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| Machine Gun Corps | |
|---|---|
 Cap badge of the Machine Gun Corps. | |
| Active | 1915–1922 |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Branch |  British Army |
| March | Quick: The Happy Clown |
| Engagements | First World War |
TheMachine Gun Corps (MGC) was acorps of theBritish Army, formed in October 1915 in response to the need for more effective use ofmachine guns on theWestern Front in theFirst World War. The Heavy Branch of the MGC was the first to usetanks in combat and was subsequently turned into the Tank Corps, later called theRoyal Tank Regiment. The MGC remained in existence after the war until it was disbanded in 1922.
At the outbreak of theFirst World War in August 1914, the tactical potential ofmachine guns was not appreciated by theBritish Armed Forces. The prevalent attitude of senior ranks at the outbreak of the Great War can be summed up by the opinion of an officer expressed a decade earlier that a single battery of machine guns per army corps was a sufficient level of issue.[citation needed]
Despite the evidence of fighting in Manchuria (1905 onwards) the army went to war with eachinfantrybattalion andcavalryregiment containing a machine gun section of just two guns.[1][2]This was soon increased to four guns per section.[3][4]
These organic (embedded) units were supplemented in November 1914 by the formation of theMotor Machine Gun Service (MMGS) administered by theRoyal Artillery, consisting of motor-cycle mounted machine gun batteries.
A machine gun school was also opened in France.
After a year of warfare on theWestern Front some commanders advocated crewing them with specially trained men who were not only thoroughly conversant with their weapons but understood how they should be best deployed for maximum effect. To achieve this, the Machine Gun Corps was formed in October 1915 – by Command of BrigadierH.B. de Lisle to CaptainRoss McGillycuddy (4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards)[5] with Infantry, Cavalry, and Motor branches, followed in 1916 by the Heavy Branch.[6] A depot and training centre was established atBelton Park nearGrantham,Lincolnshire, and a base depôt atCamiers inFrance. Captain, then Major, McGillycuddy attended an earlier Machine Gun School at Hythe. He formed there, as an ex-Gunner, certain theories on the use of the Machine Gun from which he was able to turn to good account in the war of 1914 to 1918.[7]
There was also aCanadian Machine Gun Corps.
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The MGC saw action in all the main theatres of war, including theWestern Front in France and Belgium,Sinai and Palestine Campaign,Mesopotamian campaign, Egypt, Salonika,East Africa campaign andItalian front. In its short history, the MGC gained an enviable record for heroism as a front line fighting force.[peacock prose] In the latter part of the war, as tactics changed todefence in depth, it commonly served well in advance of the front line. It had a less enviable record for its casualty rate. Some 170,500 officers and men served in the MGC, with 62,049 becoming casualties, including 12,498 killed, earning it the nickname 'the Suicide Club'.[citation needed]
While the undeniable bravery and self-sacrifice of the corps stands testament to the men and their regimental esprit de corps[peacock prose] it is also a symptom of the fixed belief on the part of senior commanders that machine guns were confined to a marginal if useful role, that of an adjunct to massed rifle fire, ignoring the proven potential of this weapon in the indirect role (in effect rifle-calibre fire employed as ultra-short artillery.) By correctly setting up the same weapons more commonly used in the direct role (over open sights) the delivering of accurate and sustained fire at high elevation became less an art than a science that could reliably deliver plunging fire at approximately twice the maximum effective range of hand-held weapons of identical calibre, but not so convincingly a belief to hold that the machine gunners were in effect hiding behind the front lines while uselessly firing into the air, making a show instead of dying beside riflemen whose weapons used practically identical ammunition.[editorializing]
This conviction may explain–from both sides–the persistence with which machine gunners were placed in exposed positions where their fire was only marginally effective but enemy troops could be seen to fall victim to it, and the great personal bravery with which those same men fought when the same enemy concentrated their forces against the greater threat represented by an unsupported sandbag emplacement.
As stated by Paul Cornish inMachine Guns and the Great War:
"The theory behind this technique had long been understood... as early as 1908... the mathematical work required to provide a reliable basis for the conduct of such fire was carried out by a group of British enthusiasts at the Hythe musketry school... However, it was 1915 before such fire was successfully carried out in the field..."
Cornish goes on "To conduct such fire the proposed target would be located... the relative position of the machine gun relative to it would be determined with ruler and protractor.. calculations would be made to determine the gun's potential cone of fire and the trajectory of its bullets (an important consideration if firing over the head of friendly troops). A clinometer, combined with a graduated elevation dial fitted to the tripod would be employed to set the gun to the correct elevation..."
The obvious complexities and the exacting preparations[editorializing] - in effect identical to those of artillery gunners - may have seemed[weasel words] arcane and pointless to those who carried - or whose men carried - rifles firing the same ammunition but could neither see (or more importantly imagine) the terminal effect of a long-range barrage.
When properly employed it was unarguably[editorializing] a devastating deterrent, as witnessed by those who took the trouble to seek out the areas interdicted but for those who took the trouble to do so were often regarded uncritical advocates of novel, untried tactics.
While in the more sustained direct fire role, properly supported: The 100th Company of the Machine Gun Corps at High Wood on August 24, 1916 was ordered to "give sustained covering fire for 12 hours onto a selected area 2000 yards away in order to prevent German troops forming up there for a counter-attack while a British attack was in progress" The ten machine guns of the company used 100 new barrels and "every drop of water in the neighbourhood, including the men's drinking water and contents of the latrine buckets, went up in steam to keep the guns cool" . And in that 12-hour period the ten guns fired a million rounds..."[9]
Towards the end of the Great War some if not all deeply-entrenched attitudes were changing, and not only on the part of British and Commonwealth personnel. Following the extensive barrage fire atVimy Ridge andBattle of Messines a demonstration was held on the dunes at Camiers by request ofField MarshalSir Douglas Haig,Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of theBritish Expeditionary Force on the Western Front, who insisted all his Corps commanders attend.[citation needed]
French observers were treated to a similar demonstration, after which the concept was swiftly introduced into theFrench Army where it was embraced as a means to economise on artillery shells with the extraordinary[editorializing] assertion the results were more demoralising 'by means of continuity' than the result of shelling. Subsequently a machine gun school was established near the site of both demonstrations and machine gun barrages were successfully employed by the French forces atMeuse andVerdun.[citation needed]
At the end of hostilities, the MGC was re-organised in a smaller form as many of its soldiers returned to civilian life. However, the Corps continued to see active service notably in theRussian Civil War; theThird Anglo-Afghan War, and the ongoing conflict in theNorthwest Frontier of India.[citation needed]
The MGC also served prominently in the British force thatoccupied parts of Germany in the period between theArmistice of 1918 and theVersailles Peace Treaty of 1919 as its equipment and training made it possible for a relatively small garrison to control a large population but by 1920 the headquarters in Belton Park was closed and theWar Office began to dispose of the many buildings.[10]
In 1922 the Machine Gun Corps was disbanded as a cost-cutting measure.[citation needed]
The following members of the Machine Gun Corps have been awarded theVictoria Cross (VC), the highest and most prestigious award for valour in the face of the enemy that can be awarded toBritish andCommonwealth forces.
A memorial to the 15,552 wartime fatalities of the Machine Gun Corps was unveiled on 10 May 1925 by theDuke of Connaught, atHyde Park Corner in London. It features abronze statue byFrancis Derwent Wood in theRenaissance style, depicting the youthfulDavid after his defeat of the giantGoliath, an event described in theBook of Samuel; on lower plinths flanking the figure are two bronze models of Vickers machine guns, wreathed in laurels.[11]
A short service of remembrance known as the Annual Observance is held on the second Saturday in May at the Memorial, which is organised by the Machine Gun Corps Old Comrades' Association. OnRemembrance Sunday, the second Sunday in November, there is also a wreath laying ceremony held in conjunction with the ceremony at the nearbyRoyal Artillery Memorial.[12]
Until 1915 it also had a Machine Gun Section..... These men made up two gun teams.
With the introduction of the 'New Armies' in February 1915, the number of guns within the section was increased from two to four and the numbers of men and equipment were increased accordingly.
