Bonny and Clyde and the Browning Automatic Rifle

Bonnie and Clyde and the BAR !

Clyde Barrow, holding a Browning automatic rifle. BAR's could fire a

twenty-shot magazine loaded with armor-piercing ammunition in under three seconds.

During the depression of the 1930's in the USA criminals were looked at in a different way by many of the people who had been victimized and impoverished by the rich bankers and the emerging powerful corporations. Many people saw them as people driven to the edge that were only taking back what was stolen from them and striking back at a society and Government that let the Depression cause so much harm to so many . Two of the most famous criminals of that time were Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow . They were known to be quite skilled with their weapons, and unlike most criminals, they practiced with them and maintained them . Sadly they are considered to be responsible for the deaths of at least Nine law enforcement officers and five civilians during their two year trail of robbery , murder and mayhem .

The most famous firearm of the 1930s was without a doubt the Thompson submachine gun. While it was favored by many of the famous gangsters, Clyde Barrow was known to prefer the .30-06 Browning Automatic Rifle, a much more powerful gun capable of powering through the heavy steel of 1930's automobiles , early bullet proof vests, and even through brick walls . Later events were to prove he made a good choice .

On July 18, 1933, the five members of the wanted Barrow Gang were located in two brick built motel cabins with attached garages south of Platte City Missouri . At 11 O'clock . that night the local Sheriff led a group of officers armed with Thompson submachine guns backed up by an armoured car toward the cabins . In the pitched gunfight at considerable distances that followed, the .45 ACP caliber submachine guns proved no match for the 30-06 Caliber BARs which the gang had recently stolen from the National Guard armoury at Enid Oklahoma . The gang laid down heavy accurate fire and escaped when a bullet short-circuited the horn on the armored car and the lawmen mistook it for a cease-fire signal . The outgunned locals did not pursue the retreating Barrow vehicle.

Bonnie and Clyde were finally stopped on May 23, 1934 by Texas and Louisiana police officers laying in wait acting on a tip off . Their stolen Ford V8 contained three Browning Automatic Rifles , two sawn-off shotguns , ten pistols and over three thousand rounds of ammunition . It didn't help them much in the end. Bonnie and Clyde never even got off a shot.

 

 

Members of the posse have made conflicting statements at various times to numerous people but it seems that the shooting began and ended at at about 9 15 am . Clyde Barrow driving with Bonny , possibly literally “riding shotgun” spotted the familiar truck belonging to the father of one of the gang apparently broken down at the side of the road . It had been put there as a decoy by the posse who had spent an uncomfortable night waiting hidden in the woods and were close to giving up . The slow moving V 8 got to within 25 feet of the ambush and all six men opened fire ! Almost 200 rounds hit the vehicle. The lawmen used at least three Browning Automatic Rifles or Colt Monitors ( a civilian version of the BAR ) together with various pistols , shotguns and other firearms all of which they emptied into the helpless pair .

Thus ended their two year spree of robbery and murder ! with the lovers themselves   dying under a hail of bullets fired with a Browning Automatic Rifles .