Machine Gunner, 1914–18

Personal Experiences of the Machine Gun Corps

C. E. Crutchley

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781844153596
• eBook ISBN: 9781473816091
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

In 1914 there were only two machine guns supporting a British infantry battalion of 800 men, and in the light of the effectiveness of German and French machine guns the Machine Gun Corps was formed in October 1915. This remarkable book, compiled and edited by C E Crutchley, is a collection of the personal accounts of officers and men who served in the front lines with their machine guns in one of the most ghastly wars, spread over three continents. The strength of the book lies in the fact that these are the actual words of the soldiers themselves, complete with characteristic modes of expression and oddities of emphasis and spelling. All theatres of war are covered from the defence of the Suez Canal, Gallipoli and Mesopotamia in the east to France and Flanders, the German offensive of March 1918 and the final act on the Western Front that brought the war to an end. October 2006 is the 90th anniversary of the formation of the Machine Gun Corps.

Contents

	FOREWORD
	PREFACE
	INTRODUCTION
1	A 1913 TERRIER MACHINE-GUNNER REMEMBERS
	A Christmas Day to remember
	First spell of front line duty
	The second battle of Ypres
2	THE DEFENCE OF THE SUEZ CANAL
	The Turks attack
3	GALLIPOLI
	The Gallipoli landings
	The battle of Krithia
	Suvla Bay
	Mustafa Kemal
	Massacre at the farm
4	ON THE WESTERN FRONT
	Christmas 1915
	Reveille with a difference
	Relieviner the Gurkhas
	The Somme Offensive of 1916
	Memories of the Somme
	High Wood
	The first machine-gun barrage
	Carnoy Valley
	The sick parade and Number 9
	With 142 Machine Gun Company
	The shelf
	In the line
5	WITH 33rd BATTALION MACHINE GUN CORPS
	Warlencourt
	Corporal Monty Watson
	The Durhams’ Crosses
	Brave deeds and humour
	With 126 Machine Gun Company
	The Battle of Arras
	With the 3rd Machine Gun Squadron (Cavalry)
	With the 10th Machine Gun Company
	Battle of Messines Ridge
	The Dunes disaster
	Daily Routine on the Somme (1917) (ration fatigue, rest period, return to trenches)
	Memories of a front-line runner
	On the Western Front with 47 M.G. Company
	Hair-cut, sir?
	The Third Battle of Ypres
	From Grantham to Passchendaele
	Ration fatigue in the Salient
	Remember Belgium (poem)
	The Menin Road
	Cambrai
	The youngest machine-gunner of all
	Three days in a salient
	Father Christmas
	Barking Creek (poem)
	Vat’ 16
6	THE FINAL GERMAN OFFENSIVE
	Left on the shelf
	As seen by a Signaller
	Meteran
	Ridge Wood
	Like a bad dream
	The Machine Gun Corps Band
	Memories of a 9th Division machine-gunner
7	THE FINAL ACT ON THE WESTERN FRONT
	Civilisation versus The Hun
	German retreat becoming a rout
	Copy of Citation
	Memories of Bohain
	The final advance
	The last battle
	The End
	How other machine-gunners saw the end:
		An N.C.O. of 41 M. G. Company
		A gunner of 126 M. G. Company
		A signaller with 17th Battalion 9D M. G. Company
		A gunner of 46 M. G. Company
	Paddy
8	THE MESOPOTAMIA CAMPAIGN
	The first battle of Kut
	With 135 Machine Gun Company (by an N.C.O.)
		A river journey of 130 miles
		Front line duty at Sannaiyat
		Battle of Hai Salient
		The second battle of Sannaiyat
		Recapture of Kut-el-Amara
	Advance on Baghdad
	The battle of the Dialah River
	Capture of Baghdad
	The aftermath
	No enemies in death
	Night marches
	A desert battle
	The photograph
	On to Samarra with 135 Machine Gun Company
	Tekrit
	In the Line
	Desert Dentistry
	The battle of Khan-Baghdadi
	Memories of Mesopotamia
	Guard mounting
	Smiler
	LAMB
	Fatha Gorge
	Closing on the enemy
	Order of the day
	In the Sinai Desert
	With 135 M. G. Company in Palestine
	The Two Sisters
	Butterc up Hill
	Twost arless nights in the Holy Land
	Allenby’s Final Push
	Corporal Jones and a future Field Marshal
	With the 1st Armoured Motor Battery, M.G.C.
	Bisley—British East Africa—Libyan Desert—Palestine
		A memorable sea voyage
		First contact with the enemy
		Desert patrols in 120 degrees F.
		Mopping-up operations in Palestine
	Memories of the end in Palestine and Syria (1918)
	November 11th, 1918
PRINCIPAL CONTRIBUTORS
MACHINE GUN CORPS OLD COMRADES ASSOCIATION
UNITS MENTIONED
INDEX

Foreword

During recent years the work of recovering the Regimental and the Army records of the Machine Gun Corps, lost in two separate disasters, has been proceeding.

A new Corps banner of unique character was laid up forever in St. Wulfram’s Church, Grantham, Lincolnshire, in 1967.

A Book of Remembrance, in which the records are set forth for posterity, was similarly enshrined in 1968. A reference copy has since been completed, and on 7 April 1972, at a special ceremony held in London, this copy was accepted by Sir Peter Masefield and Dr Noble Frankland, D.F.C., for the Imperial War Museum.

Upon the completion of the Book of Remembrance there came a renewed urge to compile a history of the Corps, based on the experiences of officers and men who served as front line machine-gunners in the most ghastly soldiers’ war of all time. Old records and diaries ware dug out, and dormant memories awakened, and from these sources this book has been compiled.

* * *

In March, 1973, the first edition was published as a private venture, and quickly sold out. As the demand for the book continued, the publishing house of Bailey Bros. and Swinfen Ltd. have undertaken to produce this second edition, which contains added reading matter and illustrations.

* * *

This book is not intended to glorify war—but to pass on the spirit and message of REMEMBRANCE in the hope that by so doing, it may help to point the way along the road to future world peace, more vital in this atomic age than ever before. If it succeeds in its object it will be because of the contributors whose names appear at the end of this book. To them I extend my warm thanks.

C. E. Crutchley

* * *

Royalties received from the sale of this edition will be given to the Machine Gun Corps’ ‘Boy David’ Fund, which is affiliated to the Army Benevolent Fund.

Preface

BY COLONEL SIR GEORGE WADE, M.C., J.P.,
Chairman, M.G.C. Old Comrades Association

Those who served in the First World War have many reminiscences. These are always full of interest, and the recollections of Machine Gunners are particularly so because of their unique function in active operations.

They wore always at the centre of things. Wherever trouble most threatened, or an attack was planned, there they had to be, right amongst it all.

They had tremendous fire power, and the moment they started they were the targets of every enemy weapon within range. No wonder the Machine Gun Corps was nick-named the Suicide Club!

As they were so mobile and so much in demand they saw more of what was happening than any other Arm.

Machine-gunners had to be highly skilled, not only mechanically but tactically, and their devastating fire power gave them a deep sense of responsibility which never left them to the bitter end.

In a few years there will be no survivors of World War One to tell the story. Soon all their experiences which have not been recorded will be lost for ever.

All lovers of history should be grateful to the veteran machine gunner who has, while there is still time, painstakingly collected the memoirs of his comrades.

To old soldiers the following pages will awaken vivid pictures already etched deeply in their memories.

Comradeship such as could exist only between serving soldiers, and the bravery, the kindness, the sacrifice, the suffering, the agony will all come back. Even the smell of cordite and blood will return, together with the stale atmosphere of charcoal and earth which pervaded every dug-out.

Those who were not bora when these stirring events took place will read between the lines of the grim determination which actuated the men of the Machine Gun Corps through long years of bitter warfare in conditions of extreme hardship, icy cold or insufferable heat, against enemies of many nationalities.

In those days every man was firmly convinced that we were fighting for Freedom, as indeed we were, but nowadays old soldiers wonder if those who enjoy freedom now appreciate what sacrifices were made to keep it, and what vigilance is still called for to preserve it.

Introduction

In World War One the machine-gun was the most deadly of weapons. When war broke out (August 4th, 1914) every British infantry unit had its own machine-gun section of two Maxim guns served by one officer and twelve other ranks. The section was divided into two gun teams. The men chosen to serve in the machine-gun section were mostly marksmen with the rifle.

Although the machine-gun officer had a certain amount of freedom relating to the training of his men, the Battalion machine-gunner enjoyed certain privileges. The Command Officer of a Unit usually had the first and last word in the placing of the guns in actual battle.

In the first year of the war the fire power of the Maxim gun (500 rounds per minute) gave vital support to attacking infantry and also in defensive actions. Even so, two Maxim guns supporting a battalion of eight hundred men, often on a wide frontage of varied depth, could not possibly be everywhere at once. The British High Command soon became aware of these limitations and it was decided to form a Corps of Machine Gunners.

THE MACHINE GUN CORPS

The Corps was created by Royal Warrant on October 14th, 1915, His Majesty King George V being Colonel-in-Chief. Its Infantry, Cavalry, Motor, and Heavy branches grew into formidable self-contained units in every theatre of war. A total of 170,500 officers and men served in the Corps, which suffered 62,049 casualties.

Very soon after the formation of the M.G.C. the Maxim gun was replaced by the Vickcrs machine-gun.

The Corps was continually recruiting from picked men. Both as an armed body, and as an association of men, it was therefore unique.

The story of the Machine Gun Corps is a record of f...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Full Title
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents