NOTES FROM THE FRONT.
Points to Remember.
Conceal guns and men.
Select best position to achieve the object you hope to achieve.
Have alternative positions prepared.
Provide effective obstacles.
Keep guns and belts free from dirt.
Give out any preparatory orders necessary.
Be always ready to fire when wanted.
Study the ground all round the position.
Remember the value of cross fire.
Keep your fire for the proper moment.
Choice of Gun Positions.
The choice of a gun position must be governed by the following considerations:—
Enfilade fire, against the enemy and against ourselves.
Overhead fire, to support our own troops.
Long-range fire, against enemy’s supports.
Fire against houses, etc., in rear of enemy’s line.
Fire against likely places for enemy’s machine guns.
Concealment from enemy’s artillery.
Alternative positions.
Lines of advance and retreat.
Covered approach for ammunition carriers, etc.
Facilities for control of guns.
Avoid:—
Obvious positions.
Positions easy to describe. } Either from surroundings
Positions easy to arrange upon. } or maps.
Positions near prominent objects or aiming-points.
Ground which will facilitate observation of fire by the enemy.
Employment of Machine Guns.
The fire of well-concealed machine guns may often be directed against:—
Windows, doors, roofs, etc., of houses thought to be occupied.
Areas of bush, crops, etc.
Open spaces across which the enemy are dribbling in small parties in order to concentrate at another point.
The enemy’s firing-line.
It may happen that machine guns are forced to open fire in self-defence, or to assist the advance of the infantry in spite of the target offered not being a suitable one for machine guns.
Any tendency, however, to open fire with machine guns without good reason must be suppressed.
Machine Guns and Artillery.
Every effort must be made to prevent machine guns being located by artillery.
If guns are shelled they must either:—
Change their Position at once.—This would be the usual proceeding. A movement of quite a short distance—say 50 yards—is quite sufficient in many cases; or—
Cease fire while detachments take cover until the shelling stops.—If this be done, the hostile artillery may think that the machine guns have been put out of action.
Good targets may then present themselves, and the guns may be able to reopen fire with good effect from the same position.
There have been several cases of machine guns firing against artillery with great success. The following instances are quoted:—
(a) A section of machine guns worked forward to a concealed position 900 yards away from a German field battery in action. The section brought oblique fire to bear on the battery and completely silenced it.
(b) A section took a German field battery in enfilade at 2,400 yards. The battery was firing at the time, the gunners fled from their guns, and the battery was silenced.
Note.—Frontal fire by machine guns against shielded artillery can only be expected to produce moral effect. This moral effect may, however, be considerable; and, in addition, the machine gun fire may greatly hamper the supply of ammunition to the guns, etc.
The Occupation of Various Positions by Machine Guns.
Barricades.—When barricading roads, bridges, streets, etc., machine guns should not be placed on the barricade itself if equally good effect can be obtained by placing the guns in positions commanding the approaches to the barricade.
Banks.—The banks of rivers, canals, streams, etc., can be made use of for gun positions, or covered lines of advance or retreat.
Crops.—Standing crops often form useful cover for guns and concealed lines of advance, etc.
Ditches.—These can often be used to enable machine guns to be pushed forward, so as to bring oblique or enfilade fire to bear on the enemy.
Great care must be taken not to show above the banks of the ditch.
A few men should be pushed along the ditch on the exposed flank as a protection against snipers, counterattacks, etc.
Houses.—Houses may be used as follows:—
Place the gun in the back of a room, firing through an open window, or a window from which a few panes of glass have been removed.
Remove a few tiles from the roof, and fire through the opening thus made.
Should a house have two doors or two windows, directly behind one another, the gun may be placed in rear of the house, and fire through these doors or windows.
Place the gun in rear of the house, so that oblique or enfilade fire can be brought to bear on the enemy.
If the house possesses a cellar, the gun may be placed in the cellar, a few bricks being removed, so as to enable the gun to be fired from the ground-level.
In whatever position the gun is placed some protection should, if possible, be provided for the numbers, such as an emplacement of sandbags, stones, bricks, etc.
It should be remembered that if the gun is located in a building by the enemy’s artillery, it may be necessary to evacuate the building quickly; arrangements must therefore be made to meet this contingency.
Folds in the Ground.—Great use can be made of folds in the ground for the concealment of machine guns.
The gun should be placed so as to enable the bullets to clear the crest, while the gun and detachment are concealed as much as possible.
Haystacks.—These can be made use of as follows:—
Hollow out front of haystack.
No. 1 sits in this hollow, with his back against the hay.
The loose hay is piled up in front of the gun.
Cut out a place for the gun on top of the haystack.
If possible, make a rough platform of boards.
The gun then fires over the top of the ridge of the stack.
Place the gun behind the haystack in such a manner that oblique or enfilade fire may be brought to bear on the enemy.
The gun is then entirely concealed from the front.
This is, as a rule, the best method of using a haystack.
Hedges.—Can often be used as a covered approach and as fire positions giving cover from view.
A few men should be placed along the hedge, on the exposed flank, for protection.
Mounds of Earth, Roots, etc.—These may be used as follows:—
Hollow out the mound from the rear, so that the gun can fire from the hollow while it is concealed from the front.
Planks, sandbags, etc., can be used to support the earth.
Fire over the top of the mound, using the mound as a parapet.
Place the gun behind the mound, using the mound as a cover from the front, while oblique or enfilade fire is brought to bear against the enemy.
Stacks of Wood.—The stack may be hollowed out from the rear, so that the gun can be placed inside the stack, and fire to the front, while being perfectly concealed from view.
The position can be strengthened by using sandbags inside the stack.
Stooks of Corn can also be used to provide cover from view.
Trees.—Trees, when in leaf, may be used as possible gun positions.
Trees with strong branches are necessary, and a platform for the gun must be built in the branches.
Tree-trunks can also be used to provide cover from view.
Trenches.—When guns are not used in trenches they should, when possible, be placed so as to bring oblique or enfilade fire against:—
The enemy’s trenches.
The ground over which the enemy must pass, should he attack.
Our own front line trenches in case the enemy penetrates into them.
To achieve these objects guns may be placed:—
In a salient.
At the base of a re-entrant.
At the horns of a re-entrant.
At a bend in the trench.
In an emplacement jutting out from the general line of the trench.
In all cases the gun should, if possible, be covered from fire from the front, and should be able to sweep the front of the entrenched line with cross fire.
Thus, although each gun may be firing to its flank, its front is swept by the fire of a neighbouring gun.
Arrangements should be made so that guns so placed may be able to fire to their front, should an emergency make this desirable.
This can be done by:—
Arranging that some sandbags can be removed and the gun fired to the front through the loophole thus made.
In this connection it must be remembered that:—
(a) If the sandbags are left in place for a considerable time without being removed, they may become embedded and be found unmovable. (b) That loopholes filled with single sacks will not be bullet-proof.
Training the gunners to:—
(a) Remove the gun quickly from the tripod and fire from the top of parapet without it. (b) Lift the gun and tripod out of the trench and fire it from some previously selected spot.
Note.—Both these methods require much practice.
Every endeavour should be made to conceal the position of the gun from the front.
Gun emplacements must therefore be made to appear exactly like the remainder of the trench or breastwork.
Several emplacements should be made for each gun, and practice should be made in moving guns quickly from one emplacement to another.
Guns may be placed—In the Front Line of Trenches.—This may be taken as the general rule.
In Support Trenches.—There are occasions when it may be advisable to place guns in the support trenches.
Here they may be arranged so as to:—
Prevent a further advance of the enemy should they capture the front line.
Enfilade the front line should it be captured.
Sweep the communication trenches.
In Positions in Rear.—If the ground is favourable it may be possible to place guns, in concealed positions, in rear of the entrenched line.
They can be arranged so as to:—
Fire over the trenches and sweep the ground in front.
Fire through gaps in the defensive line.
Command positions where the enemy may concentrate prior to the assault.
Command positions likely to be occupied by the enemy’s machine guns.
Command covered approaches on the defensive line.
Enable guns to fire on enemy’s trenches with greater effect.
Give overhead covering fire in case of an advance by our own troops.
General Notes on Trench Work.
If guns are often used, the positions from which they are fired should frequently be changed.
Thus the enemy may be deceived as to the number and position of the guns.
Emplacements should be numbered, and range cards placed in each.
When taking over a line of trenches the machine gun officer must make careful arrangements for controlling the fire of his guns.
The machine gun officer must:—
(a) Establish himself at a place where he can always be found. (b) Keep in touch with his guns with the officers of the line of trenches he is assisting to defend. (c) Arrange for ammunition supply. (d) Arrange for reliefs.
Towers, windmills and other high buildings may often be used with advantage:—
For overhead fire. (a) Cover the advance of friendly troops. (b) Fire at attacking enemy over the heads of our own troops. (c) Enable fire to be directed into enemy’s trenches. (d) To direct the fire of guns situated in other positions.
Woods, especially when in leaf, are often most valuable for concealing the position of guns.
Care must be taken that the guns are not placed too near the edge of the wood or individual men expose themselves.
All communications between guns should be made in the wood, well in rear of the guns.
Alternative positions should be selected, so that the guns may be moved rapidly from one to another if desired, with as little loss of time as possible.
Lines of retirement through the woods must be arranged and also lines of communication between guns and limbers thought out.
Machine Guns in Action.
The Attack.—The guns should be dug in whenever it is possible to do so without giving away their position.
It is often impossible to see anything of the enemy. Therefore likely positions for him to occupy must be looked for.
Surprise, obtained by a concealed advance, is essential to the successful handling of machine guns.
The progress of the infantry must be carefully watched, with a view to pushing on a certain number of guns and to closely support them whenever possible.
The usual methods of supporting the infantry attack will be:—
(a) Fire from the flanks. (b) Overhead fire. (c) Long-range searching fire. (d) Fire from a forward position.
Every opportunity for the use of overhead fire should be seized.
All suitable ground, buildings, etc., that may enable this kind of fire to be used should be looked for.
The enemy’s machine guns are the weapons that are most likely to hold up the attack.
Therefore every effort should be made to locate them, and to concentrate the fire of our own machine guns upon them.
It may sometimes be possible to use machine guns to search systematically all places in the area of attack likely to be held by the enemy.
This searching fire has undoubtedly considerable moral effect on the troops subjected to it, and may greatly assist the subsequent infantry advance. It requires, however, a large expenditure of ammunition.
If the preliminary reconnaissance is properly carried out, it is quite possible for the guns employed for this purpose to remain undetected, even though pushed well forward.
The general rules as to position of machine guns in attack are as follows:—
(a) The fire of a large proportion of the available guns should be carefully organized to cover the infantry advance. (b) This covering fire is no longer possible, move up a proportion of the available guns either into, or on to, the flanks of the infantry firing-line. (c) A proportion of the guns should usually be held back as a reserve in the hands of the commander. (d) Thus each gun has a definite duty to perform, and co-operation between guns is assured.
It may be possible, and advantageous, to move forward a proportion of the guns with the attacking lines of the infantry.
The guns allotted to this duty will not take part in the covering fire, but will keep themselves fresh and their ammunition intact, in readiness for the advance.
Their duties will be to:—
(a) Help the infantry to gain fire superiority at the decisive point. (b) Make good and hold positions won. (c) Pursue the enemy by fire. (d) Watch for and repel counterattacks. (e) Enable the infantry to re-organize.
As enemy snipers are a particular source of annoyance to machine gunners, they should be watched for.
The defence of prepared positions has been already dealt with under the heading of Machine Guns in Trenches.
Machine guns in any defensive position must be so organized that they can support each other mutually throughout any given section of the defensive line.
It must be remembered that the best positions for machine guns are not always the same by night and day.
It will often be necessary to move the guns from the night position to the day position before dawn.
Rearguard Action.—The following points must be considered:—
A wide field of fire.
Guns must be carefully concealed in the least obvious places.
Covered lines of retreat must be carefully reconnoitred.
Limbers must be close up, to facilitate hasty retirement.
Positions in rear must be chosen before the guns leave the position they are holding.
A proportion of the guns should occupy the position in rear, before all guns retire from the forward position, thus the retirement of the last guns can be covered.
Village Fighting.—As soon as the infantry have made good one edge of the village, the guns will be brought up as close to the firing-line as possible.
They will then search windows, doorways, roofs, etc., likely to be held by the enemy.
Guns will be used to command cross-streets, etc., so as to guard against attacks on the flanks or rear of the infantry.
Guns should also be posted on the edges of the village, to prevent flank attacks.
During village fighting every use should be made of windows, doors, etc., as machine gun positions (see page [102]).
Co-operation.—The necessity for co-operation between the machine guns taking part in any particular action cannot be overestimated.
Not only should the individual gun of a particular unit work upon some definite plan for mutual support, but the sections of all units that are operating together should co-operate with a view to obtaining the best results from their combined action.
This cannot be done in action unless it has been previously practised.
Therefore great attention should be paid to training a number of guns to operate together for some specific purpose.
The following notes from overseas on machine guns, compiled by Capt. E. Feilder (Attached Gen. Staff, A.T.C.), are of considerable value:—