Machine gun bunker

“ As the first one approached a black blob fell away from it, and next second there was a rending crash, a leaping cloud of smoke and dust whirling and eddying up from the road. The machine roared over and past, with her machine-gun hailing bullets down the road, and far down the road came another billowing cloud of smoke and the crash of another bomb. The third machine followed close, also machine-gunning hard and also splashing bombs down at intervals, one falling with horrible effect fairly in a little crowd of women and children clustered under and behind a country cart. ”

“ We hear terrific explosions, the falling of roofs, and fires break out everywhere.
An order from the commander of the sector reaches us, “Maintain the position and hold on until the companies of reinforcements arrive.”
The bombardment becomes more and more violent. As the sound of each shell whistles through the air we wonder if this infernal machine is going to strike in our dugout this time. And every two minutes, mathematically, the uproar comes again and this unimaginable suffering continues some hours. At the sound of each shell we close our eyes. ”

“ 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 ”

“ In this way accurate fire may be brought to bear on the assault on the darkest night, and many night attacks were repulsed with machine-gun fire by the Russians at Port Arthur. Sir G. S. Clarke says: “The front faces of the forts were retrenched in some cases by obstacles and a line of field parapet across the terre-plein. These, with the assistance of machine guns brought up at the last moment, enabled assaults of the breaches formed by the mines to be repulsed.” ”

“ They advanced steadily to the attack, and fought their way up the slope to the ridge on the left of Bullecourt. But they met very formidable opposition. Some think that the sound of the Tanks deploying in their assembly positions may have reached acute enemy ears; but, whether or not this was the case, and, on the whole, the evidence is against it, a devastating machine-gun fire and a terrific barrage of high explosive and shrapnel were suddenly opened on the advancing Company, while hidden concrete emplacements protected the enemy guns. ”

“ But when a really good target is found at close range, the ammunition need no longer be considered until there is nothing left alive to fire at. Annihilation should always be the final aim of machine-gun fire. ”

“ The machine-gun, with its mounting and ammunition and spare parts, is neither light in weight nor inconspicuous to carry. When the infantry has rushed a trench after the preliminary bombardment the machine-guns have to be carried bodily forward over a shell and bullet swept area, where the machine-gun detachment is a familiar and unexpected target for the German marksmen. ”

“ The bombs reported as noisily as the seventy-seven-millimetre guns, but they made only a shallow hole in the ground. More devastating were the machine-gun bullets which zinged off the steel helmets of the men or bored their way through to the skull. Under the combination of direct artillery fire, enfilade machine-gun, rifle sniping, bombs dropped from airplanes, the ranks of the advancing men had become so sparse that the attack was brought to a temporary halt. ”

“ In no phase of modern war are machine guns so valuable as during a retreat, and it is quite probable that, properly organised and handled, they may make the pursuit so difficult and costly as to render the retreat a far less dangerous undertaking than it has been in the past. It is not difficult to realise that an arm possessing such great mobility, together with rapidity and concentration of fire, before which no closed bodies can exist at effective range, will be able not merely to check and delay pursuing cavalry, but may even prevent any effective pursuit by mounted men alone. ”

“ When, however, concealment and protection from fire exist, it may sometimes be advisable to bring machine guns into action at decisive range. If a sufficiently large target be offered and the range be known, the concentration and rapidity of their fire will enable guns to be employed, with considerable effect, at long ranges. Machine guns should seldom engage artillery at long rifle range, for in such circumstances superiority of fire will always rest with the latter if the machines are located. ”

“ The selection of the positions for machine guns in permanent works belongs to the art of the engineer, and there is little that can be said of their tactical employment. Fire should be reserved until the attack has reached close range, and then only opened when the target is large and vulnerable. Guns must be concealed by every possible device and all the loopholes must be blinded. By night all guns should be mounted and trained to sweep ground by which the enemy must approach ”

“ When the assault commenced, at dawn, the machine guns opened fire with fatal accuracy on the parapets of our trenches and on our reserves, preventing them from coming up. We could do nothing with the enemy, because when the machine guns showed the least vulnerability, they were at once protected by shields of bullet-proof steel. ”

“ The search of the compound area turned up thousands of items, including hundreds of exploded shells, fired shells, and bullets; Kevlar helmets and vests; camouflage outfits; hand grenades; pistols; rifles; shotguns; rocket projectiles; gas masks; chemical warfare suits; military assault knives; and fuel cans. Perhaps the most important area searched was the bunker, where a large concentration of bodies, weapons and ammunition were found. The Texas Ranger's report of the search of the Bunker is jarring in its recounting of what the search team found. ”

“ Before a charge, crawl up at night from shell-crater to shell-crater and locate the enemy's machine guns. Then, if your own guns and the trench mortars do not get them, go stalking with supplies of bombs and remember to throw yours before the machine gunner, who also has a stock for such emergencies, throws his. When a machine gun begins rattling into a company front in a charge the men drop for cover, while officers consider how to draw the devil's tusks. ”

“ The old, smooth-bore field-guns of the enemy would be completely disabled before they could be brought within cannon-shot of the ten thousand. As soon as the enemy came within rifle range, the ten thousand would open on them with their thousand automatic machine-guns and magazine-rifles. As an automatic machine-gun fires at the rate of 600 shots a minute, a thousand would fire at the rate of 600,000 shots a minute. The magazine shoulder-rifles would fire aimed shots at the rate of twenty-five a minute, and the quick-firing field-guns would each fire shrapnel at the rate of forty a minute. ”

“ The pile of stones is thrown up with tremendous violence. Blocks are thrown into the trench.
The smoke blows away and behind the scattered ruins we see two machine guns in position with their gun crews killed beside them, and all their material for fortifications and gas-making apparatus. ”

“ Modern machine-guns and quick-firing guns, with bullets and shrapnel and canister, are so deadly that troops in mass form cannot live for a minute in front of them, but as opposing armies with modern war machinery line up at the present greater tactical distances, and throw out their men in long-extended battle-lines, and spread them over correspondingly wide areas, the fight becomes one largely of gun against gun, engine against engine, with the result that not nearly so many lives are lost as there would be if the fighting were done by hand, and hand to hand, in close order. ”

“ When machine guns are used for the defence of villages or farms, they should be placed outside the village or farm buildings well clear of the walls. The salient angle will usually be the most suitable place, a good field of fire being the chief object. The guns should be placed so as to flank one side of the village, and must be most carefully concealed, a pit being usually the best form of cover. Walls should as a rule be avoided, as they are very easily destroyed by artillery fire and always afford a conspicuous target. ”

“ It is, however, ineffective against the occupants of the trenches, breastworks, or buildings. It is, therefore, necessary to have high-explosive shell to destroy parapets, obstacles, buildings, and many forms of fortified localities that the enemy constructs, more particularly his machine-gun emplacements. Without an adequate supply the attack is impotent against the defenders of field fortifications, as the first step cannot be taken. ”

“ These bombs—as the shrapnel shell, used in artillery—can only be designed for one purpose, the destruction of human life: they are essentially man-killing infernal machines. On April 11th, 1884, three metal bombs, containing dynamite, were found in the possession of Daly, at Birkenhead, who was subsequently sentenced to penal servitude for life.
FIG. 14.—INFERNAL MACHINE FOUND AT CORK.
The old-fashioned bomb was of a shape resembling an egg, with nipples like gun nipples and percussion caps. ”

“ As the battalion was crossing the long open stretch we came under fire from an enemy machine gun and some men were hit. There's no use talking, no other weapon used in the war is as deadly as a machine gun. Where you can walk through an artillery barrage with a few casualties, the well-directed fire of only one machine gun will pile men up as fast as they come along. ”

“ The difference between the machine-gun fire and rifle fire is something like the difference between hitting a tin can with a stone or with a stream of water. It is no easy matter to score a hit with the stone; but any one can train a garden hose on the can, because he can see where the water is striking and move his hose accordingly until he covers the desired spot. In the same way, with the machine-gun, it is much easier to train the stream of bullets upon the mark, and, having once found the mark, to hold the aim. That is one reason why the destruction of a machine-gun is so tremendous ”

“ Machine guns may also be held as a reserve of fire to check the advance of hostile reinforcements, to meet turning movements, or to prepare and cover the counter-attack. When their retirement is not likely to be compromised, machine guns may be utilised in positions in front of the main line to delay the enemy’s advance. ”

“ The high rate of fire concentration of the bullet-sheaf, and the possibility of bringing several machine guns into action on a narrow front, enable great effect to be produced in a short time even at long ranges. When the front of the target is broken and irregular, the effect is reduced. A wrong sighting elevation or an imperfect observation of fire may render the fire completely ineffective. ”

“ It is primarily a machine-gun destroyer, which can be employed as an auxiliary to an infantry assault....”
“Hostile machine-guns which it is impossible to crush (i.e. by running over them) will be attacked by gunfire. It is specially for the purpose of dealing with these weapons ensconced in houses, cellars, amongst ruins, in haystacks, or in other concealed positions behind the enemy’s front line, where they may not be knocked out by our artillery, and whence they can stop our infantry advances, that the tanks carry guns. ”

“ They can reach the burrowing human beings in shelters which are bulletproof; they are the omnipresent threat of death. The firing of shells from batteries securely hidden and em-placed represents no cost of life to your side; only cost of material, which ridicules the foolish conclusion that machinery and not men count. It is because man is still the most precious machine—a machine that money cannot reproduce—that gun-machinery is so much in favour, and every commander wants to use shells as freely as you use city water when you do not pay for it by meter. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Numerous farms and woods were thoroughly prepared for the defense, and there were large numbers of machine guns in the German garrisons. Guns of all calibers, recently increased in numbers, were placed to bear not only on the front but on the flanks of an attack. Numerous communicating trenches and switch lines, radiating in all directions, were amply provided with strongly constructed concrete dugouts and machine-gun emplacements designed to protect the enemy garrison and machine gunners from the effect of our bombardment. ”