Machine gun nest

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ On the other hand, when these principles were neglected or ignored, the machine guns merely wasted ammunition and were impotent to affect the situation. The lesson to be learned is this: that machine guns are only useful when their tactical handling is thoroughly understood, and then their effect is more decisive than that of any other arm. ”

“ Alternative positions in the same hedgerow should be avoided, as it is certain to be discovered immediately, and the range is probably already known.
The edge of the wood, if it commands suitable ground, is an excellent position for machine guns; but if the carriages remain in the wood they must be provided with cover. When time and material are available, a good field of fire may be obtained by erecting a platform ten to twelve feet above the ground in the trees, and placing a machine gun on this; not only is the field of fire much increased, but the gun will be almost impossible to discover. ”

“ Here, again, machine guns will be most useful in defending the bivouac after dark if trained by daylight to sweep approaches, while [173] the morale effect of its accurate fire in the dark will be considerable. There are many instances from our wars on the North-West Frontier where machine guns might have been used profitably in covering the retreat; but to be successfully employed in such cases, they must be far more mobile and better trained for rapid-fire practice than they have been in the past. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Having machine guns in position against him, it might be advisable to choose the latter course, because machine guns are less effective against a skirmishing line of attackers, while his own machine guns are more effective if they can gain the flank or rear of the enemy’s position and thus enfilade them, and any movement of mounted troops to [72] repulse the turning movement, or take their attackers in flank, will afford the machine guns an opportunity for decisive fire action. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In dealing with machine-gun tactics in small wars, it is obviously impossible to treat with all the situations that may be met with or to attempt to lay down definite rules for their use under all the varying conditions of country, race, and arms before mentioned. It will therefore be sufficient for our purpose to show how machine guns may be used generally in warfare in uncivilised countries, and then to take a single typical campaign to illustrate their employment.
“Against an enemy who fights outside stockades, machine guns are very efficacious ”

“ If machine guns are to engage artillery, the sleighs must be brought as near as possible to it. The rapidity of movement of machine guns due to their being horsed will enable them to start the action from a flank, and thus produce a sensible increase of effect. Scattering the fire from all the machine guns along the entire line of a battery is as useless as it is purposeless. ”

“ A small part of the gas generated by the explosion of the individual cartridge operates the mechanism, discharging the bullet, throwing out the empty shell and making ready for the next shot.
A machine gun is designed to enable one man to fire the equivalent of a volley, or series of volleys, discharged by an entire platoon (one-third of a company) of infantrymen. As at present developed, it represents a step toward the evolution of a shoulder-rifle that will throw a continuous stream of bullets. ”

“ 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 order to have machine gun protection at all, it is absolutely necessary that they be protected from bombardment. This is best done by the following: Place the machine guns under solid cover; make their emplacement invisible; echelon the machine guns in depth. The cover must be placed where it can be hidden from the sight of the enemy, such as a counter slope, a position where it is impossible to blend it, relief with an accentuated slope of the ground, woods, brush, etc. It is essential that the principal parts of the machine gun casemate be prepared in the rear. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ When machine guns have been skilfully employed, their action has been infinitely more effective than that of field artillery, more especially when they fire at infantry ranges.” The following is an example of their actual use in this way. “The Japanese,” says a Russian eye-witness of the fighting round Mukden, “brought up during the night dozens of machine guns with hundreds of thousands of cartridges to their front line of skirmishers, from 400 to 500 yards from our positions, and entrenched them there. ”

“ Machine guns should as a rule only open fire upon targets which are sufficiently large and dense to promise an adequate return for the ammunition expended. Special circumstances may, however, warrant the opening of fire upon less favourable targets. When a machine-gun commander has decided to open fire, the ammunition necessary to secure the results sought should be expended without hesitation. ”

“ By massing the machine guns of a brigade the assurance of fire effect at ranges beyond 1,000 yards is increased, and it is easier to control and direct fire. At shorter ranges massed machine guns may form a conspicuous target, and the control of more than two guns then becomes difficult. Occasions will, however, often arise when the massed guns of a brigade can be brought into action in a well-concealed position within the limits of effective rifle range. Under such circumstances massed guns may produce great effect both in attack and defence. ”

“ Machine guns will be especially valuable in bringing a sudden fire to bear from such positions, both in order to cover a further advance and to assist in defeating counter-attacks. Machine guns can normally support an attack most efficiently from well-concealed positions provided with good cover, and within effective infantry range of the enemy. Occasionally, when good opportunities for a concealed advance present themselves, they may be established within close infantry range of the objective. ”