The Great War

February 23, 1916

Sgt Arthur Richard Evans 15 Bn AIF, France 1916.

The Blistering Barrage of High Wood

The British Army had entered the war with just two machine guns per battalion. In contrast the Imperial German Army had embraced the new weapon and fully integrated it into their infantry regiments. As the stalemate of trench warfare took hold the British quickly learned how to best use the machine gun and in October 1915, the Machine Gun Corps was formed. Grouping together the infantry’s Vickers Guns into companies of 10 guns which would be attached to a brigade while the infantry were increasingly equipped by the new Lewis light machine guns. New tactics for the massed use of machine guns were developed and published in the official manual ‘The Employment of Machine Guns’. One of the new tactics was ‘barrage fire’ where groups of guns fired indirectly to prevent enemy troop movements, give covering fire, or generally harass and suppress the enemy. One of the first uses of this long range barrage technique was by the 100th Machine Gun Company at High Wood, during the Battle of the Somme, who fired a staggering 100,000 rounds over 12 hours. The Machine Gun Corps fought in every major theatre of the war, with its men winning seven Victoria Crosses. The Corps was finally disbanded in 1922 but the venerable Vickers remained in service into the 1960s.   

Amid the chaos and carnage of the Battle of the Somme a small wood became a focal point of the battle. High Wood had originally been part of the German secondary trench  line but when British troops stormed their frontline it became the centre of their defences. Over three months the British made continued attacks against the wood but the area’s geography meant British artillery was unable to support the attacks with accurate shelling for fear of hitting British troops. It was decided instead that the next attempt would be supported by a concentrated machine gun barrage to break up German resistance and hold off reinforcements. The 100th Machine Gun Company were ordered to provide barrage fire in support of the infantry’s attack they eventually fired for an unprecedented twelve hours. 

Initial success during the Battle of Bazentin Ridge had seen the British briefly occupy High Wood on the 14th July but that success was not capitalised on and the wood was abandoned to the enemy the next day. On the 24th August the 100th Machine Gun Company began setting up, training their guns on German positions 2,500 yards away. At 5.45pm seven of the Company’s Vickers Guns opened up barrage fire to prepare the way for the infantry to go in.

Vickers gun crews resting near their guns (source)

At 6.26pm the battery ceased fire as it’s feared their fire was falling short. Captain Seton-Hutchison, the company’s commander, knows this is absurd and at 6.40pm fire resumed. The seven of company’s guns rained down indirect fire onto the German line. The fire from the guns arced over the battlefield plunging into German positions as the infantry of the 100th Brigade attacked the wood.

Late that evening water for the guns’ cooling jackets began to grow scarce but the company’s guns had no mechanical problems after two hours of continuous fire. The men kept themselves busy loading ammunition into the Vickers guns’ 250-round cloth belts. At 8.00pm the company began to alternately overhaul, clean and replace the barrels of the guns to maintain their continued fire.  

Hundreds of rounds per minute rained down on the German positions with 67,000 rounds fired onto enemy positions by dusk. Sections from the Highland Light Infantry of the 33rd Division worked hard bringing up fresh supplies of ammunition and water for the guns’ cooling jackets which had to be continually refilled. The guns’ barrels became red hot and the company were so desperate for water that during the night the machine gunners gave up their personal water bottles to fill the guns’ cooling jackets. The three attacking battalions of the 100th Brigade were unable to break through the German line and had to fall back. They were unable to capture High Wood and attacks in the sector continued throughout August until the wood finally fell on the 14th September. 

The next day at 6.10am the company finally ceased fire having fired a total of 99,500 rounds in just over 12 hours, holding German reinforcements at bay and covering the 100th Brigade’s attack and retreat. The British army continued to use their Vickers guns in the barrage or plunging fire role through the First and Second World Wars until they were finally retired in the 1960s. 

Sources:

Images: 1 2 3 4

The impact impression of Kapitanleutnant Heinrich Mathy’s body when he jumped out of the burning Zeppelin L31, October 1916.