THE MACHINE-GUN IN WAR

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 11, 8 October 1918, Page 9

THE MACHINE-GUN IN WAR

1870 ANDI9IB TWO SWINGS OP THE PENDULUM (By Lieutenant E. S. H. Stiirges, Author of "On the Remainderof Our Front.")-, i ■ With the exception of the aeroplane there is no weapon which has attracted greater notice-in thia war than the machine-gun. ' The circumstances of modern warfare have dragged it from a position, of .'comparative obscurity, and placed it prominently before the publio 'eye. But outsido ■ military circles ■■ there doea not seem any very, definite appreciation of tho role which it plays in war to-day. >. There appear to he two distinct classes of ideas about it—the ancient, and -modern; and in these two classes of ideas may; be seen a.real reflection of the process through which.the.science of machinegunnery has passed during, the.' last twenty or thirty years. ■■- The younger generation whose, knowledge of tno ; gun and its-powers is derived from the present war pictures it as a- safer automatic rifle, which is fired into thetmck of a cliargtng-.mass of men at ■" close quarters, sweeping this way'and that and mowing down the enemy like corn •beneath a scythe- A raore ■elderly, person with vague of. the earlier types of machine-gun is inclined to think of it as a pieoe of artillery, us. is shown by a. question asked more than once dt* the modern Vickera guti:" "What size shell does it throw?' ;■..

The Mitrailleuse of 1870. ThBSo points of view, are intereeting rofi"eotion3 ot the history pF the ma-chine-gun. When the mitrailleuaos were nrst used in the war.of 1870 they H-ere aupplied fo the French artillery.' in placo of a proportion of field guns, dud for a Ion? time the machine-gnu, was considered to be a substitute for artillery. Liko a field.gun, it .TO, mounted on a carriage with trail' and' limber, thue making' target ~ so. that it' conia nofc be brought, within close range of the enemy. It was-hot till, tho .end of -1R97 that a. /iripotl w3B introduced ae a smnvmfy arid - .even tfi.en the. gun was only, intended for pack transport with the idea of facilitating its use by mounted : troops. Even in the South African war the .majority of British machineguns were still mounted on large and cumbersome .'carriages. ■■ .■-■■■•■• The.success of the tripod as used by the cavalry soon made it evident , that this form of mounting was best suited to the machine-gun,'and hi 1006 fhe present tripod, known as IV, was introduced, Thus it became 1 recognised by gradual stages that the . ma-chine-gun was not an' artillery, but an: infantry "weapon. At the beginning of the present war the pendulum completed its swinft. -The maohino-gun was treated, purely as an automatic riflo, and it was pushed up; into the very front,of the line, so as to,come to tho closest possible* quarters with the,, enemy.. In. the meaiitinie the adoption of the British. Army of the Lewis .gun had provided our troops with what was in ■reality:,an automatic rifle.. This gun, in sufficient quantities,-; carried ont'-all the .functions 'hitherto performed by. tho maohine-gun proper. ■ Being light and fired, from tho shoulder with the aid of two supporting legs, it was extremely mobile, and could bo pushed forward with tho very first wave of advancing infantry. It was therefore felt that tho Lewis gun fulfilled frory. efficiently' tho requirements of, the infantry, and.that to restriot tho proper—that is, the Vickers gun-—.to the . function or * purely infantry weapon w,is to waste its special properties,, chief of which was its fixed mounting.

Another Swing of tho Pemtulum, fc>o me pwiuuiiuii uugim io swing liaok, once -inwo, uuu otniig io tut , ii-siions. ny' pre, wits it was hoc Hilowßil lo'swtiig too iar. in rosiiiii tlie Victors inacimic-gim has now laKen \\[> a pumiioit nimiray between tiirtt of an awownatic niio awl ,tnaty of a nelci-gun. ,'j.o-ua.y tiie maciuue-gun is seldom to be fouad in thts rroui-lmt) troiiones. ii lias reoirea further teek io, a i>osiuon. wiience iti'can*bring lire to bear oJt any part of the cneiny's line' over tlie. houcls of friendly troops in thti lire, trenenes, and this it is able to do by virtue or its special cnaracieristii;, to wlncii' reference has already been mude—a fixed mounting. This aspect of the machme-gun.acting in a somiarUUery .cajiacicy ■ appears, to be' iictlo appreciated by many people. ■ It may come as a surprise to tliuin to know that batteries oi machine-guns are stationed behind tho fire treiiohes, and are organised, on .artillery lines. Special tusks are allotted .to.''these..batteries; tin 0y...a re required .to tire, .ft certain nunioer of ro-uiid-s on given tftrgots at particular hours of tlie day or night. A macbine-gnn battery has its, own y.O.fcs-. lines, on, whicli it can open nro, at any monfbnt in an. oraorgoncy. it, puts tlown barrages on specified areas, and sweeps roads and positions behind the German lines. ,

But it must not be supposed that thd macliiiie-gunhus entirely delegated tho duty of' direot fire to tlie light Lewis gun. Its sphere of .operations , is elastic, and, wuile on the one side it would appear to overlap the sphere of the purely artillery, weapon, it also overlaps on-the other side the, sphere of the infantry weapon; The fixed mounting, ■ which makes '-the gun • suitable fovuse in tho former capacity, ishot allowed, to nullify the advantages to be derived- from its mobility, wfiioh are , e'specwlly'appropriate- to the latter. A considerable proportion of ma--chine-guns are thorelore still allotted to foi'wurd' Areas, where they are of. iuestimablo value in covering advances repelling counter-attacks, and. consolidating positions—all by means of direct firo. It' may also bo noted that even in thie capacity the fixed mount-, ing of the :'machine-gun is by no means .a superfluous adjunct, for.it makes it ■possible, for aii infantry advance to be ooverecl. : ..by direct overhead lire Ihat is to say,, thdti'.machine-guns iiiounted, on.some' convenient spur>or lidgo can direct a. stream of .bullets on to the enemy's position ovicr the , heads of infantry'advancing, to. attack it," and this they can do without any fear of inilicting : casualties ■ oii,. the ■ friendly troops in , front—a feat which is quite beyond the capabilities of tho, light Lewis gun,or the rifle. ■ . . .■The machine-gun is therefore' both an artillery and an infantry weapon, and the.'two'"points of view referred to earlier.-in', this article arc therefore both correct .'as':fai\'iis they go,- but on thojother hand neither of them is'corrcot, beoause neither goes far enough. A true, cuniprehension. of tho lole of the machine-gun in modern war must include both those aspeots, and restrict itself to neither. As a result, the niaohino-guimor is not solely an infantryman any more than he is solely an artilleryman—:a fact whioh has been recognised by the , formation of n fepeein , corpSj which is trftined in tho tactics peculiar to the niachinc-gnn. That if . why ill Optobor,. : l9lp, the,. Machine-gun Corns was added to the establishment of the British. Army. '-....:: . .