The Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was a corps of the British Army , formed in October 1915 in response to the need for more effective use of machine guns on the Western Front in the First World War . The Heavy Branch of the MGC was the first to use tanks in combat and was subsequently turned into the Tank Corps, later called the Royal Tank Regiment . The MGC remained in existence after the war until it was disbanded in 1922.
31-985: The Machine Gun Corps Memorial , also known as The Boy David , is a memorial to the casualties of the Machine Gun Corps in the First World War . It is located on the north side of the traffic island at Hyde Park Corner in London , near the Wellington Arch , an Equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington , the Royal Artillery Memorial , the New Zealand War Memorial , and the Australian War Memorial . The central column of light grey marble
62-524: A front line fighting force. In the latter part of the war, as tactics changed to defence in depth , it commonly served well in advance of the front line. It had a less enviable record for its casualty rate. Some 170,500 officers and men served in the MGC, with 62,049 becoming casualties, including 12,498 killed, earning it the nickname 'the Suicide Club'. While the undeniable bravery and self-sacrifice of
93-665: A machine gun school was established near the site of both demonstrations and machine gun barrages were successfully employed used by the French forces Meuse and Verdun . At the end of hostilities, the MGC was re-organised in a smaller form as many of its soldiers returned to civilian life. However, the Corps continued to see active service notably in the Russian Civil War ; the Third Anglo-Afghan War , and
124-658: A road and walkway along the north bank of the River Thames in central London , England. The western end of Chelsea Embankment, including a stretch of Cheyne Walk , is in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea ; the eastern end, including Grosvenor Road and Millbank , is in the City of Westminster . Beneath the road lies the main low-level interceptor sewer taking waste water from west London eastwards towards Beckton . Chelsea Bridge and Albert Bridge are to
155-528: A single battery of machine guns per army corps was a sufficient level of issue. Despite the evidence of fighting in Manchuria (1905 onwards) the army went to war with each infantry battalion and cavalry regiment containing a machine gun section of just two guns. This was soon increased to four guns per section. These organic (embedded) units were supplemented in November 1914 by the formation of
186-643: A war memorial in Folkestone , near the Corps' barracks at Shorncliffe . Machine Gun Corps At the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the tactical potential of machine guns was not appreciated by the British Armed Forces . The prevalent attitude of senior ranks at the outbreak of the Great War can be summed up by the opinion of an officer expressed a decade earlier that
217-649: A wreath after a dedication by the Chaplain-General to the Forces Alfred Jarvis . The memorial was controversial, as some interpreted the beautiful statue with its accompanying Vickers guns, and the reference to slaying hundreds and thousands, as glorifying war. There were letters in The Times and discussion in the House of Commons. Despite these interpretations, Derwent Wood wanted to depict
248-676: Is held by the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia. A variant sculpture of the Boy David by Edward Bainbridge Copnall , inspired by Derwent Wood's statue, was erected on another memorial to the dead of the Machine Gun Corps at Cheyne Walk on Chelsea Embankment . The original statue was stolen in 1969, and a fibreglass replica unveiled in 1975. The Machine Gun Corps had several branches. The Cavalry Branch has
279-400: Is topped with a 9 feet (2.7 m) high bronze statue of a nude David by Francis Derwent Wood . The beautiful youth stands in a classical contrapposto pose, with one hand on his hip and the other resting on Goliath 's oversized sword. To either side, on a lower flanking plinth of the same marble, is a bronze model of a Vickers machine gun , wreathed in laurels (some sources state that
310-636: The British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front, who insisted all his Corps commanders attend. French observers were treated to a similar demonstration, after which the concept was swiftly introduced into the French Army where it was embraced as a means to economise on artillery shells with the extraordinary assertion the results were more demoralising 'by means of continuity' than the result of shelling. Subsequently
341-700: The Motor Machine Gun Service (MMGS) administered by the Royal Artillery , consisting of motor-cycle mounted machine gun batteries. A machine gun school was also opened in France. After a year of warfare on the Western Front some commanders advocated crewing them with specially trained men who were not only thoroughly conversant with their weapons but understood how they should be best deployed for maximum effect. To achieve this,
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#1732791145432372-530: The War Office began to dispose of the many buildings. In 1922 the Machine Gun Corps was disbanded as a cost-cutting measure. The following members of the Machine Gun Corps have been awarded the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest and most prestigious award for valour in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. A memorial to the 15,552 wartime fatalities of
403-743: The Annual Observance is held on the second Saturday in May at the Memorial, which is organised by the Machine Gun Corps Old Comrades' Association. On Remembrance Sunday , the second Sunday in November, there is also a wreath laying ceremony held in conjunction with the ceremony at the nearby Royal Artillery Memorial . Chelsea Embankment Chelsea Embankment is part of the Thames Embankment ,
434-463: The Corps, nearly 30%, arose from the exposed position from which it typically fought, leading to its nickname, "The Suicide Club". The memorial was originally erected next to Grosvenor Place , near Hyde Park Corner , and unveiled on 10 May 1925 by Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn . Four former members of the Corps who received the Victoria Cross – Arthur Henry Cross , Reginald Graham , Allan Ker , and William Allison White – placed
465-498: The Hythe musketry school... However, it was 1915 before such fire was successfully carried out in the field..." Cornish goes on "To conduct such fire the proposed target would be located... the relative position of the machine gun relative to it would be determined with ruler and protractor.. calculations would be made to determine the gun's potential cone of fire and the trajectory of its bullets (an important consideration if firing over
496-749: The Machine Gun Corps was formed in October 1915 – by Command of Brigadier H.B. de Lisle to Captain Ross McGillycuddy ( 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards ) with Infantry, Cavalry, and Motor branches, followed in 1916 by the Heavy Branch. A depot and training centre was established at Belton Park near Grantham , Lincolnshire , and a base depôt at Camiers in France . Captain, then Major, McGillycuddy attended an earlier Machine Gun School at Hythe. He formed there, as an ex-Gunner, certain theories on
527-670: The Machine Gun Corps was unveiled on 10 May 1925 by the Duke of Connaught , at Hyde Park Corner in London. It features a bronze statue by Francis Derwent Wood in the Renaissance style , depicting the youthful David after his defeat of the giant Goliath , an event described in the Book of Samuel ; on lower plinths flanking the figure are two bronze models of Vickers machine guns, wreathed in laurels. A short service of remembrance known as
558-489: The Vickers guns are real examples, cased in bronze, but the official English Heritage listing casts doubt on that suggestion). The inscription on the main column reads: ERECTED TO/ COMMEMORATE/ THE GLORIOUS/ HEROES/ OF THE/ MACHINE GUN/ CORPS/ WHO FELL IN/ THE GREAT/ WAR , and then below, a Biblical quotation from 1 Samuel 18:7: "Saul has slain his thousands/ but David his tens of thousands". The plinths to either side bear
589-408: The corps stands testament to the men and their regimental esprit de corps it is also a symptom of the fixed belief on the part of senior commanders that machine guns were confined to a marginal if useful role, that of an adjunct to massed rifle fire, ignoring the proven potential of this weapon in the indirect role (in effect rifle-calibre fire employed as ultra-short artillery.) By correctly setting up
620-402: The dates MCMXIV and MCMXIX . A further inscription on the rear records that the Machine Gun Corps was formed in October 1915 and disbanded in 1922; in that time, some 11,500 officers and 159,000 other ranks served in the Corps, of whom 1,120 officers and 1,671 other ranks were killed, and 2,881 officers and 45,377 other ranks wounded, missing or prisoners-of-war. The high casualty rate of
651-444: The front lines while uselessly firing into the air, making a show instead of dying beside riflemen whose weapons used practically identical ammunition. This conviction may explain–from both sides–the persistence with which machine gunners were placed in exposed positions where their fire was only marginally effective but enemy troops could be seen to fall victim to it, and the great personal bravery with which those same men fought when
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#1732791145432682-452: The guns cool" . And in that 12-hour period the ten guns fired a million rounds..." Towards the end of the Great War some if not all deeply-entrenched attitudes were changing, and not only on the part of British and Commonwealth personnel. Following the extensive barrage fire at Vimy Ridge and Battle of Messines a demonstration was held on the dunes at Camiers by request of Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig , Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of
713-449: The head of friendly troops). A clinometer, combined with a graduated elevation dial fitted to the tripod would be employed to set the gun to the correct elevation..." The obvious complexities and the exacting preparations - in effect identical to those of artillery gunners - may have seemed arcane and pointless to those who carried - or whose men carried - rifles firing the same ammunition but could neither see (or more importantly imagine)
744-717: The ongoing conflict in the Northwest Frontier of India . The MGC also served prominently in the British force that occupied parts of Germany in the period between the Armistice of 1918 and the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919 as its equipment and training made it possible for a relatively small garrison to control a large population but by 1920 the headquarters in Belton Park was closed and
775-525: The same enemy concentrated their forces against the greater threat represented by an unsupported sandbag emplacement. As stated by Paul Cornish in Machine Guns and the Great War: "The theory behind this technique had long been understood... as early as 1908... the mathematical work required to provide a reliable basis for the conduct of such fire was carried out by a group of British enthusiasts at
806-402: The same weapons more commonly used in the direct role (over open sights) the delivering of accurate and sustained fire at high elevation became less an art than a science that could reliably deliver plunging fire at approximately twice the maximum effective range of hand-held weapons of identical calibre, but not so convincingly a belief to hold that the machine gunners were in effect hiding behind
837-446: The terminal effect of a long-range barrage. When properly employed it was unarguably a devastating deterrent, as witnessed by those who took the trouble to seek out the areas interdicted but for those who took the trouble to do so were often regarded uncritical advocates of novel, untried tactics. While in the more sustained direct fire role, properly supported: The 100th Company of the Machine Gun Corps at High Wood on August 24, 1916
868-491: The true nature of war, and in particular the solitary conflict of the machine gunner. Although already in his 40s, he had enlisted in 1915 to serve as an orderly in the Royal Army Medical Corps ; he designed masks to be worn by soldiers with facial disfigurements caused by their wounds, and was fully aware of the horrors of modern mechanical warfare. The memorial was dismantled due to roadworks in 1945, and
899-506: The use of the Machine Gun from which he was able to turn to good account in the war of 1914 to 1918. There was also a Canadian Machine Gun Corps . The MGC saw action in all the main theatres of war, including the Western Front in France and Belgium, Sinai and Palestine Campaign , Mesopotamian campaign , Egypt, Salonika, East Africa campaign and Italian front . In its short history, the MGC gained an enviable record for heroism as
930-469: Was not reconstructed for many years. It was rededicated at its present location, in the central section of Hyde Park Corner, in 1963. It received a Grade II listing in 1970, and was upgraded to Grade II* in July 2014. The Machine Gun Corps Old Comrades' Association holds an annual observance in May and a memorial service on Remembrance Sunday in November each year. A bronze cast of the statue by Derwent Wood
961-408: Was ordered to "give sustained covering fire for 12 hours onto a selected area 2000 yards away in order to prevent German troops forming up there for a counter-attack while a British attack was in progress" The ten machine guns of the company used 100 new barrels and "every drop of water in the neighbourhood, including the men's drinking water and contents of the latrine buckets, went up in steam to keep