Signal gun

“ The methods of employing indirect fire have been given at the end of Chapter II., and its success will depend largely upon the careful observation of fire by the section commanders, who must concentrate their attention on this alone—the battery commander giving the signal for opening and ceasing fire, and the target or direction of fire for each section. Machine guns used as covering fire have ample time for preparation ”

“ There should be no dead ground in front or on the flanks of the battery, and with two machine guns this condition can generally be satisfied. In cases where one flank remains exposed and cannot be protected by the fire of the machine guns, or where a portion of the front or one flank cannot be seen, scouts must be placed well out in this direction, where they can see anything approaching and signal timely warning of it, and a position must be selected beforehand to which to move a machine gun should the warning be given. ”

“ He requires to post a signalman and linesman at frequent intervals, called Relay Stations, in order to preserve communication, as the wire is being continually broken by hostile gun-fire. Progress, in a case like this, is necessarily slow, and he has to pick his way among the shell-holes, seeking as much protection, for the line, as circumstances will permit. The signallers follow in his footsteps, staggering along under the weight of a large reel of wire. ”

“ Meantime one man has been training the gun sideways and another has been raising or lowering it, independently of the man who has been setting the deflection and fixing the range. When the cross-wires in the gun pointer's telescope are right on the bullseye and it is time to fire he pulls a trigger and the electrical apparatus sends a lightning impulse into the powder, there is a roar, a thin cloud of smoke from the primer, a flash and you look for the splash to see if it is a hit. ”

“ Great care and trouble must be taken in concealing the guns and providing them with good cover, not only from rifle fire, but also from artillery. An endeavour should be made to command all wire entanglements along the front with machine guns, and the angles of traverse of each gun should be carefully laid off and marked in white paint or tape, so that they may be used in the dark accurately to sweep their area of ground. ”

“ By my side sat a telephonist in communication with the Battery Command Post, some four hundred yards away to the left, beyond the Left Section. My only other apparatus was a megaphone, a notebook and pencil, and a pipe. Occasionally I would go and stand by one of the guns, to check the gun-laying and to see that the guns were recoiling and coming up again without undue violence. One had also to guard against a dust cloud being raised by the blast of the guns, thus giving away our position to the enemy. ”

“ After lunch, as the Austrian batteries seemed to be getting busier, we strolled up to the “observation post,” a sort of tunnel in which was a telephone installation and an instrument known as a “goniometre,” a powerful telescope in miniature, combined with a novel kind of range-finder, through which the slightest movement of the enemy can be instantly detected and telephoned to the officers in command of the different gun emplacements. The machine is always in readiness, as it is so fixed that once it is focussed it requires no re-adjustment. ”

“ In minor operations where every available rifle is required with the fighting force, machine guns will be found invaluable to replace infantry. Their exact position with the convoy must depend upon its composition and length and the number of guns available. The principle of having a machine gun, or where possible a section, at the head and another at the rear end of the line of wagons or pack animals is sound, as these are the vital points, and an attack on the centre can be met by a cross fire from these positions. ”

“ 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 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 ”

“ To find a signalman near any known station, note with the unaided eye some prominent landmark near which the looked-for person or object is supposed to be, and direct the telescope upon the place, as sight is taken over a gun barrel, covering the object; if the eye is now placed at the eyeglass of the telescope, the prominent or directing landmark will be found in the field of view. ”

“ 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 ”

“ This machine is perhaps not so farfetched as it might seem. During World War II, gun-aiming equipment using the new technique radar reached a high stage of development. Many shots that disabled and sank enemy ships were fired in total darkness by radar-controlled guns. ”

“ When movements over the battlefield are contemplated, and the machine guns (unlimbered as soon as hostile fire is expected) are pulled or carried forward, they can utilise all cover which infantry is able to use. Cover that is barely sufficient for a section of infantry can protect an entire machine-gun detachment. The construction of the carriage on which guns, ammunition, and men can be conveyed, and the capabilities of the team, enable machine guns to keep up with mounted troops on the march. ”

“ When the velocity of shot from a shot-gun has to be found, a thin wire stretched across the muzzle takes the place of the first screen, and a thin sheet of metal or cardboard carrying an electric contact, or a Branly coherer, the conductivity of which is restored by means of an induced current, takes the place of the second screen. The electric firing circuit is provided with a safety key attached by a cord to the man who loads the gun and prepares the electric fuse. ”

“ Little ammunition is available for practice in our own service, it is true, but there is nothing to prevent constant practice in this vital duty of the machine gunner; and by getting a few men to represent the enemy, with an intelligent officer and a pair of good glasses, most valuable help can be given by criticising the manner the guns are handled, and the amount [45] of exposure or concealment of the gun and detachment in taking up a position or making cover. ”

“ The position-finder can therefore, from a concealed and safe position, Coast Defence Instruments. automatically control the fire of a group of guns, whose detachments need not necessarily see the target engaged. As the observer follows the objective with the telescope of the instrument the range and bearing is simultaneously shown in the battery on convenient dials. The distance and direction thus communicated are the range and bearing from the guns, not as measured from the range-finder. The correction due to the displacement between gun and instrument is automatic. ”

“ Para. 188.—The range and striking effect of the machine gun is identical with that of the infantry rifle. The rapid succession of shots and the narrow concentration of the cone of dispersion, together with the possibilities of uniting several guns on a limited front, render it feasible for machine guns to obtain rapidly a decisive success in certain positions, and even at long ranges to inflict heavy losses in a short [199] time on large and deep targets. Machine guns, however, are of small use to a commander fighting a protracted rifle-fire engagement. ”

“ The two machine-guns on the ’drome were trained and aimed in daylight to shower bullets exactly over the tip of the tongue of wood. A patent gadget invented by Guns allowed the gun-muzzles a certain amount of play up and down, play which careful calculation showed would pour a couple of streams of bullets across the end of the wood up and down a height extending to about a thousand feet, that is, 500 above and 500 below the level at which it was estimated the Huns usually flew on these night raids. ”

“ When the country is flat or the features devoid of natural cover, it will be necessary to provide pits for the machine guns practically in the firing line. If this is carried out with skill, the guns may be perfectly concealed, and protected even from artillery fire. These pits should be made along the whole front and as widely scattered as possible, and when a gun is discovered by the artillery it should immediately be lowered into the pit, out of sight, where it will be perfectly safe, until the artillery directs its fire elsewhere. ”

“ The methods of “indication and recognition,” as taught at Hythe before the war, have proved most useful. This fact has been brought out in the accounts of the most successful machine gun actions, as has also the great value of the use of range cards and indication points. Targets are generally easy to indicate, as men are more alert than in peace-time.
Training in indication, recognition, fire orders, and judging distance, can be given at any time, as no apparatus is required. ”

“ It is necessary, therefore, for its effective use, that its movements and fire action should be so regulated as to enable it to open fire rapidly whenever a favourable target presents itself, for the losses inflicted on an enemy will affect him in proportion to the suddenness and rapidity with which they are experienced. As the rôle of machine guns is to assist the particular body of troops to which they belong, the machine-gun commander should be fully acquainted with the orders issued to such troops. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ MACHINE GUNS IN AIRCRAFT
Various attempts have been made to mount machine guns on aeroplanes, but the operator, in his narrow seat, has hardly space to point a machine gun in any direction except straight to his front. The American Curtis machine gun exhibited at Olympia is the most efficient form yet produced, but at present the airman seems to prefer an automatic rifle. Even in the early days of the war, Sir John French was able to report that British airmen had disposed of no less than five of the enemy’s aircraft with this weapon. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The seizure of ground likely to be of use to the main body—particularly artillery positions—must be the first consideration of machine guns with the advanced-guard infantry, once the infantry are in action. That they can hold these unsupported is certain. “There never has been and cannot be such a thing as a successful attack on a line of machine guns in a favourable position in action, until the machine guns have been well battered by artillery fire,” says Lieutenant Parker in his book Tactical Organisation and Uses of Machine Guns in the Field. ”