A Machine Gun Company was attached to each Infantry Brigade and their subsequent Division.
| Brigade attached to: | 41st Brigade |
| Division attached to: | 14th (Light) Division |
| Formed from the Machine Gun Sections of: | 7th Bn. King’s Royal Rifle Corps 8th Bn. King’s Royal Rifle Corps 7th Bn. Rifle Brigade 8th Bn. Rifle Brigade |
The 41st Bde. M.G. Coy. was formed at Winnezeele on 15 February 1916 from the Machine Gun Sections of the listed infantry battalions.
As a unit of the 14th (Light) Division during this period, it will have taken part in the following battles and engagements.
| 1916 | |
| BATTLES OF THE SOMME | |
| 13 to 30 August | Battle of Delville Wood [XV Corps, Fourth Army]. |
| 15 and 16 September | Battle of Flers-Courcelette [XV Corps, Fourth Army]. |
| 1917 | |
| 14 March to 05 April | German Retreat to the Hindenburg Line [VII Corps, Third Army]. |
| BATTLES OF ARRAS | |
| 09 to 12 April | First Battle of the Scarpe [VII Corps, Third Army]. |
| 03 and 04 May | Third Battle of the Scarpe [VII Corps, Third Army]. |
| BATTLES OF YPRES | |
| 18 August | Battle of Langemarck [II Corps, Fifth Army]. |
| 22 to 26 August | Fighting on the Menin Road [II Corps, Fifth Army]. (41st Inf. Bde. until 28 August) |
| 12 October | First Battle of Passchendale [X Corps, Second Army]. |
In March 1918, it was amalgamated with the 42nd, 43rd, and 224th Machine Gun Companies to form No. 14 Battalion, Machine Gun Corps.
My maternal grandfather 43091 William Huxley 1897-1964 served in 41st Company MGC in Great War and was wounded in the back at Passchendaele (the piece of shrapnel in my possession) and on recovery returned to his unit, and taken POW on 21st March 1918 at St Quentin and taken firstly to German POW camp Stendal and later moved to Schneidemuhl from which he was repatriated after the Armistice, returning to Whixall, North Shropshire, and farming later in Ledsham, Wirral & Bunbury, Tarporley, Cheshire.
Rev Philip Cook
philipocook@gmail.com
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