R. V. K. Applin

“ Where the tactical reconnaissance has already been completed and the principal object is to protect the force covered, machine guns will be found most valuable to support the flanks should an attempt be made to turn them, as their mobility enables them to be sent to a distant point with great rapidity, and their concentrated fire at once makes itself felt at a threatened point and turns the scale in a fire fight with astonishing suddenness. This mobility renders them particularly suitable for seizing and holding positions until the main body comes up. ”

“ When it is remembered that the machine guns of a single Infantry Division, as at present organised, can bring a fire of more than ten thousand shots a minute from close range where its accuracy is assured, at this crisis, there will be no need to say any more on the tactical importance of the probable result. ”

“ Six guns co-operating in a vigorous offensive, unopposed by artillery, can push up to close range and do immense damage, while the enemy should be quite unable to decide what numbers are opposed to him. A ridge, a gully, a road with good hedges parallel to the front, is sufficient to conceal the movement of machine guns; and as they have nothing to fear from cavalry and can always retire if galled by rifle fire, they can dominate the situation if handled according to the principles already laid down for them. ”

“ It is my firm belief—a belief shared with many others more competent to judge—that if French, with 10,000 British cavalry, had been given a free hand early in the war on the Russian side, there would have been no necessity for Kuropatkin to retire from his strong position at Liao-yang, and I have no less hesitation in saying that if the same able commander, with such a cavalry force as I have mentioned, had been attached to the Japanese side at Liao-yang or at Mukden, there would be no Russian army in Manchuria to-day. ”

“ Napoleon’s maxim, that “fire is everything—the rest is of small account,” is only applicable to the machine gun when the fire is effective. Nothing is so useless and wasteful as ineffective machine-gun fire, and the careful study of fire effect and how to obtain the best results is imperative with this weapon. The principles so ably stated in Colonel Mayne’s excellent book, The Infantry Weapon and its Use in War, apply almost equally to machine guns, and should be carefully studied by machine gunners, particularly those chapters dealing with the employment of fire in the field. ”

“ I had a long conversation with the brigade machine-gun officer. He has six machine guns formed as a separate detachment, extra-regimental, [258] and attached to the brigade. Two guns under an officer form the subdivision of his command, and can be detached at will, but no machine gun is ever employed singly. The guns are usually kept at the disposal of the brigadier, and have been used more in defence than attack; they seldom open at long ranges unless on an exceptionally good target. It is rather the rule to reserve the machine-gun fire for decisive ranges. ”

“ There are many instances in war when cavalry flushed with victory and exhausted in the pursuit have been themselves caught and ridden down by troops that have rallied or by fresh supports; but machine guns have nothing to fear from cavalry, and can confidently await their attack while covering the retirement of their own cavalry. ”

“ It is because the Russian cavalry, armed as it is with rifle and—shade of Seydlitz!—bayonet, is trained to fight only on foot, thereby throwing away its most valuable weapon, mobility, that it has proved no more effective in the field than a flock of sheep. That the microscopic force of Japanese cavalry has held the Russian throughout the campaign—an exceedingly remarkable performance when it is remembered how indifferently the Japanese are mounted—testifies clearly enough that there must be something futile about the arming and training of the Russians.... ”

“ In whatever way it is decided to carry the gun, it is a sine quâ non that it must be at least as mobile as horse artillery. There is no reason why it should not be as mobile as cavalry, and the choice remains between a pack-horse with a mounted detachment or a galloping carriage; and the former is in every way preferable, principally because it can carry the gun and ammunition across any country, and can come into action in less than 30 seconds on an adjustable tripod, which can be carried by hand into any position and presents a very small, inconspicuous target. ”

“ The machine gun, on the other hand, is unaffected by even 50 per cent. of loss, while it can suffer 80 per cent. of loss without diminishing its fire effect, though such a loss would of course cause it to lose its mobility and seriously affect the morale of the gunners. A machine-gun detachment consists of from 16 to 24 men, but only two of them actually work the gun, and one man alone can fire the gun once it is in action, the second man merely assisting him with the ammunition, etc., but he is not absolutely necessary to the firing of the gun. ”

“ The first duty of outposts, which is reconnaissance, cannot be assisted by machine guns; but their second duty, which is resistance, may be materially strengthened and aided by them, as we have already seen in dealing with the defence. Little can be said about tactics, and it will be necessary to use the guns in positions on the line of resistance where their fire power is most likely to be of value. In order clearly to understand where and how machine guns should be used with outposts, it will be necessary first to examine the composition and distribution of outposts of a force of all arms. ”

“ It being postulated that tactics evolve themselves into the effort to obtain a superiority of rifle fire, it is evident that the necessity of dispensing with one quarter of a body of mounted riflemen before their weapons can be brought to bear greatly lessens the value of that body. On the other hand, the mobility of the mounted rifleman compensates for his comparative ineffectiveness to such a degree, it is believed in the British Army, that elaborate arrangements have been made for the provision and training of what is known as mounted infantry. ”

“ If a position affording concealment is not available, one should be selected which from the nature of its background will be difficult for the enemy to locate. As the opportunities for the effective action of machine guns will often be very brief, and as the guns will usually be employed singly, the non-commissioned officer in charge of each gun will, as a rule, have to act on his own initiative in choosing the objective, judging the range, and in deciding when to open fire. As a general rule, machine guns are best adapted for action at effective ranges ”

“ Should the ground permit of the machine-gun batteries approaching the enemy unseen, and enable them to reserve their fire from a concealed position until the closed bodies of the enemy’s squadrons come within effective range, the result should be so decisive as to render the attack of the Division successful, even against greatly superior numbers. The machine guns should render the envelopment of a flank by a superior force impossible, and their great mobility will enable them to meet easily any movement of this kind. ”

“ Should the machine guns or one of them succeed in stalking the led horses of the enemy, their action will probably be decisive, as nothing affords a machine gun such an easy and effective target as the horses of a dismounted squadron, while the effect of fire on them is to render the squadron immobile and to place them out of action as cavalry altogether. ”

“ The machine gun possesses the power of delivering a volume of concentrated rifle fire which can be rapidly directed against any desired object. Rapid fire cannot be long sustained, owing to the expenditure of ammunition involved, and it is therefore necessary that the movements and fire action of the weapons should be regulated so as to enable them to open fire immediately a favourable opportunity arises. Surprise is an important factor in the employment of machine guns, which should be concealed, and whenever possible provided with cover from fire. ”

“ Whereas with infantry the surprise of the enemy is always effected by making use of the features of the ground, the best method for cavalry guns is to utilise their rapidity of motion and their resemblance to other cavalry units, for which at a distance they are easily mistaken.
The widest power of initiative is left to the commander for the grouping of his units in the fight. Very often he will only bring up near the firing line the horse carrying the gun and one carrying ammunition, in order to be able to escape rapidly. At other times all the horses will be brought up close under cover. ”

“ It may be possible to surprise the enemy from close range at bridge-heads or on roads through defiles leading to the line of retreat, if guns are carefully concealed in positions commanding such approaches. Indeed, the opportunities for ambushing pursuing cavalry or infantry will be frequent during the early stages of a retreat, and no chance must be lost in making the enemy pay dearly for his temerity during the pursuit. One successful ambush by machine guns is worth more than the most stubborn stand, for it imposes caution as nothing else can ”

“ No one who has controlled the covering fire of infantry, even on manœuvres, will dispute the immense difficulty of timing the opening and ceasing of such a fire, with even a company, to coincide with the advance of the troops covered; while the necessity for observation of fire and its concentration on certain parts of the enemy’s position make it still more difficult effectively to cover the advance of troops with rifle fire at long range. ”

“ In the same way, if covering the retreat of their own squadron, one gun will fire while the other retires to a second position and in turn covers the retirement of the first. The guns must not hesitate to separate widely in order to obtain unseen the best possible positions from which to fire, but must always be able to support each other. If the country is much broken, opportunities will be found for concealing the gun in a position from which to enfilade the pursuing cavalry at short range, or for bringing a cross fire to bear from both guns on a defile. ”

“ Although machine guns can move with deployed infantry under fire, they should rarely attempt to keep pace with attacking infantry. When they have gained a position from which they can effectively support their infantry in the struggle for fire superiority and in the assault, they should only be moved for good and sufficient reasons. The difficulties of ranging and of concealment on the move usually outweigh the advantages of decreasing the range. ”

“ The gun’s narrow frontage in action renders it easy to conceal, and when discovered it presents a very small and difficult target to the enemy’s riflemen; on the other hand, when once discovered if it cannot be moved unseen to another position it is liable to suffer a prolonged and concentrated fire from the widely scattered riflemen of the enemy, to which it cannot effectively reply, and which must in time cause loss. Again, its range being limited, it is powerless against artillery except under special circumstances at effective rifle range. ”

“ Machine guns, by reason of their concentrated fire and shallow beaten zone, are peculiarly suited for compelling troops to deploy at long range. They are also suited for quickly taking up a defensive position, and, when mobile, can instantly cease fire and move off in a few moments with considerable rapidity.
Their power for suddenly developing an intense fire will enable them quickly to overwhelm an enemy caught “emerging from a defile or difficult country.” It would appear therefore that the machine guns are far more fitted than infantry to perform the duties of a rear guard as quoted above. ”

“ The employment of machine guns is especially advantageous to prepare an infantry attack. They can co-operate with this attack even under heavy fire, without, however, being obliged to follow the infantry. The battery ought often to change its position, at the discretion of its commander, to lend its support to the infantry. The battery will, if possible, take up a dominating position or will establish itself on a flank in order to open fire on the selected point of attack, in such a way as not to be marked by its own infantry. ”

“ It is in this matter of careful reconnaissance, of selecting ground and occupying or watching all neighbouring cover, that the successful use of machine guns in enclosed country mainly depends. The enemy is obliged by the nature of the country to move in close formation to pass defiles, roads, gaps, or to avoid crops, woods, and villages, and it is the intelligent anticipation of where this will occur that gives the machine gun its chance for decisive action. ”

“ Theoretically every available gun should be launched in the pursuit, but the recent war between Russia and Japan has shown how often a position that has been stormed and captured has been retaken by a rapid counter-attack before the attackers have had time to rally and prepare to hold what they have taken. Machine guns can render a position safe from counter-attack so quickly and effectually that this duty should be the first consideration of a machine-gun commander with infantry in the assault. ”

“ In the excitement of the moment the best infantry may fire unsteadily; but machine guns can be absolutely trusted to commit destructive havoc in the hostile throng, provided that their mechanism does not go out of order. ”