by scully » Sun May 30, 2010 10:25 am
At the start of WW1 in 1914 all infantry battalions were equipped with a machine gun section of two guns. This later increased to four in February 1915. At this time these machine gun sections were equipped with Maxim machine guns. Each section of 12 men were commanded by a subaltern.
During the early Battles of Ypres it was soon established that the machine gun sections required specialised training, tactics and organisation. Due to this on the 22nd November 1914 the British Army established a Machine Gun School at Wisques in France to train new regimental officers and machine gunners. About the same time a Machine Gun Training Centre was also established at Grantham in England.
The War Office put forward a poroposal on the 2nd September 1915 for the formation of a single specialist Machine Gun Company per infantry brigade. This was done by withdrawing the machine guns and gun teams from the infantry battalions. They were replaced at battalion level by the light Lewis machine guns and thus the firepower of each brigade would be substantially increased.
The Machine Gun Corps (MGC)was created by Royal Warrant on the 14th October 1915. The companies which had previously formed in each brigade then transferred to the new Corps.
The speed of this reorganisation depended mainly on the rate of supply of the Lewis Guns to the infantry battalions. However, it was finally completed before the Battle of the Somme in 1916.
A Base Depot (B Depot) for the Machine Gun Corps was established at Camiers, France. It was here that Private Samuel Munn joined them on the 26th April 1917.
Shortly after the formation of the MGC, the Maxim Guns were replaced by the new Vickers Machine Guns, which became the standard. Two men were required to carry the equipment and two the ammunition. A Vickers machine gun team also had two spare men.
Hope the above helps a little.
Regards,
Louis (webmaster)