In training the men of the section in the preliminary details of working the guns, the following points may be found of use. First frame a course of instruction for each day which will give systematic and progressive individual instruction in the following points: mechanism, name and use of every part, the working of the mechanism, care of gun, stripping and fitting, loading and firing; spare-part box, the name of each of its contents and recognition of every part when out of the box; failures, their recognition and remedy; gun-laying and firing, co-operation between layer, loader, and observer. This course should last at least three months, provided not less than two hours a day are available. Drills may be combined with preliminary instruction at the end of the first month, and must aim at extreme quickness in dismounting the gun and opening aimed fire and remounting the gun again. The chief points in the preliminary training are that all the detachment are equally instructed. Training on the 20-yard range in barracks should take place during the third month, and special targets should be used to teach laying the gun, slow use of elevating gear and combined sights, traversing fire, fire control, rapid change of target, indirect fire. During this short-range practice the failures should be practically demonstrated, and firing on the range should never take place without making a few artificial failures to test the efficiency of the detachment. These failures should be introduced by the officer himself without the knowledge of the detachment, and should be so arranged as to occur naturally while firing. They should be timed by him in each case, and the record time for the remedy of each failure posted up in the barrack-room with the man’s name. Artificial failures can easily be made by filing round the base of a cartridge so that it is torn off when fired; by loosening a bullet in a cartridge, by slightly flattening a cartridge so as to cause it to jam in the chamber, by wedging a cartridge in the belt, by introducing a blank cartridge, and by repacking the asbestos with dry packing. It will be found that by making two or three such jams every time the gun is taken out to fire the detachment will soon become expert in recognising and remedying failures.
The men should be taught that failures may be divided into two classes, viz. avoidable and unavoidable. The occurrence of an avoidable failure should be looked upon as a disgrace to the firer. The unavoidable failures so seldom occur that they are negligible.
The avoidable failures are those due to (1) Fuzee spring adjustment. (2) Want of oil. (3) Dirt. (4) Want of water. (5) Bad packing. (6) Damaged ammunition. (7) Faults in feed due to badly filled, new, or damaged belts. Each machine gun will be found to work best with a certain weight of fuzee spring which can only be found by trial, and this weight will change from time to time as the gun wears. The machine gunner cannot be considered fit for further training until he has become so familiar with his gun that he can instantly tell by the sound if it is working at its best; just as a chauffeur knows at once if his engines are running perfectly, and can instantly detect the slightest defect and make the necessary adjustment of the spark, petrol, or oil to ensure smooth running. The unavoidable failures are so few and rare that they will seldom be met with, and can be quickly remedied, except the breaking of an important part. Failures due to defective ammunition are extremely rare provided ordinary precautions are taken to avoid placing damaged cartridges in the belt. A breakage in any part of the lock can be remedied in a few seconds by substituting the spare lock which should always be on the gun in action. The breaking of any other part of the gun will be an accident of rare occurrence and, provided the gun is properly inspected before use, may be more properly classified under accidents than failures. A modern machine gun in the hands of experts should never jam, while failure of automatic fire will be rare and momentary. Until this standard has been reached a machine-gun detachment cannot be considered fit to begin tactical training. The Japanese in the late war were obliged to improvise the detachments for their hastily acquired machine guns; and Captain Matsuda, who commanded the machine guns with Prince Kanin’s Cavalry Brigade, says: “Whereas at the battle of Peu-si-lau on October 12th we had some trouble after firing 1,800 rounds, on March 3rd the guns of one section after firing 11,000 rounds continued to work perfectly. The gunners were absolutely familiar with their weapons.” Lieut.-General Sir C. J. Burnett, K.C.B., remarked: “Like a good chauffeur, the Japanese machine gunner knows all the peculiarities of the weapon he fires and can tell almost by instinct when anything is going wrong.” It is almost superfluous to say that the men of the machine-gun detachment must never be changed or taken for any other work. Nothing has been said of the necessity for training the detachment in the all-important duties of scouting, range-taking, and horsemastership during this period, but of course they are vital to ultimate success and must not be neglected.
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.
The tactical training should commence as soon as the field practices have been completed. The course for this should be carefully mapped out beforehand and should be based upon the principles given in Chapter II. and in the chapter dealing with the arm to which the section belongs, and should culminate in divisional manœuvres. This course might follow the following headings:
(1) Drill over rough country.
(2) Selecting a position.
(3) Selecting alternate positions.
(4) Taking up a position.