Beautifully painted, Lewenhaupt. With respect to the write-up, there are a couple of other things that may be worth noting. You mentioned the feed system for the French Hotchkiss MMG - metal strips which held 24 rounds. As you noted, the MG08 belts contained significantly more rounds. Later in the war, the Hotchkiss was issued with a 250 round metal belt made up of articulated segments. In 1914, however, it was possible to clip metal strips together. As one strip was being fired, a second strip would be clipped into the end of it thereby ensuring a more continuous feed. There were situations, however, where German infantry were able to recognise that French MMGs were being fired in 24 round bursts. They would count the number of rounds fired and then bound forward.
The most important way to counter this effect was to team machine guns into sections. Two gun teams were really the smallest units recommended by all major countries involved on the Western Front. A two gun MG08 team was also known as a Zug at the start of the war. Operating two guns together meant that at least one gun should be firing while another was reloading or clearing a blockage. To get a sense of the effectiveness of machine guns, it is possible to make a prediction based on the comparative feed mechanisms. Better still, however, is getting impressions from men who were on the receiving end. These men would not know how the guns were being fed and would not know, generally speaking, how many MGs were operating together. At the Battle of Longlier on August 20th 1914, elements of the German Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 88 came up against dismounted French Dragoon MG teams. Here is a comment from one of the German officers:
"The enemy appeared to have machine guns because the automatic rapid rate of fire, which the German machine guns could not achieve, was clearly heard from certain directions above the din of the battle."
As noted in another thread, the German machine gun company was made up of three Züge. Each MG Zug was capable of independent action. There were many instances of this. From the same action at Longlier but this time from the history of the German Infantry-Regiment Nr. 87:
"1st Platoon from [IR 87's] Machine Gun Company, under the command of Leutnant Borchert, was positioned by the triangular forest south of Tronquoy in support of 4th [Infantry] Company and the advancing II Battalion. The [MG] platoon advanced with 7th Company initially and with 4th Company later but without coming into action. As the two infantry companies turned towards the railway embankment, the MG platoon bore away to the south and linked up with 3rd and 4th Companies (Infantry Regiment 88), whose march route had taken them to Longlier. The place was already burning when the platoon arrived. The machine guns were brought into position on the Longlier - Neuchâteau road and were able to be used from there to provide flanking fire with good effect."
Robert
02 June 2008, 01:51:07 PM