Read Ebook: Machine-Gun Tactics by Applin R V K Reginald Vincent Kempenfeldt

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Ebook has 516 lines and 69723 words, and 11 pages

CHAP. PAGE

LIST OF PLATES AND DIAGRAMS

FACING PAGE

MACHINE GUN ON ADJUSTABLE TRIPOD BEHIND COVER. FRONT VIEW 224-5

MACHINE GUN ON ADJUSTABLE TRIPOD BEHIND COVER. VIEW FROM REAR 224-5

MAP OF PORT ARTHUR 266

PAGE

DIAGRAM TO SHOW THE ZONE BEATEN BY 50 PER CENT. OF BULLETS 5

DIAGRAM TO SHOW THE DISPERSION OF BULLETS 6

DIAGRAM TO SHOW FORMATION WHEN COMING INTO POSITION 39

DIAGRAM TO SHOW METHOD OF LAYING BY AIMING POSTS 51

DIAGRAM OF JAPANESE MACHINE-GUN TRIPOD MOUNT 251

ERRATA

MACHINE-GUN TACTICS

DESCRIPTION AND ORGANISATION

The modern machine gun is essentially an automatic weapon of small-arm calibre, capable of firing from 100 to 600 shots a minute from a light mounting of extreme mobility, and should fulfil the following qualifications:

There are eight main types of machine guns at present in use in the armies of the world, viz.:

The principal differences between these guns are: The automatic mechanism. Method of loading.

Several of the above countries--notably Russia, Japan, France, and Austria--have more than one pattern of gun in their service, and it is difficult to say which they intend finally to adopt; but Russia, since the war, has ordered several thousand Madsen guns, and Japan is said to be trying this gun, one of which during the war fired 25,000 shots in a single day.

The Rexar gun has been purposely omitted; it only weighs 17 1/2 lb., but is fired from the shoulder, and is therefore more of the nature of an automatic rifle than a machine gun. It would take too long to deal with each of these weapons separately, therefore the Maxim has been selected as the type with which to discuss the question of tactics.

The extreme range of this type of gun is for all practical purposes the same as the infantry rifle--about 3,500 yards--though it is more effective at the longer ranges than an equal volume of rifle fire, owing to the ease with which the firer can elevate and aim the gun on its mountings and the stability of this mounting, which causes it to have a beaten zone of only half the depth and nearly half the width of that of infantry firing the same number of rounds. This has been proved again by actual experiment at the schools of musketry in England, India, and South Africa, while very elaborate experiments and trials carried out in Germany with the Maxim gun on the carriage adopted for that service proved that the beaten zone was only one-sixth of that obtained by infantry, probably because of the greater stability of their mounting.

In order that "fire" may be "effective," it is necessary to bring the enemy within the zone beaten by 75 per cent. of shots, and it has been found by experiment that 25 per cent. of shots fall immediately in front and behind the target, then 12 1/2 per cent., 7 1/2 per cent., and, finally, 5 per cent. scattered far in front and behind.

Infantry usually fire at the rate of three rounds a minute "slow," and fifteen rounds a minute "rapid"; "slow" fire is the ordinary rate, and "rapid" fire can only be effectually maintained for about four minutes; but this is when the firer is fresh, and has not been subjected to several hours' marching and fighting as would be the case in battle, and it is doubtful if "rapid" fire can be kept up on service for more than one-and-a-half to two minutes without becoming wild and consequently ineffective. On the other hand, "rapid" fire is less tiring to the machine gunner than "deliberate" fire; the gun is held for him by the mounting, it loads and fires itself, while elevation and direction are maintained without the least exertion on his part by the elevating and traversing gears.

Rounds Figures Percentage fired. Hits. Percentage. hit. of loss. Rifles 408 62 15?1 27 54 Maxim 228 69 30?2 32 64

The small number of rounds fired by the Maxim was due to the necessity of picking up the range by firing small groups of five or ten shots and observing the strike of the bullets. What is most interesting is that although the rifles fired nearly twice as many shots as the machine gun, the latter made actually more hits, while the percentage of loss inflicted was 10 per cent. greater. The actual range was 1,000 yards. A similar experiment was carried out during the annual training for 1908 in the U.S.A. between 42 "sharpshooters" and a Maxim at the regulation "L" target. The ranges were 600, 800, 1,000 yards; the sharpshooters fired an average of 750 rounds at the three distances and made an average of 429 hits, which gave a collective figure of merit of 59?09. The machine gun also fired 750 rounds, made 601 hits, giving a collective figure of merit of 79?54, being 22?45 in favour of the machine gun. The troops were armed with new rifles, and fired the new "S" bullet, while the machine gun used the old pattern ammunition and a barrel that had fired at least 7,000 shots. The gun squad had no previous practice at this target, and the gun was fired by different men at the several ranges. The collective fire of the troop was "slow aimed," while the fire of the machine gun was "rapid continuous" for the number of rounds at each range. The machine gun took 30 seconds to fire 250 shots at each range, or a quarter that of the troop.

The two experiments are particularly interesting, as showing how closely the results agree, although the conditions are dissimilar in one respect: viz. that in the first case the number of rounds was unlimited and the result had to be obtained within one minute; while in the second case time was unlimited, but the number of rounds fired by each was the same. The result of the two experiments show that both in accuracy and rapidity a machine gun is much superior to 42 picked shots, whether firing the same number of rounds at known ranges or firing an unlimited number of shots in a given time at an unknown range. We shall not be wrong, then, if we say that a machine gun is at least equal to 50 rifles in fire value, but there are other factors to be considered as well as fire effect in determining its tactical value, and it is in these other factors that machine guns are so far superior to riflemen as to make a reliable estimate of their relative value almost impossible; these factors are: Mobility; Visibility; Vulnerability.

"Both sides have machine guns, but the rather clumsy mountings of those used by the British offered too high a target, and so prevented their being advanced from position to position during the attack."

The tripod mounting, which is light and inconspicuous, is carried with the gun on a limbered wagon; but the advantages of its lightness and portability are almost neutralised by being carried on a wagon, thus reducing its mobility by confining it to ground suitable for wheeled vehicles.

If used on a pack-saddle the difficulty of managing a led animal on foot in the stress of battle may become insuperable, and moving the gun in and out of action is entirely dependent on the docility of the pack-animal. The gun weighs anything from 40 to 60 lb., while the mountings need not weigh more than 34 lb. The combined weight of a gun and mounting should never exceed 120 lb. and can be as little as 74 lb.

We are now in a position to form an accurate estimate of the potentialities of the machine gun and its true tactical value as compared with infantry, and we find:

Before discussing their place in battle and tactical use it will be necessary to say a few words on the best methods of grouping the guns and organising their detachments and the training of the personnel in peace for the duties they will have to perform in war. In our service two machine guns are issued to each regiment of cavalry and battalion of infantry, and the detachment consists of:

Cavalry. Infantry. Subaltern 1 1 Sergeant 1 1 Corporal 1 1 Privates 12 12 Drivers 8 2 B?tmen 2 - -- -- 25 17

This section of two guns is therefore the smallest tactical unit, and the officer in command is solely responsible for the training and efficiency of his section. It is therefore absolutely essential that the machine-gun section commander should be a subaltern of not less than three years' service, specially selected for his keenness, efficiency, and self-reliance, who has passed the examination "C" for promotion, and who holds the special machine-gun certificate from a School of Musketry. A "destroyer" in the Royal Navy is commanded by a very junior officer, but he is most carefully selected for similar qualities to those mentioned, and is in addition required to possess the necessary professional qualifications--consequently it is a command much sought after, and competition enables the authorities to appoint the pick of the service and thus obtain the maximum efficiency where efficiency is the essence of successful employment in war. The best and nothing but the best is necessary to the successful employment of machine guns, and the importance of obtaining the very best officers as section commanders is so great that there is reason to doubt the utility of having machine guns at all if they are not commanded and handled by those who are in every way expert in their use.

In order to enable machine-gun sections to be trained in tactics and to co-operate with larger units in war, it is essential that they should be trained under a senior officer during peace. The late Colonel Henderson said of the Volunteers in Mexico: "The ideal of the battle is a combined effort directed by a well-trained leader: as individuals they fought well; as organised bodies capable of manoeuvring under fire and of combined effort, they proved to be comparatively worthless." This is precisely the case of regimental machine guns. It is easy enough to use a section or even a single gun apart from its battery should occasion require, but it is impossible to improvise a battery from a number of separate sections. It is therefore essential before attempting the tactical training of machine guns, much less their tactical use, to organise them in batteries during peace. For this purpose it is suggested that when a battalion is brigaded with others, either for administration or training, the six or eight guns should be formed into one or two batteries, under a selected field officer, who would be solely responsible for their peace training and tactical efficiency, and who would command them on manoeuvres and on service. There would be little or no innovation in this, as our regimental signallers are at present trained and commanded on similar lines under the divisional signalling officer. A cavalry brigade under the present organisation would have one battery of six guns, and an infantry brigade two batteries of four guns each. The batteries of a Division would be commanded by the divisional machine-gun commander. While such organisation would in no way prevent the regimental machine-gun section being used with its own unit as at present, it would ensure a very high standard of tactical training, and enable the Divisional General to have a splendid reserve in his own hands for use at the critical moment of the fight as mobile as cavalry, in fire action more powerful than infantry, occupying the smallest possible front, yet capable of delivering a storm of some 10,000 bullets a minute with the maximum of accuracy and concentration.

The tactics in this book are based on the understanding that the machine guns are trained on this system, and that they are mounted on light, adjustable tripods and carried on trained pack-horses with the entire detachment mounted.

The failure of machine guns is due to two principal causes: Insufficient training in working the guns. Improper tactical employment.

It will be obvious that unless the gun can be depended upon to open fire with certainty and accuracy, and maintain it continuously without jamming or mechanical failure, it is useless to consider its tactical employment. The mechanism of the Maxim is somewhat complicated and delicate, and depends for its proper working upon the exact adjustment of each part; but no more so than any other piece of modern machinery--it is far less complicated and certainly far less delicate than the modern motor-car. Indeed, the comparison is analogous in several respects, as both require highly trained operators to ensure their smooth and continuous working, and each individual machine, whether gun or motor, has its own peculiarities and requires special study to obtain the best results. Both are capable of hard and constant employment for long periods, without breakdown or failure, in the hands of an expert.

As the gun is generally required to move and come into action independently of other troops, it must find its own scouts, who not only have to safeguard it from surprise when moving, but must be trained to select good positions whence it can come into action. For this reason the men of the detachment must be trained scouts.

To summarise:

Only marksmen should be chosen.

Trained scouts should be given the preference.

The whole detachment must be trained as range-finders and scouts.

The whole detachment must be proficient in judging distance.

Only strong men should be selected.

It will be found that certain men of the detachment are far more skilful in laying and firing the gun than others, and it is undoubtedly sound to specially train these men as gun-layers and to permanently allot to the two best layers the duties of Nos. 1 and 2 . This should be the post of honour and coveted accordingly, and the two best gun-layers should be awarded a distinguishing badge. As no badge is authorised by our regulations, a lance stripe might be given to the best No. 1 of each gun.

Range practices will follow, and the peculiarities of the gun and its fire effect must be carefully taught during this period. The use of traversing and sweeping fire, combined sights, and observation of fire and the use of deliberate fire in imitation of rifle fire should be perfected during range practice, so that they may be carried out under service conditions during the field practices which follow.

Drill over rough country.

Selecting a position.

Selecting alternate positions.

Taking up a position.

Screening guns.

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