303 Bren. Put a 7.62mm Bren on it and paint it a 70s shade of matt paint this will look right and was the standard Abbot look. If you have a G.P.M.G. then you should have infra-red reflecting paint and Clansman radio equipment.

INSIDE STOWAGE OF WEAPONS : Where you have 9mm Sterling racks, the muzzle of the Sterling fits in the boxed end of the mount and then clips into the spring clips at the other end. If you do not want your Sterling scratched then line the box and the spring clip with felt or similar material. The racks were moved about in some Abbots because of finding space for Clansman radio and Simfire control boxes etc. There are normally two Sterlings, one for the Gun Loader and one for the Gun Layer. The Commander seems to be the one that grabbed the Anti-aircraft gun from the turret and the Driver stowed his S.L.R. next to the Commander. There are some grey areas here as it seems individual crews did what they thought best. Some say the Anti-aircraft gun went next to the Commander when it was not in use. I would say it would be in the Armoury if it was not in use ! Also, I had to hammer my 7.62mm Bren to get it to go in whereas a S.L.R. went in with no trouble. Some Abbots had stowage for three Sterlings. If you leave your weapons on the vehicle stow the Anti-aircraft gun in the back making sure all the hatches are locked and the back door has the largest padlock that will fit. Part three of the handbook of 1965 vintage shows a 7.62mm Bren in the Commanders seat rack labelled "Gun, Machine, 7.62mm L4 A4" pointing to the bipod area and above that it calls the the muzzle bit "Gun, Machine, cal .30 Browning" ! This must have been put in to check if squaddies were paying attention because nobody would feel safe with an army that made that kind of mistake. Maybe it was put there to confuse the Russians. You can get the .30 Browning in there but you have to use lots of carpet tape.

MAIN GUN : Ordnance, QF 105mm, L13 A1. This fired standard high explosive shell (HE) L33 A4 with fuze L85 and shell L33 A3 with M557 fuze ( The American equivalent hence the "M" prefix used by the Americans on all things military. ) Then theres shell L33 A2 fuzed L32. The Mk.2 system consists of shell L31 A3 fuzed L32, L31 A2 fused either L32 or L33 and the L31 A1 with L32 or L33. The last one was to be fired with no more than a charge 3. It appears that the only difference between these shells was the filling. Mk.1 and Mk.2 systems were differing in the fact that the Mk.2 system had a more accurate weight control which made calculating trajectory much easier. The HESH round ( High Explosive Squash Head ) was the armour defeating round . This was a more squat shape and was black with a yellow head. The other shells so far have been Bronze green with a yellow band indicating Hazard. It has a permanently fitted base fuze and four tracer units to enable you to watch yourself miss the target. It is a thin walled round that squashes onto armour of a target forming a "cowpat " of explosive which is then detonated at about the same time. This does not melt a hole as do the heat rounds but throws off high velocity scales inside the vehicle setting off ammunition and "bones-and -dresses" the crew at the same time. Todays heat rounds leave only pink steam. The HESH shell has the L58 A1 percussion fuze and four L9 model tracer units. The L42 A3 shell is slightly different with an aluminium plate on the base. The L35 A2 ( Mk.1 system ) and the L35 A1 the only difference being a gastight washer fitted between the body and the base. These two shells were practice non-exploding types but did have four L7 tracer units. The Mk.2 system was one shell L41 A1 the same but with four L9 tracer units. We are now onto smoke shells. The L36 A3 base ejection shell drops three smoke cannisters and can either be fuzed with L34 or L92 fuzes. The L36 A1 is similar. The white phosphorus smoke shell is of an American design and therefore fitted with M51 A5 and M557 fuzes. M520 can be used also. The Parachute illuminating shell L43 A1 is Mk.2 system shell and is a base ejection type which drops one parachute flare at the time set on the fuze. ( Any time fuze can be used. ) The Swiss made flare burns for 25 seconds at 900.000 candle power. Smoke marker shells have a percussion fuze L32 or proximity ( The expensive ones ! ) can be used also. ( L27 ) They come in any colour you like as long as its orange or red. The orange one is L38 A1 and looks good fired in autumn because it does not clash with the leaves or the sun going down during the onset of another Serb winter. Tone everything down with a nice L37 A1, red, topped with the L32 fuze.

WHAT THE FUZES DO : The L58 A1 is a base percussion fuze. Impact fired. i.e. HESH. The L81 and L92 are both mechanical time fuzes. i.e. Illuminators. The L33 and L34 and American M520 are all mechanical, time and direct action percussion fuzes as opposed to the L32, L85, M51 A1 and M557 which do all the above but only have to graze something to be set off. The proximity fuzes are L27, L36, L62 and L66. These emit radio signals which reflect from the target. There is a whole series of modifications to these mainly to do with the detonating area. They can be set to arm near the target so they do not sense you before you have a chance to fire it ! This is a really good idea. If they do not find their target then theres a percussion section of the fuse too. These fuzes tend to be a lot longer and so removal of the exploder from some shells is necessary to allow fitting.